Kimaya Diggs will release Green, her third studio album, on Friday (Oct 2). The project places the Western Massachusetts R&B/Soul singer-songwriter further into the lead producer's role than any record she has made. She cut basic tracks over three days at Barnfire Creative in Nashville with Dr. Dog drummer Erick Slick. She then engineered roughly a quarter of the album herself.

Her debut, Breastfed, came out in 2018, and Quincy followed in 2023. During the Quincy sessions she told WBUR, "From the get-go, I knew that I wanted to be more of an active producer," and admitted, "I did feel a little out of my depth a lot of times." Breastfed had been recorded with Jacob Rosazza on an iPhone app, and Rosazza returns on Green alongside Ben Sanders on additional production.

On Green she arrived with each song's emotional center already worked out. "I know what this story is supposed to be," she said in the album's announcement. "And I think that is what I need to get the story told." Bassist Rhees Williams, a friend since her performing arts high school, helped assemble the band, and Scott Hundley mixed the finished record.

The album is also the first she feels she could sing with the full power of her voice, following vocal surgery seven years ago and a long rebuild. She lists Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Minnie Riperton, Donny Hathaway, Lauryn Hill and D'Angelo among the music closest to her. Corinne Bailey Rae sits at the top of that list, going back to the moment she heard Bailey Rae sing about a Black girl's natural hair. "I had never heard a song where I saw myself reflected," Diggs said.

The first of three singles, "I Know That I'm Perfect," runs her vocal through a distorted microphone built from an old telephone. She wrote it about an ex-boyfriend who tried to pressure her into having children, calling it a channel for "the rage that comes with being made a side character in a man's story." The second, "Dance With Me," draws on her family of dancers, and Diggs grew up performing, singing with her sisters and playing cello in the family trio Knock a Noodlehead Sister Singers.

The newest single, "Plants (Still Grow)," arrived Sept 18 with a video directed by Eli Howe and shot in her own backyard, where black walnut, jewelweed and pokeweed grow. One lyric reads, "Make me laugh while we make / All the memories that will define / Who we are / When we look back on this summer." The album's notes place that summer inside a harder reality, living as a Black and Desi woman in a mostly white farm town, and Diggs framed the record around where home comes from.

"So much of Green explores the concept of home: does a sense of belonging come from intimately knowing the land that you inhabit, or does it come from the people you surround yourself with?" she said. "For me, it's a little of both, and it oscillates over time: my sense of community evolves."

Diggs plays a hometown release show on Saturday, Oct 10, at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton, Mass., with Alisa Amador opening. Her band draws on longtime Western Massachusetts players, among them members of LuxDeluxe and Cloudbelly. A second release celebration follows on Saturday, Oct 17, at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Mass., with Miranda Rae and Grace Givertz. A third lands Oct 30 at Next Stage Arts in Putney, Vt.

Between those dates the tour runs through Keene, N.H., Providence, Rochester, Burlington, Vt., Westerly, R.I., and Windsor, Conn., with a New York stop at Nublu Classic on Oct 18. A Southeast leg opens Nov 5 at the 5 Spot in Nashville and moves through Athens, Atlanta, Durham, Knoxville, Charlotte and Asheville before closing Nov 13 at the Pilot Light in Chattanooga.

The West Coast run starts in January. On Jan 15 in Bellingham, Wash., Diggs opens for Mavis Staples at the Mount Baker Theatre, after earlier support dates with Staples, Trombone Shorty and Emily King. From there the dates move to Seattle, Portland, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Oakland before the run ends Jan 23 at Oblivion in Los Angeles.

KIMAYA DIGGS TOUR DATES
10/10 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music Theatre
10/13 – Keene, NH – Nova Arts
10/14 – Providence, RI – The Parlour
10/15 – Rochester, NY – Bar Bad Ending
10/16 – Burlington, VT – Radio Bean
10/17 – Boston, MA – Lizard Lounge
10/18 – New York, NY – Nublu Classic
10/22 – Westerly, RI – Studio 39A
10/23 – Windsor, CT – Windsor Art Center
10/30 – Putney, VT – NextStage Arts
11/5 – Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
11/6 – Athens, GA – Hendershot’s
11/7 – Atlanta, GA – House Concert
11/8 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook
11/10 – Knoxville, TN – The Light
11/11 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
11/12 – Asheville, NC – Sly Grog Lounge
11/13 – Chattanooga, TN – The Pilot Light

2027
1/15 – Bellingham, WA – House Show
1/15 – Bellingham, WA – Mount Baker Theatre with Mavis Staples
1/17 – Seattle, WA – Ballard Homestead
1/18 – Portland, OR – Jack London Revue
1/20 – Santa Rosa, CA – Lost Church
1/21 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place
1/22 – Oakland, CA – Castle in the Sky
1/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Oblivion