A treasured songwriter with a penchant for earthbound lyrics and soaring roots-pop melodies, Kim Richey has been supplying intelligent, tuneful songs to country performers such as Trisha Yearwood and Radney Foster since the early 1990s. In '95, she released an album under her own name, and the fringe-country cognoscenti fell in love with her buttery alto. Since then she has continued a somewhat dual career of writing for others while releasing solid solo albums featuring pop production provided by the likes of Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow) and Hugh Padgham (XTC).