Kimmie Rhodes

Kimmie Rhodes is a singer-songwriter from Wichita Falls, Texas, born in 1954 and later based in Austin. Her work sits in folk, country, alt-country and Americana, and she builds a long recording career around original songs, collaborations and stage work.

Songwriting and recording

Rhodes writes songs that are recorded by other artists, including Willie Nelson, Wynonna Judd, Trisha Yearwood, Amy Grant, CeCe Winans, Joe Ely, John Farnham, Waylon Jennings, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. She records under her own label, Sunbird Music, and also releases work through Sunbird Records. Her discography includes sixteen solo CDs.

Her albums include Kimmie Rhodes and the Jackalope Brothers, Man In the Moon, Angels Get The Blues, West Texas Heaven, Rich From the Journey, Love Me Like A Song, Picture In A Frame, Lost & Found, Windblown, Ten Summers, Walls Fall Down, Miracles On Christmas Day, Dreams of Flying, Covers and Cowgirl Boudoir. Several of these records are produced by her son, Gabriel Rhodes.

Willie Nelson records two of her songs on Just One Love, and she also records a duet project with him, Picture in a Frame. She appears with Emmylou Harris on “Ordinary Heart”, and Harris’s performance of the song receives a Grammy nomination. Rhodes also co-writes “Lines” with Waylon Jennings and records with him on television.

Early life and career

Rhodes grows up in Wichita Falls and moves with her family to Lubbock at the age of five. She begins singing as a child, performing at churches, nursing homes and school events, and learns music through choirs and harmony singing. Later she marries, moves to a farm in Sunset, Texas, raises two sons, Jeremie and Gabriel Rhodes, works in floristry and runs an independent greenhouse business before returning to music as a songwriter and guitarist.

Her formal recording career begins in Austin in 1979, when TJ McFarland introduces her to Joe Gracey and a figure in the Austin progressive country scene. She forms Kimmie Rhodes & The Jackalope Brothers with Joe Gracey and Bobby Earl Smith, and she records her first album at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in 1980 at Nelson’s invitation. She also fronts The Texas Tunesmiths, led by steel guitarist Jimmy Day, and continues to perform regional country, progressive country and western swing music.

Collaborators, broadcasts and stage work

Rhodes marries Joe Gracey in 1982, and he becomes her record producer, bass player, business partner and close creative collaborator until his death in 2011. Together they have a daughter, Jolie Goodnight, who becomes a jazz singer and burlesque performer. Rhodes later tours internationally with Gabriel Rhodes, who is her producer and multi-instrumentalist son.

She works with Rondor Music International as a co-publisher and writer for more than a decade. Her television appearances include Austin City Limits, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Nashville Network’s Legend Series. She also appears on Willie Nelson’s satellite Cowboy Channel in The Johnny Gimble Show.

Beyond music, Rhodes writes and produces musicals and theatre pieces. Her works include Small Town Girl, Hillbilly Heaven and Windblown. She also works as a playwright, actress, script editor, assistant director and musical director, and appears in films and a theatre production titled Is There Life After Lubbock?

Other media and projects

Rhodes serves as associate producer on the documentary They Called Us Outlaws presented by the Country Music Hall of Fame, and she produces radio documentary and music programming for Radio Dreams, a series focused on the history of American roots music. Her songs appear on film and television soundtracks, including Babe: A Pig in the City, Mrs. Winterbourne, Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will, Touched by an Angel and Happy Texas.

She also publishes a novella/cookbook, writes books and plays, and operates her own studio and publishing company in Austin. She remains active as a performer and recording artist, touring with Gabriel Rhodes and continuing to release material through Sunbird.