Amythyst Kiah gives commanding performance at Parkway Theater

Amythyst Kiah with special guest Luke LeBlanc at Parkway Theater July 5, 2023Laura Buhman for MPR

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July 06, 2023

Throughout Amythyst Kiah’s performance at the Parkway Theater on Wednesday night, her outright ownership of the roots of Americana music felt particularly powerful. In recent years, Americana as a genre had been led primarily by older, straight, white men, singing of an America of the past. But Kiah and others are changing what it means to perform Americana music, and leading the genre’s next chapter. With her commanding vocals as the centerpiece, Kiah used expansive, narrative lyricism to share her stories.

Before Kiah’s performance, local singer-songwriter Luke LeBlanc kicked off the evening with bright, simple folk rock. Accompanied solely by bassist Caz Falen, LeBlanc alternated between subdued, slowly unfolding ballads, and bouncing, driving country tracks. LeBlanc’s voice was warm, vibrant, and inviting, bolstered by his own harmonica playing and Falen’s tightly woven harmonies as he explored themes of heartbreak, loss, and new love. Despite the loose collection of early attendees, LeBlanc seemed to have several fans and friends already mixed into the crowd as numerous concertgoers loudly shouted his last name and added cheers of emotional support between songs. Speaking casually with the audience, LeBlanc repeatedly expressed gratitude to both the Parkway Theater and to Kiah throughout his 30-minute set. “Give it up for her now and give it up for her later when she performs,” he told the applauding crowd halfway through the show. “She deserves it.”

Luke LeBlanc on stage — Amythyst Kiah with special guest Luke LeBlanc at Parkway Theater July 5, 2023
Laura Buhman for MPR

Kiah’s performance came in support of her 2021 release, Wary + Strange. The acclaimed album marries the sparse acoustic and old-time country of her debut, Dig, with a more vibrant rootsy blues sound. It also incorporates her expression in collaborative projects such as Our Native Daughters, which creates a rock album that is entirely her own. Through a raw, vulnerable exploration of personal themes of grief, self-acceptance, and love, Wary and Strange feels like the product of a performer looking inward to establish her own identity.

Kiah signaled this vulnerable element of her performance right away as she began the set with her Grammy-nominated track “Black Myself.” Singing powerfully over fuzzed-out, spacey guitar chords, Kiah laid bare her experiences, singing “I pick the banjo up and they sneer at me / ‘Cause I’m Black myself / You better lock your doors when I walk by / ‘Cause I’m Black myself / You look me in my eyes but you don’t see me / ‘Cause I’m Black myself. By beginning her set in this lyrically defiant manner, Kiah made clear her intent to dive headlong into deeply personal topics on her own terms.

Kiah carried this tenor of personal experience through the remainder of the set, exploring themes of substance abuse, heartache both romantic and familial, and a commitment to resilience in the face of it all. On “Fancy Drones (Fracture Me),” Kiah battles the painful awareness of her disconnection from her own emotions, singing “Just fancy drones going through the motions / Fancy drones / Fracture me / Take what you need / Fracture me / ‘Cause it hurts to think / Fracture me / And leave nothing here.” Alternatively, Kiah describes the bittersweet nostalgia of returning sober to places she used to frequent when partying on “Firewater,” singing “How many spirits does it take to lift a spirit? / I don’t know, I don’t know / ‘Cause I got every spirit / and I’m still laying her crying on the floor.” The vivid imagery of her lyrics, combined with the courage to even express these difficult subjects, drew in and captivated her audience.

Kiah also used her lyrics to explore traditional themes of love and love lost, but through a distinctive queer lens. On “Sleeping Queen,” she laments the torture of recurring dreams of a love lost, singing “She came to me in my dream / A siren with broken wings / But I’m trying to sleep… / Her hair, her lips, her eyes / Blame them for my demise.” While it may seem like a small shift in her lyrics, Kiah’s word choice felt like a powerful subversion of the norm of the genre, broadening its definitions of which artists are allowed to express love and to whom.

Amythyst Kiah and band on stage — Amythyst Kiah with special guest Luke LeBlanc at Parkway Theater July 5, 2023
Laura Buhman for MPR

Just as captivating as her lyrics was her voice. Kiah’s sound was clear and resonant, carrying a warmth and smoothness no matter how much force she sang with it. And she definitely sang with force — each note seemed to come from deep in her chest, roaring out loudly and passionately to fill the Parkway. Throughout the set, she showcased her impressive vocal range, dipping into a gravelly snarl one minute before vaulting into the high notes the next. As she stood alone in the middle of the show to sing the Appalachian tune “Darlin’ Corey,” her voice felt unbridled yet completely within her control.

The equally driving power of her backing band helped round out her sound, and provided some additional flair to her otherwise stripped-down performance. Guided by guitarist Chris Collier, the band added a dimension of genre-lessness to Kiah’s sound, taking her from bright, plucky folk tunes to bass-heavy classic rock to wailing Delta blues – with the addition of a bass riff or the pacing of drum beats. Nearly every song featured some instrumental flair to lean into whatever genre it was being spotlighted, but Kiah herself rarely led the jamming. Rather, Collier would take over, at times sinking to his knees to pull out soaring chords from his electric guitar as Kiah provided acoustic guitar support.

Kiah and her band’s versatility in playing and adapting numerous genres was best demonstrated in the performance of Green Day’s “Hitchin’ a Ride” and Katy Perry’s “Chained to the Rhythm.” Through small changes to tempo, shifting the key to fit her own range, and adding some slight vocal and instrumental embellishments, Kiah completely transformed the songs to convey entirely new meanings. In the case of “Chained to the Rhythm,” the sugary pop song transformed from a vague earworm with equally vague political undertones to a more moving indictment of the tendency to distract oneself from social upheaval. The additions of these covers not only added a unique element to the setlist, but it also demonstrated Kiah’s ability to push the boundaries of genre to infuse greater meaning and create a track entirely her own.

Before ending her set with the loud crowd favorite “Natural Blues,” Kiah announced that she would be in the lobby after the show to meet fans, take photos, and sign merchandise. As attendees filtered out, the lobby quickly became packed with fans anxiously waiting to meet the performer.

Amythyst Kiah & Luke LeBlanc