Critical praise, Grammy nomination and opening for The Who. See her next in Frankfort
Three summers ago, Amythyst Kiah stood on the stage of the Grand Theatre in Frankfort as an unknown. Schooled in the traditions of folk and blues but emboldened with a voice and songwriting insight that proudly examined the often-unsettling terrain of her Tennessee upbringing, she introduced herself to Kentucky as a warm-up act for Americana empress Rhiannon Giddens.
Fast forward to last month. With an album titled “Wary + Strange” rich with songs of personal beauty and pain, work with the all-star female roots-inspired ensemble Our Native Daughters (which included Giddens), a Grammy nomination and a truckload of critical praise (Rolling Stone proclaimed her one of “roots music’s most promising new voices”) now to her credit, Kiah was again an opening act. But her venue this time was the 20,000-seat capacity Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C., where she played the last of four spring shows as support act for The Who.
“The opportunities that have come as of late have been amazing,” said Kiah, who returns to Frankfort for a June 5 concert of her own. It will be prefaced by a June 3 headlining set for Appalshop’s Seedtime on the Cumberland festival in Whitesburg. “So I’m here for the ride and just enjoying it.”
That ride shifted into high gear with the release of “Wary + Strange” just under a year ago. Kiah had already explored songcraft with various folk/blues accents on a pair of independent recordings. But after signing with the veteran folk-and-more label Rounder and teaming with producer Tony Berg (whose client list includes Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers), her roots music sound became electrified with undercurrents of rock and funk.
“I love ‘Wary + Strange’ as if it was someone else’s record,” Kiah said. “That’s not to say I don’t love the other records I’ve made. Just the experience and the process was so fundamentally the next level compared to my earlier releases. Those records were self-released and done on a pretty tight budget. Recording in the past for my own projects has been incredibly nerve wracking and hard to enjoy because in the back of my mind, I’d keep thinking, ‘Money, money, money.’ Time was escaping, so I was never able to just really be present in the process.”
A highlight of “Wary + Strange” is a rockish recasting of “Black Myself,” an anthemic song of cultural identity Kiah introduced by way of a folk-conscious, banjo dominate and, ultimately, Grammy nominated version on Our Native Daughters’ debut album (2019’s “Songs of Our Native Daughters”).
The record focused on newly composed but roots-directed songs by its four members (Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell completed the lineup) that explored the cultural legacies and identities of African-American women.
“The group presented another very pivotal moment for me – career-wise, creatively, spiritually. I had never really explored the history of the transatlantic slave trade, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement. I had never explored any of these topics through music. It’s always been academic settings or talking at the dinner table. To really engage this content by writing songs about it added a whole other layer of awakening that I don’t think I really anticipated.
“‘Black Myself’ was the crescendo of everything in my life up to that point and the things we learned while writing the other songs for the record and then watching everything come together and make sense. On top of that, everybody in the group was in that same boat where we live the lives we live now because our ancestors endured and survived. That’s a powerful thing. It’s not anything that I ever thought I would ever feel, so I carried that energy forward and tried to apply that in my life.”
Much of “Wary + Strange” echoes the sense of turmoil and discovery Kiah experienced in her youth, an upbringing uprooted by the suicide death of her mother when the singer was 17, the strong relationship ship she built with her father and the coming to grips with social anxiety and her own identity as black gay woman.
“My father was born in 1947. He grew up in Jim Crow. He was drafted for Vietnam. He came back from Vietnam, used his GI bill to get a business associate degree, was in management for 40 years then went out on the road. But he ended up falling into drug addiction for several years when I was a teenager and has been recovery for the last 10 or 12 years. He did all these amazing things in life. He made a mistake, went down the rabbit hole but was able to pull himself back out and see that I still needed him. I was so broken from what happened with my mom and my social anxiety that left me feeling like I was on the outside. So for him seeing that and being, like, ‘I’m going to be here to support you’ … I just admire him so much.
“My dad’s grandparents, my dad’s parents, all the back through Jim Crow, Reconstruction and slavery and me being on the other end of that living my life because all these people before me endured… I mean, how can I ever pay that back?”
Reception to “Wary + Strange” was immensely positive, earning raves from The New York Times, NPR and Billboard. But other artists were tuning in, as well. Among them was The Who’s Pete Townshend. It was after catching Kiah perform on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following the record’s release that the offer was extended for her to open for The Who.
“Part of me was going in and out of it being surreal and just having all these different emotions and feelings about opening for a band that has had such a massive influence and impact on music. So to have someone of that caliber recognizing me is a pretty awesome compliment. The shows, playing in those huge arenas, is not like anything I’ve ever experienced. To be able to have the opportunity to see what that’s like was really awesome and special. We had so much fun. The audience response was incredible.
“I’ve gotten more attention for my music than I ever thought I would, to be perfectly honest. I definitely didn’t go into this to be super famous or anything like that. I just wanted to make a living doing what I love, be able to enjoy my life and to have music be my main source of income. That’s all I ever really wanted.”
Amythyst Kiah
Opening act: The Possums Queens
When: 4 p.m. June 5
Where: Josephine Sculpture Park, 3355 Lawrenceburg Rd., Frankfort
Tickets: $40
Online: eventbrite.com