Amythyst Kiah began learning guitar at the age of 13, then later attended a creative arts high school, where she found her people among all the āmisfits and weirdos.ā
The Americana singer-songwriter, known for supporting her vocals with intricate fingerpicking, found herself simplifying her process for her latest full-length, which, in turn, has led to more personal and artistic growth.
Folk singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah is a formidable fingerstylist. When asked about her creative process, she explains how sheās come up playing a lot of solo showsāsomething thatās inspired her to bring out the orchestral range of the guitar for her own vocal accompaniment. Over the years, sheās taken her high school classical training and college old-time-string-band experience to evolve her fingerpicking skills, developing three-finger technique and other multi-dimensional patterns influenced by players like Mike Dawes. And for her latest full-length, Still + Bright, sheās only continued to grow in her musicianship, but by stepping back to square one: rhythm.
Amythyst Kiah - "God's Under the Mountain"
āIāve stayed away from writing songs where Iām just strumming for a really long time,ā she prefaces, ābecause I was worried that it was going to be too boring to not do fingerstyle. But then I realized, thereās so many [strummed] songs that are super powerful, and you can still make it interesting rhythmically.
āI started to listen to more rhythm guitar players, like Cory Wong, and reconfigured how I was viewing rhythm guitar,ā she continues. āIt was a matter of finding a way to do it that was exciting and interesting to me. Now, itās really expanded the songs that I can write.ā
All of the demos for Still + Brightbegan with strumming, says Kiah. When working on ideas, she would āplay rhythmically as much as I could,ā then open GarageBand, choose a tempo she felt comfortable playing to, and add programmed drumsāoften going with a modern R&B pattern. But when she brought her songs to the studio, she discovered that she was struggling to replicate the guitar parts sheād recorded at home.For Kiah, whoās always had a very strong sense of self and vision for her sound, that was a bit discomforting.In the making of Still + Bright, Kiahās fifth full-length album, the songwriter strengthened her skills as both a rhythm guitarist and a vocalist.
āI had a moment of, āI can either spend way too long trying to replay this part that Iāve been playing from muscle memory at this point,āā she shares, or hand it off to her session player, Nashville guitarist (and, coincidentally, Premier Guitarcolumnist) Ellen Angelico, and focus on her lyrics and vocal delivery instead. āI used to be very much like, āI have to be playing guitar on everything.ā But thereās a team of people here that can help, and make things go along more smoothly. My ego shouldnāt be getting in the way.ā
She did, ultimately, play guitarāacoustic or electric, or bothāon five out of 12 tracks, and banjo on two. Angelico performed on each track, alternating between mandolin, dobro, pedal steel, and acoustic, electric, and baritone guitar. (Youāll also hear Billy Strings, with his unmistakable, rapid-fire bluegrass licks, on āI Will Not Go Down.ā)
The finished album exudes a spirit of triumph. It rings as one extended anthem, beginning with āPlay God and Destroy the World,ā a reflection on a childhood rejection of religious hypocrisy, and ending on āPeopleās Prayer,ā an avowal of humanistic compassion. āS P A C E,ā one of the more pensive songs in the collection, features Kiah playing clawhammer banjo. āGodās Under the Mountainā builds and undulates with a communion of syncopated vocal melody, fiddle, pedal steel, dobro, and background vocals by producer Butch Walker and Avi Kaplan. Then, the waltzing āDead Starsā unwinds with simpler, judicious instrumentation supporting a mournful theme, before swelling with Morricone-like eloquence as it closes. āThis is the first album where I really had a concept about everything, from the logo to the color palette, and everything else,ā says Kiah, āand I had an incredible team who was able to really bring to life what I was envisioning.ā
āAmythyst Kiahās Gear
Some of Kiahās building blocks for her fingerpicking abilities came from classical training in high school and old-time studies at East Tennessee State University.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Effects
- L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI
- TC Electronic Polytune
Strings, Picks & Accessories
- Acoustic: DāAddario light
- Electric: Ernie Ball medium
- Dunlop .73 mm picks
- Paige capo
Throughout the record, Kiahās propulsive singing voice is the glowing flame to the hearth, acting as a centerpiece to the already luminous, Americana-fueled full-band arrangements. Like rhythm guitar, voice was another essential element that she cultivated while creating Still + Bright.
