Hello! Kimmi Bitter

Photo by Willis Farnsworth

Hey Kimmi, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! So, first up a softball question… please introduce yourself to our readers.

Well, I’m Kimmi Bitter from Oceanside, CA. 

Tell me something about you that I won’t be able to google.

I really love animals, especially cats and little critters, like mice, rats, squirrels, and all the tiny creatures. I don’t kill bugs or spiders. I actively try not to step on snails if I see them on the sidewalk.

Talk to me about your hometown, what’s your favourite thing to do in Oceanside?

I love downtown Oceanside and walking the strand along the beach. Oceanside is just the best. No matter how many places I travel to and fall in love with, nothing beats my home to me. We hardly have bugs, wind, and we have no seasons, except the 70-degree season. The other day my dad came downstairs and said “It’s 55 degrees today, that’s cold, it’s the coldest day of the year”. Just for the record, 55 degrees is not the coldest day of the year here, but maybe something around 40 degrees is. That’s pretty rough for us. It rained several times more than usual this year and that really freaked everyone out.

What can you tell me about your new album Old School?

Old School is a compilation of original songs crafted and inspired by the sounds of the 60s that I love and adore. I released it independently and it broke on to the Top 25 Americana Album Radio Charts by the Americana Music Association.

In these days of streaming and playlists, how much did you think about the track listing?

I thought a lot about my track listing. It actually really stressed me out and I changed it last minute. Since I did both vinyl and CDs, I had to pick an order that made sense in both chronological order for the CDs and also as two separate sides (A side, B side) with separate beginnings and ends for the vinyl.

‘Vagabond Blues’ is one of my favourites, what can you tell me about it?

I’m so happy to hear it’s one of the favs! It’s such a fun one to play live. ‘Vagabond Blues’ was written in the mountains of North Carolina while on tour. It was in my early years of touring and I was really feeling the hardships of a touring lifestyle in those first couple years. It’s about how I love touring so much and how it looks so glamorous, but also how it has a lonesome side to it. It’s the internal conflict of loving a free “no-strings attached” lifestyle, but also simultaneously longing for stability and community. I wanted to write a song that sounded like Hank Williams could have cut it. This song came together really fast. It just poured out one evening so easily.

What does ‘My Grass Is Blue’ mean to you?

‘My Grass is Blue’ is the reason this whole album came to fruition. It was co-written with Michael Gurley in Los Angeles. This song is what kept me in this career pursuing music. When I released ‘My Grass is Blue’, it started resonating with people on a national level, which marked the start of a new chapter in my life at a point when I was questioning if I was cut out for this profession. I came up with the title from the Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivors album cover. Leon Wilkeson is wearing a shirt that says “my grass is blue” and it just really stuck out to me. So I wrote this song ‘My Grass is Blue’ and it was originally a bluegrass style song. But it didn’t “flow”, it was awkward. A few years later when Mike and I got together, I said “I got this song but it’s awkward and I can’t finish it”. We stripped the song away from it, kept the title, and started anew with the intention of creating a Countrypolitan ballad suited to the strength of my voice. It’s a broken-hearted love song following the story of fictional gal who fell in love with bluegrass player. It’s usually everyone’s favorite song we do.

How important was working with your producer Michael Gurley on the record?

Essential. I’ve been trying to make Countrypolitan 1960s golden era album for a long time. I’ve done multiple recording sessions with the intention of making this album and most of those songs have never been released. It took a lot of trial and error with my own skills and development of honing in on this sound, and also, a lot of trial and error to find the right team. I’ve had this very specific vision of making this style of an album for the past 7 years. When Michael and I got together, we just immediately had a ton of songs to work with because we both shared the same passion for that tried and true sound. There was no struggle with convincing him of the vision. He understood it instantly and was excited about it. On the other hand, there was no trying to convince me that I needed to be more modern and pop. The album is an equal mixture of songs I wrote, he wrote, and we wrote together. But he is a writing machine. He wrote both ‘I Dream of You’ and ‘I Can’t Unlove You’ specifically for my voice when I was away on the road and they’re probably the two songs I do best live. I can’t imagine the album without them.

You just played an album release show, how was that?

Incredible. We held the release show at the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in my hometown Oceanside. It’s a historic theatre and it was so special to have the show in a unique place. Sarah Rogo opened the night and I could not have asked for a more incredible act to join us.

And you’re on tour from May for a couple of months, what do you like about touring?

I just love it. It’s constant stimulus and change. It’s fast-paced and you experience so much life in such a short time. I feel like I’m packing in as many experiences as I can. I’m so incredibly fortunate that this is my job. It’s got some downsides, hence Vagabond Blues haha, but I actively choose to spend about six months on the road, so it can’t be that bad. I think there will be a time when I get worn out, but at this point in my life, I just want to hit it harder. Each year the tour demands grow, the fanbase grows, and the quality of venues goes up, which is exciting. When an unfamiliar face comes to my show and says “I heard your song on the radio” I just about die. That is just the coolest ever. I live for playing live and for playing to the people who dig my songs.

And, obviously, what don’t you like about touring?

I am so sleep-deprived. I don’t think I have gotten a good night’s sleep in over a year. Most nights I sleep in a van or I’m sleeping in a new bed. Come May and moving forward it will be the full band on the road, so it’s going to be tight spacialy. I’m type A, a bit OCD, and very organized. The tiny space can get cluttered quickly. There’s no privacy, we’re just one big family in a tiny box traveling together. I’m the only female in the van and sometimes I just really miss girltime or alone time. Initially, during the first few years of consistent touring, I really struggled not being part of a community, but now I’ve been to some of these towns several times and that feeling has lessened. It’s like I have these little communities blooming in multiple places.

Who’s another artist we should be listening to right now?

Sarah Rogo, who I had at our album release show. She is an incredible rootsy blues slide guitarist and soulful singer. An absolute master at her craft. Theo Lawrence, Francis Blume, DeeOhGee, Phil Hollie, Dylan Bishop, and Natalie Bergman as others you can add to the list too.

What's the best bit of merchandise you have available?

I got vinyl records, CDs, and two shirt designs at kimmibitter.com. With a new shirt design, koozies, and stickers on the way! I have a very limited stock of vinyl jackets in their raw form with the artwork printed but not yet folded into the manufactured jacket, which is a unique piece of merch I have right now. Kind of like a vinyl record poster. Those are only available at the live shows.

Finally, the floor is yours, what’s the last thing you want people to hear from you in this interview?

We have a lot of tour dates posted and more in the works. You can find out where we will be at kimmibitter.com  and we would love to catch you at a show!  And stay tuned, because we have a lot of video content coming out and I am already pondering the next move for the next album.

To find out more about Kimmi then check out her official website. You can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.