Just three years ago, country singer-songwriter Kimmi Bitter was struggling to carve out aname for herself in San Diego’s tight-knit music industry.
Now following the release of her 2024 debut album, Old School, she has the most nominations of any artist at the 2025 San Diego Music Awards, coming up on Tuesday.
Bitter (yes, that’s her real name) is nominated in four categories: Artist of the Year; Album ofthe Year; Song of the Year (for “Cowboy Kind of Girl”), and Best Country or Americana Album.
“I’m really thankful and grateful,” she said during an exclusive interview. “I’m still kind of shocked about it, because three years ago, I wasn’t nominated for anything.”
Breaking in
Back then she and her musician boyfriend Willis Farnsworth were living in a broken down old van and still figuring out how to network and make an impact on the regional Country/Americana music scene.
“It’s really cool (to have so many nominations) and I’m really grateful,” she said. “San Diego… is my hometown, but it’s been kind of hard (to break through musically). I’ve been in thisscene for a long time, maybe like, 10, 15 years, and it was a really hard scene for me to breakinto and kind of be accepted and recognized in.
“So, it’s really cool to be nominated for so many big awards this year,” she continued. “I thinkit proves that if you want something, you can have it if you work hard.”
Bitter originally came to San Diego County with her family after a move to Oceanside from San Jose right before she began high school. But her musical aspirations predate that bymany years.
She said she has known since she was in third grade that she wanted to be a musician.
“I grew up in the ‘90s and I really loved Jewel when I was a kid,” she revealed. “She was asinger-songwriter, and that’s what I think made that spark ignite within me.”
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Bitter said she grew up admiring the music of ‘90s female Country singers like MartinaMcBride, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood and Shania Twain. As she got older, she discoveredolder music from legendary artists like Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash.
Her debut album, Old School, has a very traditional sound, which makes her part of a long line of San Diego-area artists who have been inspired by the past, They’re creating music that’s new and original, from the retro R&B of Thee Sacred Souls to the vintage surf rock of Sun Room.
Those two acts also happen to be nominated for Artist of the Year at the San DiegoMusic Awards – set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Humphreys by the Bay – along with soulful musician Anthony Cullins, deathgrind metal band Cattle Decapitation, harmonic rock band Daring Greatly and post-hardcore group Pierce the Veil.
‘Countrypolitan’
Bitter’s music has been described as classic Country, traditional Country and Americana,among other things. But Bitter said she prefers the term “Countrypolitan.”
“Countrypolitan is that era to me specifically in the late ‘50s and the first half of the ‘60s whenthey were trying to make Country music really relevant and popular and cross over into popmusic,” she explained. “It’s kind of a hybrid of ‘60s pop and traditional Country music.
“There’s something about that era that feels very nostalgic and homey to me even though Ididn’t live through it,” she added. “I am just obsessed with it.”
It just took time for her to see her path.
“I feel like it’s always what I’ve wanted to be, but I didn’t really hone into it until my 30s, with the whole kind of retro style,” she said. “But it really is truly what I love.”
More info
Three acts nominated for multiple San Diego Music Awards, Kimmi Bitter, Daring Greatly and Jesse Ray Smith, are scheduled to perform at the Holding Company in Ocean Beach at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 on the day of the show.
See the San Diego Music Awards website for more information about the nominees and Tuesday’s show, which, in addition to honoring local music and musicians, benefits the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program. Tickets are available for $43.
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