Kelly Richey (born November 30, 1962) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

, singer and composer based out of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

.(November 20, 1998). "Energy and polish define blues-rockers", ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'', p. 10.

Early life

Kelly Richey was born and raised in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, United States, in a conservative Christian household that avoided rock music. Her first instrument was the piano. Her second instrument was a drum kit that her neighbor let her take home. After a couple of months of playing drums in her bedroom, her father offered to buy her anything she wanted; she chose the guitar. She started learning guitar at age 15; she reached a point where she was practicing 12 hours a day.Hughes, Andrew S (October 2, 2011).
Richey changes her life, renews her music
, ''

South Bend Tribune The ''South Bend Tribune'' is a daily newspaper and news website which is based in South Bend, Indiana. It is distributed in South Bend, Mishawaka, north central Indiana, and southwestern Michigan. It has been named as a "Blue Ribbon Newspaper" ...

'', p. D2.

Career

Kelly Richey joined Kopana Terry, Kiya Heartwood and Tony Nagy in 1986. In 1988 she sat in with

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

at the Cuckoo Club in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. In 1990, she formed The Kelly Richey Band (KRB). In 1997 she moved from

Mount Auburn, Cincinnati Mount Auburn Historic District is located in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It extends along both sides of Auburn Avenue roughly between Ringold Street and William H. Taft Road. The population of Mount Auburn was 5,094 at the ...

. Writing of her 2001 album ''Sending Me Angels'', ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...

'' praised her "fiery solos" and her "fast, powerful picking hand", which she credited to having played as a drummer. She cites

Roy Buchanan Leroy "Roy" Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan worked as a sideman and as a solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career and two lat ...

as an influence, besides

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and

Lonnie Mack Lonnie McIntosh (July 18, 1941 – April 21, 2016), known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was an influential trailblazer of blues rock music and rock guitar soloing. Mack emerged in 1963 with his breakthroug ...

. She released eleven albums between 1994 and 2008. Her 2006 album ''Speechless'' consisted entirely of

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

s. She took a break from performing in 2010.

Equipment

Richey plays a 1965

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

, the same she has played since the 1980s. It has a 1963 body and a 1965 neck, with a traditional Fender tremolo; the pickups are

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan foun ...

and she uses SIT strings (.10-.046). She plays through a

Fender Super Reverb The Fender Super Reverb is a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was originally introduced in 1963 and was discontinued in 1982. The Super Reverb was a Fender Super amplifier with built-in reverb and "vibrato" (actually tremolo). The original ...

with an

Ibanez Tube Screamer The Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808/TS9) is a guitar overdrive pedal, made by Ibanez. The pedal has a characteristic mid-boosted tone popular with blues, rock and metal players. The Tube Screamer has been used by many guitarists to create their signa ...

Discography

* 1994: ''Sister's Gotta Problem'' * 1995: ''The Blues Don't Lie'' * 1996: ''Live at Tommy's On Main'' * 1997: ''Eyes of a Woman'' * 1998: ''Dig a Little Deeper'' * 1999: ''Kelly Richey Band Live'' * 2001: ''Sending Me Angels'' * 2003: ''Kelly Richey Live...As It Should Be'' * 2004: ''Kelly Richey Live'' * 2006: ''Speechless'' * 2007: ''The Kelly Richey Band Live at the Thirsty Ear'' * 2008: ''Carry the Light'' * 2013: ''Sweet Spirit'' * 2014: ''Live at the Blue Wisp''

References

External links

List of articles and reviews from national magazinesKET television showInterview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richey, Kelly 1962 births Living people American blues guitarists American blues singers American women singers Musicians from Cincinnati 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Ohio 20th-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women