Second Cup Café: Kim Richey

Kim Richey's songs have been recorded by country stars Trisha Yearwood, Mindy McReady, and the Dixie Chicks, among others. But she's also saved plenty of songs for herself ... enough to fill the five albums she's recorded over the years.

She visits Second Cup Café to play songs from her new album, "Chinese Boxes."

Richey grew up in Ohio, where she fell in love with music by listening to records in her aunt's record shop. She started playing guitar in high school and began performing with a band in college. Eventually she made her way to Nashville where she began to develop her signature country-pop style.

In 1995, she signed with Polydor and released her self-titled debut album. Two years later, she released her sophomore set, "Bitter Sweet" and followed that in 1999 with her third album, "Glimmer."

In 2003, she diverted from country pop with her solo album, "Rise." Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars in a rave review. "Teaming with producer Bill Bottrell, Richey has created an album of stunning pop rock, its poetic lyrics awash in a subtle sonic palette of exotica," wrote reviewer Holly George-Warren. "Upon repeated listenings, Rise becomes almost intoxicating, enveloping the listener with its heavenly perfume."

Over the last five years, Richey continued to write for other artists while saving a few songs here and there for herself to sing.

With a notebook of those songs in hand, she flew to London where she recorded her latest album, "Chinese Boxes" which is set for release July 10.

"I love the term 'Chinese Boxes,'" Richey says in press notes accompanying the album. "And it really seems to sum up the record. It's so visual and intriguing. When you see it, you think, 'What is this about?' Also, they're like those Russian dolls, one inside the other inside the other. They're all different, yet they're of the same group."