BIO

“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” writes Michelle Shocked in her “womanifesto,” a tract written in conjunction with her newest recording, ToHeavenURide . “Or at least that’s been my experience.”
 
In the beginning, Shocked writes, “I was moved by the power of rock ’n’ roll. And if you follow the trail from rock ’n’ roll, it always leads you back to the blues, sweet soul music and finally to the churches and gospel music.” In Shocked’s case, it led to the West Angeles COGIC mass choir in the heart of South Central Los Angeles, from whence she has come to the point of “living by the Good Book, and putting out a gospel record.”

The recording's title is a play on the fact it was digitally captured at the 2003 Telluride Bluegrass Festival—and this despite the fact that Shocked’s contract had specifically stated “no recording.” But because that year’s festival was being documented for a projected DVD by a production crew with no knowledge of the contractual stipulation, Shocked’s entire set just happened to be captured for posterity—assuming it was ever unearthed. The recording would have continued to be hidden away in binary limbo had it not occurred to Shocked’s new manager to inquire about the possibility of its existence, and there it was, preserved in the virtual amber of a Pro Tools file. When she heard this group of songs, Shocked realized how perfectly they connected with her present musical and spiritual direction. Hallelujah, y’all.

What makes the performance contained on ToHeavenURide even more intriguing is that, in marked contrast to the act of “preaching to the converted,” as most gospel recordings tend to do, Shocked and her musical cohorts were putting the Good News out there not for a congregation of worshipers but rather for a crowd of people who had no idea they were about to witness an act of spiritual elevation—so in a very real sense, the album documents the progressive coming together of two widely divergent (if not necessarily antithetical) mindsets. It was its incongruous setting that led Shocked to describe this provocative musical statement as a manifestation of “the politics of preaching,” as opposed to preaching per se. And that may well be another first.

The marriage between the spirit of gospel music and the crisp Rocky Mountain air has resulted in a performance that is inspired in more than one sense of the term. Accompanied by a fittingly diverse crew made up of her Bay Area rhythm section, pedal steel player Nick Forster (Hot Rize, etown) and the Dancys from the New Greater Circle Mission Church in South L.A. on backing vocals and keyboards, Shocked delivers 11 songs ranging from the explicitly devotional to what she refers to as “secular gospel.”

“Strange Things Happening Every Day” and “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More” come from the songbook of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of Shocked’s primary influences. She calls Tharpe the “father—well, mother—of rockabilly” in the manifesto, and the songs are dedicated to her spirit. “The Weight” by The Band and Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” representing the secular gospel realm, are given the Shocked treatment, while she draws on the Staples Singers, who moved freely between the church and the concert hall, for “Uncloudy Day” and “Wade in the Water.” The modern gospel standard “Blessed,” by Fred Hammond of the Detroit gospel group Commissioned, completes the list of outside songs.

Shocked also includes four originals here: “The Quality of Mercy” (originally written for the soundtrack of the film Dead Man Walking), “Good News” (commissioned by Greenpeace for the documentary Cancer Alley), “Psalm” (which proves the Psalms are a fertile source of the folk tradition) and “Can’t Take My Joy”—on which she hot-wires gospel and reggae traditions, with a specific nod to the great Bob Marley, who knew a little something about the intersection of praise and revelry.

Let us now return to Shocked’s womanifesto for a greater understanding of this fiercely single-minded artist and the long, strange trip (as she puts it, quoting the Dead) that has led her to this place: “Fifteen years ago, I was moved by a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King: ‘It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing ‘In Christ There Is No East Nor West.’ I decided to mix my metaphors and take the mountain to Mohammad. One white girl attending a black church wasn’t going to change the world or anything, right? I was just going to check out a gospel choir, ya know—and what’s not to love about a gospel choir? Ten years later, on top of another mountain, the Holy Spirit erupted. And now here I am, bringing it home to you.”
 
Michelle's  musical career was ignited by a bootleg recording made around a Kerrville Folk Festival campfire on a Sony Walkman. Released in England as The Texas Campfire Tapes without Shocked’s authority, its success abroad enticed Mercury Records to offer the newcomer a recording contract.

For Mercury, Shocked recorded a trilogy of albums that stand as a captivating primer on American music. Short Sharp Shocked’s spirited folk-rock progressed into Captain Swing’s energetic jump blues, expanding to Arkansas Traveler’s travelogue of minstrel-era country. While songs like “Anchorage,” “Come a Long Way” and “On the Greener Side” achieved popular success, her stylistic iconoclasm frustrated Mercury, particularly since she retained ownership of her masters. Shocked spent several years battling the label before finally “liberating” herself, citing the 13th Amendment.

Following one more foray into major-labeldom with 1996’s Kind Hearted Woman, on BMG’s Private Music, Shocked launched her own Mighty Sound label in 2001. A gospel-tinged debut, Deep Natural in 2002 was followed by reissues of her Mercury albums in 2003-04. In 2005, she defied convention (one of her specialties) by simultaneously releasing another trilogy: the roots-rocking “divorce album” Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Disney-fied western swing set Got No Strings and the Latin/blues blast Mexican Standoff.

In January of this year, Shocked’s entire catalog was released exclusively on iTunes. A month later she released (in digital form only) a Mardi Gras single, “Hardcore Hornography,” and wowed a jaded industry audience at the North American Folk Alliance Conference before heading to Austin for SXSW, Nashville for Tin Pan South and Los Angeles for ASCAP Expo.

ToHeavenYouRide spotlights Shocked where she’s always shone brightest—live onstage, delivering for an audience. The album captures her at her most soulful—in the original spiritual sense of the term. In September, Shocked embarks a full-scale U.S. tour with her band. So continues the journey of a true American original.

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