āI kind of diminished that power of having a voice,ā she admits, explaining how sheās always been preoccupied with measuring up on guitar, and has long held multi-instrumentalists such as Prince in high esteem. But something shifted when a sentiment expressed by her manager, Dolph Ramseur, years ago, finally sunk in. āHe said, āAmythyst, you know, you could just stand in a room and sing a cappella, and people would sit there and listen, and they wouldnāt get up and leave, and they would not be bored.ā And then it really dawned on meāitās a powerful thing, people that can just sing; thereās a power and strength there, too. Itās just understanding where the power lies, and then embracing it, as opposed to feeling inadequate.
āItās just understanding where the power lies, and then embracing it, as opposed to feeling inadequate.ā
āI have this ongoing obsession in the back of my mind that Iām never doing enough,ā she continues. āSo, anytime I remove something from the equation, I worry. That stems from social anxiety, and being overly concerned with, like, āAm I making the right decision?ā But it doesnāt matter how long I agonize or rethink or redo something; at the end of the day, the decision I make is still going to be spontaneous. Because thereās only ever ānow.āā She adds, laughing, āIām a big Alan Watts fan.ā
Now, sheās started doing vocal warmups before shows, āand through that, Iāve expanded my range and Iāve also been able to gain even more control over my voice. It also means that I can write more challenging songs. Those two thingsāexpanding [rhythm] guitar and expanding voiceāhave let me open a whole new side to my sound.ā
Spiritual themes appear frequently on Still + Bright, in both Kiahās song titles and lyrics. The opening lines of āEmpire of Loveā include, āMy religion is none at all / I build my own cathedrals and let āem fall.ā On āLetās See Ourselves Out,ā she sings, āSo many matrices we create to escape / Sometimes I wonder if weāre just a mistake.ā And, on more than one song, thereās mention of how āweāre all made from stars from above,ā alluding to the scientific evidence that the elements of the human body were created by stars that went supernova.
Kiah was raised in a predominantly white, Christian suburb in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as part of a Black family who didnāt attend church. She identified as an āalternativeā kid, vacillating between agnosticism and atheism, shopping at Hot Topic, and drawing inspiration from The Matrixās theme of breaking free from societal constraints. (She remarks on her younger selfās ācognitive dissonanceā of buying āāalternative clothesā at the mall.ā) As a self-proclaimed introvert, she dealt with social anxiety, and spent a lot of her time at home alone on the computer. But when she began learning guitar at 13, and later started attending a creative arts high school, she finally felt like she fit in: āācause everybody there was misfits and weirdos.ā
Spirituality is a common theme in Kiahās music. Her current beliefs draw mainly on principles of Zen Buddhism and Taoism.
Photo by Kevin & King
Though still adamantly individualistic, her spiritual views evolved when she took courses in both Western humanities and Eastern religion in college: āI realized that people have created narratives about how to live our lives for thousands of years. So, this idea that only one group of people got it right and everyone else is wrong; that threw all of that out the window.ā Today, she says that Zen Buddhism probably best captures her personal belief system, but, āI hesitate to call myself a Zen Buddhist because I feel like I still have more to learn,ā she says. She also rereads the Tao Te Ching by Laozi āpretty regularly,ā lauding the principles of Taoism as another strong influence on her philosophies.
At the beginning of our 1 p.m. Zoom call, Kiah shares that she typically spends her mornings alone and in silence, meditating, writing, and reading, and lightheartedly apologizes for enthusiastically āgoing onāāsaying sheās had a lot of time to think before speaking to another person. When I ask her about what modern artists sheās listening to lately, she has more to say about what sheās been reading. One of the books in her current rotation is The Lost Art of Silence by Sarah Anderson.
