Michelle Shocked is asked in the song "Anchorage," "What's it like to be a skateboard punk rocker?" Perhaps it takes a flashback like Short Sharp Shocked to answer fully the more interesting question, "How did you get there?" The album finds Shocked taking a semi-fond trip back to an East Texas childhood, and all of the defined roles, limited expectations, claustrophobia, and ultimate rebellion coming from that environment. Musically, she tackles the spectrum of rootsy folk in a warm way ...   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Corporate hellcat and musical wunderkind Michelle Shocked followed up her pivotal Short Sharp Shocked (1988) with Captain Swing (1989) -- the second entry in what she planned as a trilogy. The two albums are most definitely a study in contrasts. As the project's title suggests, she takes her message-laden selections into a Western swing and big-band motif. However, the artist's sly and often insightful lyrics remain true to Shocked's vision, and are rightfully at the center of her compositio...   [ read more ]

CD $13.28

When producer Pete Lawrence recorded Michelle Shocked on his Sony walkman in 1986, the two unknowingly created a field recording that would break Shocked into the spotlight and eventually get her signed to Mercury Records, where she would jump-start her musical career. As interesting as The Texas Campfire Tapes were for a debut release (albeit unintended), their 1988 successor, Short Sharp Shocked, was the reason people became engaged with Shocked's music and therefore the reason...   [ read more ]

CD $13.28