Taking a moment to dive inside the mind of Amythyst Kiah reveals an odd inner-world where ancient Eastern philosophies and cosmic horror casually comingle. It’s a world where the Old Appalachian Gods and Lao Tzu converse in a way that makes perfect sense to the southern singer-songwriter.
After hearing her explain the machinations behind her latest album, Still + Bright, released just before Halloween last year via legendary folk label Rounder Records, these unlikely pairings seem more harmonious than first blush may suggest.
Kiah, 38, is relaxing at her home in Johnson City, Tennessee, only weeks before her upcoming tour kicks off in Colorado with back-to-back shows in Boulder and Fort Collins. She’s going through the tracklist of her fourth full-length, explaining in depth how her reinvigorated interest in meditation — and by extension, Zen Buddhism and Lao Tzu’s Daoism — shaped her overall vision for the record.
“I had tapped into meditation a little bit during 2020,” she says. “But as life got busier and crazier, I sort of became disconnected from a spiritual path simply because I was really focused on making money, paying bills, being able to help out with my dad, buying a house and doing all these different things.”
After breakout album, Wary + Strange, which featured Grammy-nominated single “Black Myself” and landed on Rolling Stone’s 25 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2021, Kiah felt the need to seize the onslaught of opportunities. She said “yes to pretty much everything,” as she puts it, but that proved to be unsustainable long-term.
“It was like, ‘This is my shot. This is it. All eyes are on me,’” Kiah, who is also a member of the banjo quartet Our Native Daughters, explains. “I put myself back into a rat race mentality. I found myself comparing myself a lot to other artists and judging where I was materially versus where other artists were. There’s a tendency to try to climb the ladder, whatever that ladder may be. I realized I just needed to take some time to slow down.”
‘Joy in the spooky stuff’
So she downloaded some meditation apps and read books about centering oneself among the chaos of everyday life. She took in Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, long considered the definitive text on Daoism, and studied similar works, including those of new-age Western philosopher Alan Watts.
“Learning to be able to live in the present as opposed to being lost in thoughts about the future and the past. That hasn’t been easy all the time, but the more and more I exercise and practice that muscle the more often I can stay in that space,” Kiah says. “Understanding being in the present is so important because, as Alan Watts would say, ‘All we have is now.’”
The contemplation also allowed her to tap into other interests while working on Still + Bright. That’s where the Lovecraftian themes and Appalachia folklore come in, as Kiah points to horror-fiction podcast Old Gods of Appalachia and Netflix mini-series The Haunting of Bly Manor as two examples of her strange leanings.
After all, she does consider herself a “funny-talking, sci-fi-loving, queer Black” nerd.
“I wanted to reembrace the things that brought me joy, alongside reconnecting with a spiritual path that really resonates with me,” Kiah says. “It was a celebration of being able to really have fun creating the songs and the record. Even though the album is called Still + Bright and it’s about finding joy in things, I find joy in the spooky, weird stuff.”
‘The hero’s journey’
The result is a blues-infused, Southern Gothic Americana offering that proves Kiah is one of the most unique artists doing it right now. Just listen to the brooding ballad “Gods Under the Mountain,” about an eldritch deity pushing a person to self-sacrifice by plunging into the Nolichucky River, or the intergalactic void-crawling love song “Dark Matter,” and you’ll start to understand.
Exploring themes of injustice and oppression as well, Kiah offers a more optimistic point of view — though the news of the day is often more frightening than any monsters she can come up with.
“It’s the hero’s journey of what it means when you’re faced with adversity,” she explains. “Whether it’s a totalitarian regime or an evil deity trying to indoctrinate you, what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to look to the people around you who rally around you to help you fight a cause bigger than yourself? I just love stories that resonate around that.”
Teaming up with Billy Strings (“I Will Not Go Down”), Butch Walker (“Silk and Petals”), S.G. Goodman (“Play God and Destroy the World”) and Avi Kaplan (“Die Slowly Without Complaint”) proves she’s not fighting alone.
Looking ahead — while that’s not very Zen — Kiah is about to jump back into the maelstrom of touring, but it’s clear she’s more ready than ever for what may unfold out there on the road: “Meditating doesn’t have to be sitting in one spot.”
ON THE BILL: Amythyst Kiah with Wrenn Van. 8 p.m. Thursday, June 19, Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $30