Michelle Shocked

MICHELLE SHOCKED
SHORT, SHARP, SHOCKED
CRITICAL SOUNDBITES

“Michelle Shocked is simply the brightest new voice unearthed from the American roots-music landscape in a long while.  With an ear to the ground and a thumb to the wind, she has taken the oral-tradition torch handed down by troubadours like Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan and recast its male vocabulary in a post feminist light that erases sexual dividing lines…Short, Sharp, Shocked is a vibrant work, full of character and informed by a political conscience.  Michelle Shocked is a true trailblazer who knows how to play with fire, and Short, Sharp, Shocked is a scorcher.”

        --Janie Matthews, ROLLING STONE, November 3, 1988

“…folk rooted singer songwriter is a talent of the first order…on Short, Sharp, Shocked, the singer’s rich, intoxicating alto alternates between coquettish Southern-belle reminiscences of humorous incidents…and the thoughtful, almost dreamy delivery of reflective songs about friendship.”

        --Holly Gleason, ROLLING STONE, Nov 3, 1988

“Sure, the words roll lazily off her tongue, much in the style of Billie Holiday.  The guitar accompanies them with the studied precision favored by Robert Johnson and other bluesmen…Shocked has a serious voice and an artistic way of presenting the world.”

        --Tom Moon, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, August 14, 1988

“Shocked is an immensely likable artist, one whose music combines biting wit, sharp social commentary and a strong sense of Texas roots.  There’s a bluesiness to much of the material, a hint of country swing in some of it, and a striking contemporary sensibility…”

        --CHICAGO SUN TIMES, August 29, 1988

“SHORT, SHARP, SHOCKED has everything you can ask for in an album—terrific songs with strong melodies and hooks, as well as wonderfully evocative lyrics, great musicianship and a wide range of emotional reaction.”

        --Steve Pick, ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH, September 2, 1988

“The best of these tunes are simple, sturdy folk songs…Shocked’s dark voice, sly phrasing and acoustic guitar are the primary focus, while dobro, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and dulcimer bring many of the rural scenes she writes about vividly to life.”

        --WASHINGTON POST, Sept. 2, 1988

“On Short, Sharp, SHOCKED Shocked proves herself as real and imaginative as any folk predecessor.  But her traditionalism is firmly tied to the contemporary.”

--Tom Lanham, THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER-CHRONICLE, September 25, 1988

“…I can hear the quickening of an honest American voice…Shocked’s songs gel, moving outward from specifics, she speaks boldly about her times in a manner that calls Woody Gutherie to mind.”

        --Leslie Berman, VILLAGE VOICE, September 27, 1988

“The major label debut of this highly-touted Texan singer-songwriter lives up to the promise of The Texas Campfire Tapes…the most promising major label folk debut of the year.”

--THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER-CHRONICLE, September 18, 1988

“Ms. Shocked’s voice is still key.  Her mature singing is a dead ringer, in alternative moments, for as diverse a pair of crooners as Chrissie Hynde and Jennifer Warnes…East Texas’s loss is the world’s gain.  Ms. Shocked is a decent poet and real vocal marvel…Miss it at your own peril. It is the next best thing to Route 66.”

        --LOS ANGELES TIMES, September 16, 1988

“Like the early Bob Dylan, Michelle Shocked seems wise beyond her years.  The best tracks on Short, Sharp, Shocked have a wistful, remembering-the-past quality—tender, sensitive looks at what was or might have been…One of the best albums of the year.”

        --John Mackie, THE VANCOUVER SUN, September 24, 1988

“Every once in a while a voice emerges in pop to blow the music’s pretensions and formats out to sea.  Such is the voice of Michelle Shocked…Shocked blooms under his (co-producer Pete Anderson’s) guidance and attacks each song with precision bringing out the inherent attitude and emotion with the right touch of instrumentation.”

        --Marty Racine, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, October 2, 1988

“…writes about social and sexual politics with a sometimes sly, sarcastic edge…But this album is the real starting line for her career…Shocked swings engagingly through such varied, yet familiar styles as the Memphis rockabilly of ‘Hello Hopeville,’ the seductive blues of ‘If Love Was a Train’ and the contemporary folk canvas of ‘Anchorage’ without letting listeners ever forget that they are in the presence of a spirited and original artist.”

        --LOS ANGELES TIMES, November 27, 1988

  “At long last—country chops meets punk attitude…Guitarist/vocalist Shocked is a superb songwriter, and producer Pete Anderson’s arrangements should make guitarists stand up and cheer.”

        --JG, GUITAR PLAYER, December 1988

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