[Interview] Amythyst Kiah

It might have seemed that Amythyst Kiah arrived fully formed when she was introduced as a member of Our Native Daughters, four Black female banjo players led by Rhiannon Giddens in 2019. But the East Tennessee native had been working on her craft since she was a teenager. Her powerful voice, technical skill and songwriting ability has continued to grow as she heads into her 40th year. If the past is prologue, she’s ready for the challenge.

In 2019, Amythyst Kiah stood center stage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and sang “Black Myself” to kick off the Americana Music Awards. She was the youngest – and least known – of Our Native Daughters, a group of Black female musicians that included Rhiannon Giddens, Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla.

It was a watershed moment for the singer-songwriter. It was a triumphant statement by the musician who had been playing in public for less than 10 years after graduating from East Tennessee State university. She released her first album, “Dig,” in 2013, then spent the next few years honing her writing and performance skills before her next effort, 2021’s “Wary + Strange,” which included “Black Myself.”

In addition to her bandmates that night at the Ryman, she was accompanied by Buddy Miller, Don Was and Dirk Powell among other luminaries at the showcase event of Americana music, the hip and influential but hardly huge genre of roots music.

“That was my first time performing at an awards show,” said Kiah, who returns to the Southgate House Revival Jan. 17 for a second time in 14 months. “And being with the people on that stage felt like such a powerful moment. It felt like the culmination of all of the years that I’ve spent learning my craft and being on the road and being in the studio. I felt that night was a point in time that represented so many years of work. That was such a pivotal moment for me. It was a way of letting me know I’m in the right place. And it meant a lot to us to be recognized for the message that we were bringing with that record.”

The quartet was nominated for Best Duo or Group at the Americana Music honors, but more importantly in the big picture, Kiah was nominated for Best American Roots Song for “Black Myself” at the 2020 Grammys. That recognition helped when recording “Wary + Strange,” which Rolling Stone called one of the top 25 Country and Americana albums of 2021. “Wild Turkey,” a song about her mother’s death when Kiah was 17, was named by Variety as one of the Best 50 Songs that year by Variety.

Kiah talked via Zoom last month before the SGHR show.

Bill Thompson: It’s not polite to ask a person their age, but you’re entering your 40th year. Is it a time of reflection? And if so, what are your thoughts about how you’ve gotten where you are and the path of where you’re going?

Anythyst Kiah: I feel like my 30s have been spent reflecting in a lot of respects. I think the main thing for me moving forward is gaining a sense of confidence in my abilities and being able to not allow anxiety keep me from doing things. The lifelong battle has been centered around social anxiety. But for the last decade or so, going to therapy and working on that constantly, I have made a lot of really cool progress.

But those kinds of things aren’t linear, so you run into different points in time where certain aspects will come up in unexpected ways. It’s been a long, healing journey. Healing from grief and dealing with body dysmorphia and different things that contribute to that anxiety. Now, however, I feel like I’m getting to that point where I don’t care what other people think. There’s that element of survival mode you have to compromise certain aspects of yourself in order to make money, to exist and, and attain things. I’m grateful to have been able to age to this point where I’m entering my 40s having a strong sense of identity and self, and that feels good.

BT: You opened for Jason Isbell at the Andrew J Brady Music Center a couple of years ago. That was very different from your solo show as you had a powerhouse rock band with you. How did you hook up with Isbell?

AK: I had opened for him during one of his residencies at the Ryman where he had different people each night. So the tour was one of those things where his people reached out to my people (laughs). That was such an awesome experience. I really, really enjoyed it. I got to play in a lot of new venues and different places, it was awesome. That’s how I met Sadler Vaden (Isbell’s guitar player). Then we had  a songwriting session, maybe like a year or so later and he helped me finish writing “Play God and Destroy the World” (from the “Still + Bright” album of 2024).

BT: Seeing you with the band and hearing the songs on 2024’s “Still + Bright” at your Southgate House solo show was a completely unique experience. Does it take a conscious effort to present those songs differently?

AK: That’s something that starts at the writing of the song. I did a lot of solo shows way back in the day. I played with a string band in college, but I also played solo shows around the region. My dad traveled with me and would sell merch. He was very supportive. He said something at the time that’s always stuck with me, and something that to this day I’m grateful for. He used to sing in a band, and he said the one thing he wished would’ve done was learn  to play an instrument because he could have continued to play without a band.

When it comes to songwriting, my goal is to make every song vocally and instrumentally as dynamic as possible so that when a person is at a solo show, they’re not looking at their watch and thinking when is this going to be over. Because I’ve been that person at a solo show. I never want anybody to see me and think, “Wow, I really wish she had a band.” That was my inspiration and it starts with the writing of the song. I try to write a song so that all the dynamics and the ideas are there. When I learned fingerstyle (guitar picking) and when I learned how to play different kinds of rhythms that allow me to pull up whatever a song calls for, I’m able to access that.

So it comes back to the confidence of being able to do this. I am able to create something that can be stripped back and can also have stuff added to it. And the heart of the song is still there. Having said that, down the line I would love to be able to have a bigger show with more things happening. But I always want to keep the solo shows, too, because I think those are special. It’s a certain kind of audience interaction and moment that is just distinctly different from playing with a band. 

BT: Are you working on a new album?

AK: I am working on new music and taking my time. I don’t have a time constraint at this point. I’ve been exploring the kind of talent (collaboration) that I would like to have for the next record. I’ve been making a lot of playlists of different music that is inspiring me. And also recording different ideas, writing down actually what I’m doing currently. I’ve never really approached songwriting this way, but I’m actually focusing on creating the music and then writing the words after the music is created.

I was inspired to do that after a songwriting camp where I wrote songs with a couple of producers for two different shows. It was cool because I walked in and they gave us our assignment. and they already had a track prepared that had the rhythm section, the chord progression, everything. So we would come up with lyrics and then I would sing over the track and then boom, we have a demo. 

BT: It sounds like you sat in your house by yourself for the longest time and now it’s like you opened the door and people are coming through.

AK: I’m grateful to have the opportunity with the Rounder Records label because it honestly felt like I was going back to school. I’m learning about a different side of music and what that could look like in the music industry aspect of things. I learned music by all my performances through school or the local music scene. So I’ve been able to spend time on the industry side and meet people that I would love to continue to create with. Before “Still + Bright,” I was always hesitant about co-writing because a lot of my earlier songs were very personal.

 My first time really co-writing was with Our Native Daughters. And it was a little easier to do because I wasn’t writing about myself personally. It was about a broader topic that still had the historical, the political, and the personal intertwined, but it was less about me personally. That was the first moment of, “Oh, so this is what can happen when you co-write.”

I wanted to be able to write about other things. That really started when I read “How to Write One Song” by Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco). That showed me that I needed to go back to basics. Like I’m a complete idiot and have no idea what songwriting is (laughs). It paid off in a major way and allowed other people to come into my life to be able to bounce ideas around. I learned so much through that process. I realized there’s only so much you can do in isolation by yourself. This made me understand how much you can learn when you open up.

There’s only so much you can do alone. If anything, it makes it harder to ask for help. It makes it harder to connect with people on a broader level. It’s funny, any time I’m playing a game or reading a book or watching a movie, I always identify and have sympathy for that weird kid that spent too much time alone. And then they’re trying to connect with people and it’s really awkward because you’re like, I don’t know how to talk to people. But now I realize there are things that I have to offer in this world and to people into my community. It’s been fulfilling and eye-opening, and again, building that sense of confidence that I’m not alone. It’s been quite an incredible experience overall and I’m really happy to have had it.