Well-known singer and songwriter Michelle Shocked is set to perform at the Fugard Theatre in August with long-time touring partner, bassist Schalk Joubert of Cape Town. The two of them have toured together for the last five years in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. They will be also be joined by other top SA-born musicians including drummer Kevin Gibson and the multitalented Melissa van der Spuy on keyboards and vocals. Michelle describes herself as “I’m the most sophisticated hillbilly you’ll ever meet.” When Michelle Shocked says this about herself, it’s hard not to crack up. ‘Hillbilly,’ after all, is no compliment. And frankly, it’s tough to reconcile that reflex image of a backwoods, overalls-and-a-smile hillbilly with this focused, erudite singer-songwriter. If such a creature exists, however, Shocked is its picture, sans Billy-Bob teeth. Come to think of it, she was born in or at least near the backwoods of East Texas — and get this — to a carny father and a fresh-faced high-school mother after being conceived, if memory serves, “in the backseat of my Uncle Huby’s Chevy at the prom.” Her upbringing was more well-rounded. In her early childhood, Shocked logged thousands of miles as a military brat, living in Massachusetts, Germany and Maryland, before returning to Texas. She lived there until her early twenties, experiencing the stark contrast — and copious benefits — of having a fundamentalist Mormon mother, Army lifer stepfather, and hippie teacher-slash-“ultimate autodidact” father. Eager to further expand her horizons, Shocked eventually decamped for San Francisco and, ultimately, the peripatetic life of a touring musician. Fittingly, there’s a phantom Texas taproot and that self-styled wanderlust in her music. Much like the work of her East Texas peers Willie Nelson, Victoria Williams and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Shocked’s songs hold fast to a definite core, but owe no stylistic allegiance — just like their itinerant, mercurial, utilitarian creators. Shocked identifies strongly with her musical compatriots, and not just because they’re from her neck of the woods.
“My family was welfare class,” says Shocked, “and that makes you really, really, white trash. [These artists] helped remove class bias because they have all been given honorary middle-class value because of what they’ve achieved in their music.” Michelle received international exposure with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes and her 1988 album Short Sharp Shocked. In 1996, she released a studio version of an underground release, Kind Hearted Woman (black cover) on the short-lived Private Music label. Starting in 2002 with the release of Deep Natural, Michelle established her own label, Mighty Sound. In 2005 she released a trilogy of albums called Threesome. In 2007 she released the album ToHeavenURide and her latest album was released in 2009, titled Soul of My Soul.
Comments
Post a Comment