Growing up, Kiah identified as an āalternativeā kid, and was something of an āanime mall gothā who often shopped at Hot Topic.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
āIt goes along really well with meditation and learning to live in the present,ā Kiah says. āItās been interesting to explore those different perspectives on silence, and make more of an effort to find time in my life to be quiet. I find that Iām getting more and more comfortable with myself and my thoughts, and I feel less like I always have to block out anxious thoughts. Or, if I have anxiety about something, I can come up with an idea of, āOkay, well, how can I alleviate this? Can I do anything about it?ā, and solve the problem as opposed to starting the spiral.
āImpostor syndrome was the big driver for my social anxiety, and now, I feel like Iām on the other side of being an impostor,ā she reflects. āIām doing what Iāve been wanting to do for the past 12 years, making a living doing this. Thereās stressful things that happen, but you have to decide, what are you willing to be stressed out about? To try to seek a perfect, happy life where nothing ever upsets youāthatās called emotional repression and itās really unhealthy. Itās just about accepting the fact that, hey, some days, some weeks are gonna be shit, and to find ways to take care of yourself that are as least self-destructive as humanly possible.ā
āIt doesnāt matter how long I agonize or rethink or redo something; at the end of the day, the decision I make is still going to be spontaneous. Because thereās only ever ānow.āā
And while sheās outgrown a lot of her social anxiety, she says itās been a challenge adapting to the stress that comes with the unpredictability of touring. āWhen I would be at home, I would establish this really tight routine, and then I got completely knocked on my feet when I would leave,ā she explains. āI had to get to this point where I would just be focusing more on the present and less on trying to micromanage how my dayās going to be, because itās not gonna always go the way that I want things to go.
āThatās been also helpful in my creative process, because then Iām not as anxious and worried about all these other things that I donāt have control over, and Iām able to just ā¦ enjoy the process of living.ā
Ellen Angelico's Gear
Guitars
- Dismal Ax Barnstormer
- Cervantes Telecaster
- GFI Expo S-10
- 1980s Kentucky KM-250S mandolin
Amp
- 3rd Power Dream 50 Plexi
Effects
- Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner
- Line 6 HX Stomp
- 1981 DRV
- MXR Timmy Overdrive Mini
- Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy
- Strymon Flint
Strings & Picks
- DāAddario NYXL
- Wegen picks
YouTube It
On WDVXās Blue Plate Special, recorded in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kiah performs an evocative, stripped-down version of āEmpire of Loveā from Still + Bright.
Watch the livestream of "Concert for Carolina" featuring Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings, and James Taylor on October 26. Free access for Hurricane Helene-impacted areas, $24.99 for others. All proceeds go to hurricane relief efforts.
Due to overwhelming demand, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings and James Taylor have partnered with Veeps to livestream āConcert for Carolinaā on Saturday, October 26. The livestream was added to ensure that all fans would be able to see the show after tickets immediately sold-out this past Thursday. The stream will provide an additional opportunity to raise as much money as possible for Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Link to livestream HERE.
The livestream will be available worldwide with free access for those impacted by Hurricane Helene, as āConcert for Carolinaā and Veeps have used geotargeting to ensure that those in the affected areas will not be charged. For those not directly impacted, the livestream will cost $24.99 with an option for additional donations available. All proceeds from the stream will go to the same organizations that Combs and Church selected for ticket sales to benefit: Samaritanās Purse, Manna Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, Eblen Charities and the organizations supported by Chief Cares.
As noted above, North Carolina natives The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee have all now joined the line-up.
Presented by Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, āConcert for Carolinaā will take place at Charlotteās Bank of America Stadium and also feature performances from Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Bailey Zimmerman. The event will be hosted by ESPNās Marty Smith and Barstool Sportsā Caleb Pressley. Full details can be found at concertforcarolina.com.
