Rockabilly goddess Kim Lenz has released her new album Slowly Speeding via Blue Star Records. Combining atmospheric production with gothic Americana themes and a renewed emphasis on lyricism, Slowly Speeding represents a compelling new direction for the LA-based songwriter and bandleader. Slowly Speeding is available for purchase here.
Rolling Stone Country recently spotlighted the title track “Slowly Speeding,” calling it “a smoldering torch song that’s built as much for the lounge as the juke joint.” Lenz was subsequently featured as Lenz was featured as one of their “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.” The video for “Slowly Speeding” first premiered with Taste of Country who writes, “The L.A.-based singer-songwriter practically invents a whole new genre with her new song…” Lenz followed this with the haunting, animated video for her song “Pine Me”, which premiered on Billboard.
Watch: Kim Lenz – “Pine Me”
Lenz is a songwriter, performer, bandleader, engineer and producer who pores over every nuance of her music to ensure maximum potency. The ten songs on Slowly Speeding brim with growling vocals, clever turns of phrase and heightened musicianship that services both the songs and the emotional intent behind them.
Lenz released her debut album in 1998 as Kim Lenz & the Jaguars, via Hightone Records. Heralded as the “Flame-haired keeper of the rockabilly flame” by Allmusic, Lenz reached the highest heights of the 90’s rockabilly revival. At the same time, she established her own distinctive voice as an artist who inhabited the musical and aesthetic traditions of a classic era, even as she subverted them. At the same time, she populated her band with top-notch players like bassist Jake Erwin (Hot Club of Cowtown) and the late guitarist Nick Curran (Ronnie Dawson, Fabulous Thunderbirds).
For Slowly Speeding, Lenz pulled the most essential elements of the past forward into the present and gave her own voice to it. Lenz’s sonic vision for the project was to combine her favorite tones from her most-treasured records, regardless of genre or era, and co-producer DH Phillips was the perfect partner in crime. They looked to early blues, classic country, and old-time gospel harmonies. ”The idea was to try to use all the ingredients that made up rock & roll, but shift around the time frames,” she offers. “I started out in the ’90s making traditional rockabilly music,” she continues. “But in my journey to understand how rockabilly and rock & roll came into being, I found blues, rhythm & blues, gospel, Western swing, and country music.”
Lenz will bring her trademark style on the road, with select dates across the U.S.
Full tour dates are at www.kimlenz.com.