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Features Heavens Above Monday, March 03, 2008 Michelle Shocked Goes Gospel. By Brian Wise.
More than twenty years ago Michelle Shocked made an unwilling recording debut when what turned out to be a bootleg recording, The Texas Campfire Tapes, propelled her into the folk spotlight when it was released in Britain.
In a strange twist of fate her latest album, To Heaven U Ride, was recorded at the 2003 Telluride Bluegrass Festival without her knowledge but by a well-meaning crew who were making a DVD and placed the tapes in the archive, never intending to release them. This time around Shocked seized the opportunity and has released the recordings on her own label.
The album marks somewhat of a watershed in Shocked’s career after her amazing project of 2005 when she released three albums simultaneously – available together as Threesome or separately as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Got No Strings and Mexican Standoff. They featured different aspects of Shocked’s diverse musical personality (including an album of break-up songs) and represent a unique achievement, impossible under the aegis of a major label. Sure, her first three official albums – Short Sharp Shocked, Captain Swing and Arkansas Traveler – had moved her through different musical backgrounds but they were released over a period of six years.
At the start of the millennium, after many battles with the majors, Shocked had taken control of her career, formed her own label and pursued her own vision, which allows her to re-release some of her old material (including that first album). To Heaven U Ride reflects her long-time interest in gospel music, which was fuelled by living for some years in New Orleans and magnified by living in Los Angeles for the past few years and singing in a community choir.
For the Telluride performance Shocked was accompanied by pedal steel player Nick Forster and the Dancys from the New Greater Circle Mission Church in South L.A. on backing vocals and keyboards.
The music is what Shocked refers to as ‘secular gospel.’ So you get Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s ‘Strange Things Happening Every Day’ and ‘Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.’ There are also the Staples Singers songs ‘Uncloudy Day’ and ‘Wade in the Water,’ as well as the modern gospel of ‘Blessed.’ Also included are four originals: ‘The Quality of Mercy’ (originally on the soundtrack of Dead Man Walking), ‘Good News’ (written for the Greenpeace documentary Cancer Alley), ‘Psalm’ and the reggae-fied ‘Can’t Take My Joy.’
“Recorded is one way of describing it, bootlegged is another,” says Shocked of her latest album when she joins me on the line from Los Angeles to talk about her forthcoming tour.
So haven’t you put this out yourself?
That’s the truth. I found out about the recording, I listened to it and decided maybe it deserves to see the light of day - so a little bit of a contradiction there. But back to your question about the gospel influence, it seems like I’ve been kind of working my way towards this for a long, long, long time. I don’t know if I would have had the courage to make a gospel album left to my own devices or, at least put it this way, make a studio gospel album – because I just don’t feel qualified. But here this thing was already recorded and it was just for me to judge whether it was good enough to release to my fans and I think it’s pretty darn good.
Well from the perversity of having it recorded against your wishes things have turned out okay, it seems.
That’s exactly what they said about The Texas Campfire Tapes too. They say well look if you hadn’t of been bootlegged you would of never have been discovered. So therein lies the paradox.
Slightly different case though because back then other people made some money out of your recording. In this case, hopefully, you’ll be making some money out of it.
Brian, say that again!
I said in this case hopefully you’ll be making some money out of it.
Yeay!!! What a difference a decade makes…two decades if you want to know the truth.
So it’s a completely different situation in that regard.
Absolutely - and about time too.
Well it’s a terrific live album. It’s obviously a really enthusiastic performance - maybe even made better by the fact that you didn’t even realise that you were being recorded.
I think so. I think that had a lot to do with it. It was very unselfconscious and I will be the first, I even say it on the record, ‘Do I look like a gospel singer?’ But what I recognise in the recording was exactly you put you’re finger on it - the enthusiasm.
I’ve always said that about playing music from the background that I come from. I consider myself not to be a trained or a qualified professional musician but rather just a vernacular musician.
What I’ve always noticed about vernacular music tradition is that enthusiasm seems to make the difference between someone’s qualifications to participate or not. There are people that take it so seriously and are so technically proficient and they miss the spirit of it. I lean towards people who - maybe their technical delivery is not worthy of an Olympic judge’s discernment…….but, boy, I love someone who just gets behind it and is a true believer. That’s pretty much what I bring to the party.
Read the full story in March Rhythms.
To Heaven U Ride is available through Planet or www.michelleshocked.com Michelle Shocked will be at Byron Bluesfest on March 21 and 22 plus other dates. Check gig guide.
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