Michelle Shocked: Difference between revisions

Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston, 24 February, 1962, in Dallas, Texas) is a U.S. singer-songwriter whose music and performances are influenced by her Texas roots, her political activism, and a self-assured style that her first major-label producer likened to troubadours such as Joni Mitchell, Spider John Koerner, and Dave Van Ronk.

Shocked is the daughter of a carpenter and a woman who would end up committing her to a psychiatric hospital when she was 22 years old. She graduated from high school in Gilmer, Texas, and received her bachelor's degree in the Oral Interpretation of Literature from the University of Texas in Austin. She was raised in a strict Mormon household and worked her way through college.

The singer's name dates back to the one she gave when arrested in 1984 at a protest called "The War Chest Tour" during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California. The demonstration challenged the practice of U.S. corporations giving campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican parties, thus benefiting from political favors regardless of which party is elected. "Michelle Shocked" was a play on words intended to resemble the phrase "shell shocked." The front cover of one of her best-known albums, Short Sharp Shocked, shows her restrained by the chokehold of a San Francisco policeman in a front-page photograph published by the San Francisco Examiner the following day.

Shocked received her first international exposure in Europe, particularly Britain, with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes. The album was originally recorded as a field recording directly onto a Sony Walkman at the Kerrville Folk Festival by Pete Lawrence, who represented himself as a journalist for the UK publication Folk Roots and was released as a bootleg on his label, Cooking Vinyl, in 1986.

Her break into U.S. national renown came with the release of her 1988 album Short Sharp Shocked on college radio rotations around the country, which was met with strong acclaim from listeners. On the crest of this independent momentum, her 1989 album Captain Swing on Mercury Records was accompanied by a strong promotional push, including an MTV-aired video of the single "On the Greener Side." However, the label did not invest in further promotion, stating that she had "cut too good a deal" for herself. After litigation following her release of 1992's Arkansas Traveler, she extricated herself from the deal, citing a violation of her 13th Amendment constitutional right prohibiting slavery.

In 1992, Shocked married journalist Bart Bull. They divorced in 2004.[1]

Starting in 2002 with the release of Deep Natural, Michelle established her own label, Mighty Sound. She reissued expanded versions of her entire catalog, a plan made possible by her having retained ultimate ownership of her work when she signed with Mercury in 1987. The label got her work for a 10-year period. After litigation dating back to Mercury's refusal to release a gospel record she wanted to work on, ownership of the material reverted to her.

An acoustic version of her song "How You Play the Game" was featured as the opening and credits soundtrack in the DVD of the 2004 documentary film Bush's Brain.

Shocked continues to make music as an independent artist. In September 2007 she released the awaited but -- for some of her fans -- surprising gospel album ToHeavenURide.

Selected recordings:

• The Texas Campfire Tapes (1986)
• Short Sharp Shocked (1988) #73 US
• Captain Swing (1989) #95 US
• Arkansas Traveler (1992)
• Kind Hearted Woman (1994, with label release (on Private Music) in 1996)
• Artists Make Lousy Slaves (with Fiachna O'Braonain, 1996) sold only at performances, now issued as CDRs and MP3s at michelleshocked.com
• Good News (1998) sold only at performances, now issued as CDRs and MP3s at michelleshocked.com
• Deep Natural (2001)
• Dub Natural (2001) sold only at performances, later issued as a bonus disc with "Deep Natural"
• Don't Ask Don't Tell (2005)*
• Got No Strings (2005)*
• Mexican Standoff (2005)*

• The last three were included on a triple album packaged as "Threesome."
• ToHeavenURide(2007) Live Gospel cd

Mighty Sound re-released two-CD versions of her Mercury releases - Texas Campfire Takes (April 22, 2003), Short Sharp Shocked (September 23, 2003), Captain Swing (March 16, 2004) and Arkansas Traveler (September 14, 2004). Kind Hearted Woman is currently out of print and will be re-issued on Mighty Sound in 2007.

• Michelle Shocked.com - official website
• NNDB profile
• Interview and Live Performance on Chicago TV show "Corporate Country Sucks"
• "Anchorage" video at AOL Video