It’ll soon be 20 years since the release of Richie Kirkpatrick’s 2005 Ghostfinger album These Colors Run. Following a move to Nashville about a decade ago, the post-Ghostfinger solo endeavors continue for the alt-country/rock frontman/madman—well known in the local house show scene—with his third full length album, Silver & Gold, out of Mountain Lion Island Records, to kick off his and his band’s second decade in Nashville.
He’s not writing it for a girl or anything; Kirkpatrick seemingly wrote the album to, and about, alcoholism, and to himself in its grips, after organ failure due to addiction. The kicker is, he’s performing the material on the other side of health and sobriety, after its release, ironically creating a healing factor and a dichotomy between pre- and post-sobriety. This guy’s fascination with absurdity came full circle since Ghostfinger.
Lyrically, Silver & Gold stands as an homage to a life left behind, but Richie’s skill for creating party-banger rock anthems still carry us along for a ride, as the record opens with a catchy, dream-like, bongo drum machine leading into a folksy-sounding acoustic guitar strum before blasting into the stellar, effect-laden electric guitar work still to come.
The autobiographical title track seemingly references development and motivation in Richie’s life in Nashville: Now, I know you’re lucky, so along a path to greatness, but you gotta pay up . . . / Because you know these city lights are all silver and gold.
If there’s a song on this album talking to the nature of alcoholism, “Take Another Piece of My Heart”—a garage-rager with up-tempo bass thumps and matching tom percussion—is it. You did a lot of time dreaming / You did it all by yourself / Try to focus and believe it / You ain’t the only one bleeding, now., bleeding out. Plus, there’s some great guitar work, tone and mixing on there.
Silver & Gold release show, November 2024, Soft Junk, Nashville
“Disco Tears” stands out as the single of the album, a slow-march disco ballad about the changing of the vanguard and winding down. It’s a good time to be alone / It’s a good time to face the fact that you’ll never be alone highlights an ongoing theme throughout Richie Kirkpatrick’s career, before hitting the epic-est of Silver & Gold’s freedom-rock empowerment choruses, followed by a funky-ass, soulful blip of a guitar solo.
In the vein of a roadhouse Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen runner, “All for You,” echoey and canny, party-chants You keep the peace / You keep the groove / There’s something you keep in your attitude / It’s in a lot of the things you say / It’s in a lot of the things you do, before Richie humbly sings I think about running away, I think about telling the truth / It’s all for you . . . It’s something you gotta do.
Nashville bassist Ben Garner, Silver & Gold producer and guitarist Joe McMahan and drummer Jeff Ehlinger (who also serves as Cage the Elephant’s drum tech) accompanied Ri¢hie on the release, along with some floating side musicians (Jonathon Shoemaker, Doni Schroeder, and others).
This album was reviewed and listened to on cassette tape; Silver & Gold can also be found across the icons at Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music and iHeart, and on Ri¢hie’s distrokid, where the cassette releases can be found as well. As always, the album streams 24/7 at richiekirkpatrick.bandcamp.com/album/silver-gold. For more information and live performance dates, follow Ri¢hie Kirkpatrick @sweetbabyrichie on Instagram, and @Richie Kirkpatrick on Facebook.
