Kristi Kimsey, né Barton, recorded a series of her own remarkable songs in the late 1970s, in the early years of her relationship with record producer Chris Kimsey. While Chris built his 50-year career as the “must-have” recording engineer/producer to The Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Ten Years After, Johnny Hallyday, Duran Duran, The Proclaimers, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh and many others (eventually reopening London’s legendary recording studios Olympic as a cinema in 2013, and now building a recording studio there), Kristi dedicated herself to her marriage and her family. But she couldn’t forget her own recordings, when she was joined in impromptu sessions by Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, Keith Richards (with whom she was photographed duetting on one of her songs), and Frank Carillo among others.

Both she and Chris believed the recordings lost, until 2020 when they set to sorting out years of accumulated belongings kept in storage. In a “eureka” moment, they unearthed cassettes of these tremendous songs, and Chris was able to engineer the recordings digitally for commercial release. Kristi’s ‘As I Look Back’, is her first LP at the age of 70, released digitally on Chris’s own Undercover Music in 2021 and, this year, on vinyl by Japanese label Bright Size Records. Here she tells us more, all about her fascinating ‘Audio World’…

I grew up in Minnesota, by Lake Minnetonka outside Minneapolis, until I finished high school, playing with the same group of kids from kindergarten through to high school. It was a very safe and secure environment, yet we had freedom to roam outdoors, or in a ‘putt putt’ boat on the lake. I remember big band music and my parents dancing in the living room. They had big parties and socialised a lot. Gospel was also important: when I visited my grandparents in the south, I had lots of memories of the music and the people who sang it. The first gig I went to was The Beatles in 1965, at the Metropolitan Stadium, Minneapolis, when I was 12 years old. My super cool friend invited six of us for her birthday to the concert and we had binoculars to see the band. It was their only gig in Minnesota. They were in the middle of the field, on the pitcher’s mound. The screaming didn’t stop but we were underneath the speaker so we could hear the “Yea, yea yeas”.

After that I formed a group called the Mop Tops and sung Beatles songs. I started playing piano at a very young age and took lessons. I was always shy and a bookworm. I loved words, writing long poems that morphed into lyrics. I’m a ‘60s hippy through and through and I was so fortunate: all the bands would tour from coast to coast so I hitch-hiked and blagged my way in to see Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Doors, Bob Marley & The Wailers and all the Soul greats. It was a wonderful age to see live music.

My family were great travellers. I loved the music in Mexico which influenced me: I taught myself guitar after hearing Mariachi bands in Mexico and started writing on the guitar at about 15 years old. Music is my deep love and was always part of who I am, but I never imagined myself as a professional singer songwriter and I was never validated in music until many years later.

I was busy being out in the world: when I left high school, I wanted to travel - other cultures and languages interested me. I travelled to Mexico, South America, Europe, Paris and London, working and busking on the way to earn money. Throughout my travels, I was an adventurer and a believer in new experiences, so I had no hesitation in just grabbing what life gave. I played my songs and people seemed to like them: they had no clue who I was, but I was entertaining enough. My time in London was really when my musical development began and where my songs were recorded.

There I met a wonderful group of friends including Alvin Lee’s then partner Suzanne Lee. She said, “While you figure things out, stay with us at Hook End Manor.” [Lee’s historic house and recording studio in Oxfordshire, later owned by other music icons including David Gilmour and Trevor Horn]. Suzanne is responsible for Chris and I meeting. He worked with Alvin and Ten Years After and there was such a concentration of talent in that area: Eric Clapton and George Harrison lived close by. Chris worked with Alvin on several projects including an LP with FBI (Funky Bands Inc).

Alvin asked me to sing on various recordings and one day I was playing the piano in the studio when Alvin came in with Mick Ralphs of Bad Company. Alvin said, “What’s that?” I said, “That’s one of my songs.” And he said, “We have to record this now!” I was in shock. Alvin was a friend, but I was in awe of him as a musician – he’d had one of the standout hits of the original Woodstock Festival! I couldn’t believe it - he engineered the recording and it was live and very spontaneous. There was no other agenda than the joy of being able to do it. I thought, “Wow, these are my heroes who I respect and admire and they like my music and my voice!” Up to that point, I hadn’t revealed my music to them.

Chris was working on the Stones’ LP ‘Emotional Rescue’ at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, in the Bahamas, and he and I were staying in the studio’s house. The phone rang at midnight, and I thought it was Chris saying he was coming home but it was Keith. I said, “Chris isn’t here,” and he said, “No I want to talk to you”. Keith had heard me jamming one night with some of the band.

Ian Stewart (Stu) suggested I join them for fun.

Keith had always wanted to record ‘Let’s Go Steady Again’, a classic Sam Cooke recording and said, “I want you to sing the song with me,” and I went, “Yea!” The next day I walked into the studio, and everyone was in the control room and that’s where Chris took the polaroid photo. It was cheeky of him as in those days there were no photos allowed in the studio: it was a sacred space.

To sing with Keith was a dream come true, I will always love him for loving my voice. I grew up listening to the Rolling Stones and they are one of my all-time favourite bands in the world.