āConcert for Carolinaā is made possible due to the support and generosity of David and Nicole Tepper and Tepper Sports & Entertainment, Explore Asheville, Biltmore Estate, T-Mobile, Jack Danielās, Whataburger, Miller Lite, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Belk, Loweās, Atrium Health, Tractor Supply Company, Bank of America, American Airlines, Food Lion, Dukeās Mayo, GE Aerospace, Harris Teeter, Pinnacle Financial Partners, United Healthcare, Bud Light, Preferred Parking and Gildan.
Born outside of Charlotte and raised in Asheville, Combs is a proud North Carolinian. Growing up singing at school, it wasnāt until he attended Booneās Appalachian State University that Combs first performed his own songs at a beloved local bar, leading him to his now historic country music career. Since moving to Nashville in 2014, Combs continually returns to North Carolina for landmark moments including his first-ever headline stadium show at Appalachian Stateās Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2021 as well as sold-out, back-to-back nights at Charlotteās Bank of America Stadium last summer.
Church, a native of Granite Falls, also began his musical journey in Western North Carolina, playing gigs locally throughout high school and into his time at Appalachian State University before chasing his dream to Nashville. He continues to split time between Tennessee and North Carolina with his family, even returning to the Appalachian Mountains to record his most recent project, the three-part Heart & Soul, in Banner Elk. In 2016, he was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and in 2022, he was awarded the North Carolina Award, the stateās highest civilian honor. Most recently, he released the song āDarkest Hourā in response to the recent devastation, with all publishing royalties being donated.
Although he is a Michigan native, Stringsā life and career has been deeply impacted by the state of North Carolina both personally and professionally, as it is home to some of his most passionate and supportive fans. Over the past few years, Strings has performed at major venues across the state including an upcoming six-night run at Ashevilleās ExploreAsheville.com Arena this winter.
Singer-songwriter Taylor moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family when he was just three years old. Taylorās father served as the Dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School from 1964 to 1971. Taylorās childhood home was on Morgan Creek Road in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. In April 2003, a bridge over Morgan Creek was dedicated to the musician and renamed the James Taylor Bridge. Taylorās childhood experiences in North Carolina influenced many of his most popular songs including āCopperlineā as well as the beloved āCarolina in My Mind.ā As a recording and touring artist, Taylor has touched people with his warm baritone voice and distinctive style of guitar-playing for more than 50 years. Over the course of his celebrated career, he has sold more than 100 million albums, has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
For more information, please visit concertforcarolina.com.
An exclusive excerpt of the legendary engineer and guitarist rapping about the guitarists he was most excited to hear.
When I spoke to recording engineer, Shellac guitarist, and Electrical Audio proprietor Steve Albini for our April cover story, we mostly covered his personal recording techniques, with some extra space allotted for the details of his iconic guitar rig. Albini, who passed suddenly not long after the issue went to print, was generous and forthcoming on all fronts.
During our long chat, I asked him, āWhich guitar players blow you awayāwho do you really vibe on?ā Iād seen the famously opinionated Albini answer similar questions before, but I knew that he was a guy who was constantly evolving and would have a good answer.
Shellacās To All Trains was released on May 17ā10 days after Albini passed away suddenly.
This section of the interview didnāt make it to print since it fell a little outside of the theme of the rest of the piece. With it sitting here on my hard drive, Iāve come back to the list quite a few times. Shellac released what will be their final album, To All Trains, shortly after his passing, and Iāve been listening to it, stunned by its sheer electric vitality and the bandās pummeling wit (what other band can go from using āpulchritudinousā with comedic self-consciousness as on āDays Are Dogs,ā to singing about āScabby the Ratā just a couple tracks later?). Somehow, Shellac seemed to have always lived within the same world of hard-hitting interlocking rhythms and perfectly recorded sound across their discography, and yet the band evolved in unexpected increments with every record. (Has Albiniās guitar ever sounded so brutal as when he kicks on the Harmonic Percolatorāunconfirmed, but a confident guessāon the opening āWSODā?)
