Album Notes

Guitar virtuoso Kelly Richey has written and coproduced an all-original studio recording, Carry the Light, which will firmly grab the attention of the press and music fans everywhere. Richey’s songwriting and vocals underscore her powerful, take-no-prisoners guitar playing, firmly expressing her genuine talent and versatility.

Carry the Light, released on her own Sweet Lucy Records, reflects every bit of Richey’s stellar guitar tone and style, while propelling her into a new light as a thoughtful and insightful singer/songwriter. The 11 tracks range from personal reflection, contemplation and illumination to questioning the world we live in, all the while capturing the defining sound of The Kelly Richey Band.

“This CD was written with two dear friends: one is my guitar mentor, John Redell, and the other, Steve Carroll, came to me as a guitar student/songwriter,” says Richey. “Each week for four months, John and I got together and hammered out song ideas. Many songs were passed on to Steve to add either a chorus or bridge, or to strengthen the melody line. Steve also sent songs he wrote based on ideas and concepts we discussed and John and I constructed guitar parts to help make the songs come to life on the stage. I was constantly challenged by John to grow as a guitarist, and challenged by Steve to construct songs that stood alone with or without guitar wizardry.

“I recorded each song in demo form in my own studio over the summer,” recalls Kelly. “After the basic framework of each song was constructed, I asked my drummer, Shane Frye, to be there as we began pre-production, and with John playing bass we’d jam to make sure that each song would transfer to the stage and work as a three-piece band.”

Richey thought she would record the CD herself but soon realized she had a much larger project on her hands and began seeking a studio and co-producer. Rick Brantley ended up being the perfect complement. “Rick is a guitarist too and has a guitar player’s dream studio,” says Richey. “I asked Rick to co-produce the project because I knew I had taken the songs as far as I could and needed an outside perspective to ensure that the CD sounded like the best commercial release possible, while maintaining the character that it had when written.

“Rick and I were a great fit. We decided that I needed to move away from such a ‘live’ mentality and into a more studio frame of mind, so we chose to bring in session players who could capture the foundational tracks with perfection and speed; then, we could place the majority of our time in capturing the best guitar and vocal performances that I could
produce.”

The result is Carry the Light, a compilation of thought provoking lyrics and powerful sounds that The Kelly Richey Band can make their own and take to the stage.