Kelly Richey Always Knew of the Blues: "I Could Play Until the Day I Died"

Who says white women can't sing the blues? Certainly not Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, or any number of other sassy, saucy ladies with that certain six string savvy.

The blues may be rooted in the cotton fields of the deep South and the smoky clubs of Chicago's South Side, but as singer/guitarist/bandleader Kelly Richey wails in one of her signature songs, "The Blues Don't Lie," it's as much about attitude as it is about amplitude when it comes to getting down in the groove.

"When I put my first band together, I do remember thinking that blues was a form of music that I could play until the day I died," Richey reflects. "I felt so connected to it emotionally. I really had a passion for the genre. It was just something I had to play. Blues has no boundaries and is at the core foundation of all American music. Self-expression in this genre is unlimited."

According to Richey, her blues trajectory began during her early childhood, steered in part by her family's involvement with the local Baptist church where her uncle preached. It was there that she first heard her mother play piano and her aunt play the organ. When the church was burned to the ground after it integrated in 1969, the congregation opted to hold its revivals in local African-American churches.

"Those musical experiences became etched in my DNA," Richey recalls. "The black gospel music I heard during my youth had a profound influence on my choice of genre when I became a musician. Later, in my teenage years, I discovered Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Led Zeppelin as I found myself drawn to blues-based rock."

Richey took piano lessons as a child, and later switched to the drums. When she turned 15, her parents got her a guitar as a Christmas present. "The guitar just seemed to fit me perfectly," she smiles. "I played piano from the time I could reach the keyboard of the old black Wurlitzer that was in my parents' living room. I didn't enjoy that experience. I'm dyslexic, and since piano lessons required me to read music it was a painful and difficult process... Actually, the first of many difficult experiences related to my dyslexia. When I started to play guitar, I discovered that the instrument allowed me to play with greater freedom and, more importantly, it allowed me to play by ear." Richey began performing shortly thereafter -- at church, at school, in senior retirement homes, shelters, parks and recreation facilities throughout her hometown. "I took my guitar with me everywhere," she declares. "I literally never set it down. I played for anyone who would listen!"