With each listen of To All Trains, Iāve thought about the depth in Steveās playing that Iāve always known was there, but which he further revealed with his wide range of answers. Some of the players he mentioned are pillars behind his own angular, cutting riffage, and others will probably come as a surprise to even the deepest Albini enthusiasts.
Hereās the answer he gave:
Billy Strings
Well, Iāve seen a lot of people in the studio and my impression of them is formed from fairly close exposure. Thatās different from when Iām just listening to somebody play and Iām impressed by their playing, or Iām impressed by their music. I admire somebody like Billy Strings whoās just a phenomenal flatpicker. His bluegrass guitar is cleaner and more inventive than anything that I can imagine in that idiom.
Derek Trucks
Or somebody like Derek Trucks, for example. He is a really expressive, really beautiful player in service of music that doesnāt do a thing for me. Like, Derek Trucks playing in any of the ensembles that he plays in is the highlight of the thing. I donāt think I could sit through one of those shows just waiting for him to hit the solo. I wouldāve made it to the exit long before he got to a solo, unfortunately. But I think heās a phenomenal player.
Junior Brownās another one who really blows my mind. Danny Gatton is an incredible guitar player. But again, all of thatās in service of music that doesnāt really do a lot for me in the punk and underground world.The Jesus Lizard's Duane Denison
Duane Denison from the Jesus Lizard is maybe the cleanest player that Iāve ever worked with as a recording engineer. His technique is just exceptional. Never hits a clam, never hits a dead note. You can always hear every note in the chord, even when he is playing something that sounds chaotic and brutal. Take two is going to be chaotic and brutal in precisely the same way.
The Ex's Terrie Hessels
I really admire Terrie Hessels from the Dutch punk band the Ex. Iām certain that he doesnāt know the names of the notes on the strings of his guitar. But every time I see them, he does something on the guitar that makes me think, āWhy didnāt I think of that? Thatās so cool and so easy. Why am I bothering playing notes and chords and stuff?ā
One time we did a show with them, and at one point, he was wearing his guitar around his neck, and he popped it off, and he put the headstock on the ground. It was a vacuum cleaner, and he started running back and forth across the stage with the headstock of his guitar scraping and bouncing on the floor. So, he wasnāt playing the guitar, he was using the guitar to play the stage, and it sounded awesome. It sounded like this big zooming noise, and you could hear every step he took sort of modulated. I think heās an incredible guitar player.
Ty Segall
As far as guys who are just good at it, Iāve done a few records with Ty Segall, and I think heās really underrated. His whole band is great. Tyās really inventiveāgreat sound, always really cool arrangements.
Dead Meadow
I have a kind of a weakness for jammy psychedelic hard rock, which isnāt at all the kind of stuff that I play as a musician, but I really love the band Dead Meadow. Their music is just a trip. Every song, you feel like the lights are out and youāre seeing things. I just love their music.
Uzeda's Agostino Tilotta
Thereās an Italian guitar player that I really love named Agostino Tilotta. Heās the guitar player in a band called Uzeda that Iāve had the pleasure of recording and touring with a few times. He has another band called Bellini, which is a little bit more abstract. Heās a phenomenal guitar player, really just incredible, expressive, inventive guitar player. He plays things that sound like they could be taken from Sicilian folk music, but then he also does things that sound like modernist classical music or noise-rock freakouts and stuff.
Johnny Ramone
My first real inspiration as a guitar player, though, was Johnny Ramone. Those early Ramones records just sounded so brutal and so explosive. And then youād see footage of him playing, and heās using his whole arm to play the guitar at this incredible speed andāthe same sort of deal with Duane Denisonājust never hitting a bad note, like never blowing it ever, never not being in time, never not being in tune. Everything about it, just so precise and so good, but at maximum scale.
Shannon Wright
My favorite guitarist is Shannon Wright. Sheās got a unique attacking finger-plucking style that she hybridizes with a big Doritos-shaped pick that she palms while sheās doing the plucking part, then produces like a magician for the strumming parts. Itās incredible and her performing style is energetic and sheās just the fucking best.