All photos taken at Shipping & Receiving Bar in Fort Worth, TX by Alan Mercer
In Austin’s exalted music scene, Shelley King ranks among the royals; in 2008, she even received a title: Official State Musician of Texas from the Texas Legislature. Superlative, powerhouse, smart and savvy are only a few of the adjectives used to describe Shelley King, who is debuting her 9th album, ‘Kick Up Your Heels,’ out on November 8, 2019.
The blues, roots-rock, gospel singer stands out in the crowd as an award-winning songwriter, steeped in Americana music. Born in Arkansas, and raised back and forth between Arkansas and Texas, Shelley has surrounded herself with A-list mentors from Marcia Ball to John Magnie and Delbert McClinton.
Shelley King is a self-made woman who carries herself with strength and assurance, even a little swagger at times, but who also has a sensitive, vulnerable side, and a well of compassion — along with the ability to still find wonder in the world. All of which make for powerful songwriting, the kind that gets noticed by artists such as Lee Hazlewood, who recorded King’s “Texas Blue Moon” with Nancy Sinatra after he heard Shelley’s version on the radio while driving through the state.
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Shelley also has appeared with Carolyn Wonderland on the world-renowned PBS series ‘Austin City Limits,’ as well as on stages throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. She also appears on Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Show with Marcia Ball. Since quitting a sales job to pursue music full time in 1998, she’s had many magical career moments.
She began singing as a toddler. Following her parents’ split and her mom’s remarriage, Shelley wound up in Houston, then Amarillo, where she landed in the children's choir at her grandmother’s church. After another stint in Houston, her mother divorced again, and Shelley wound up with her other grandmother back in Arkansas. She found salvation — literally — in a one-room country church, where she built a social life, gained solace from familial turmoil and soloed weekly. Sometimes her uncles accompanied her on guitar. That’s when she started writing songs, inspired by her beloved Caddo River and a teenager’s hopes and dreams.
She began singing as a toddler. Following her parents’ split and her mom’s remarriage, Shelley wound up in Houston, then Amarillo, where she landed in the children's choir at her grandmother’s church. After another stint in Houston, her mother divorced again, and Shelley wound up with her other grandmother back in Arkansas. She found salvation — literally — in a one-room country church, where she built a social life, gained solace from familial turmoil and soloed weekly. Sometimes her uncles accompanied her on guitar. That’s when she started writing songs, inspired by her beloved Caddo River and a teenager’s hopes and dreams.
Shelley returned to Texas for college, self-financed via her own business. She planned on law school, but after working for a lawyer and starting her own band, she realized music, not law, was her passion. She gigged around Houston for a couple of years, then moved to Austin. By day, she worked as a sales rep; the rest of the time, she lived for music. One day she realized she would forever regret it if she didn’t at least try to follow her heart. She quit her job, went home and booked 11 gigs that day. She also formed her label, Lemonade Records. In addition to being the first woman to hold the State Musician title (she preceded Willie Nelson), her accolades include several Austin Music Awards. But she values opportunities to collaborate with musical heroes — and friends — as much as any award.
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photo credit: unknown
‘Kick Up Your Heels’ is her best effort yet, with guest artists Delbert McClinton, The Subdudes, Marcia Ball, Carolyn Wonderland, Byron Isaacs (Lumineers) and Cindy Cashdollar.
‘Kick Up Your Heels’ runs the gamut of emotions, beginning with an introspective memory of one of her musical heroes, Levon Helm. The album’s opening track, “Levon’s New Drumset” had its beginning as she was sitting on a porch in Woodstock, New York, collecting words and images for this song but not completing it. Over several more trips to Woodstock she reworked the lyrics, each time adding a little more to the story. Inspiration struck again when she was playing a Midnight Ramble with the Woodstock Lone Stars: a super-group including Carolyn Wonderland, Marcia Ball, Cindy Cashdollar, Amy Helm, and a Woodstock based rhythm section.
“Storming in the South” takes the listeners through the hurricanes that rip through the South and the high winds in a relationship between two people who have chosen to take it on, go through it together, and come out on the other side. It is a song of resilience, and of sticking together, and making it through the storm.
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photo credit: Scott Newton
The album brings on the party full-force with “Hurricane Party.” Shelley said she was walking on a trail near her Texas hill country home, when her friend and mentor, Marcia Ball called to say her Florida tour was canceled because of a hurricane, “so, let’s play dominoes.” Shelley said, “It’s a hurricane party!” and immediately started working on this song. She sang lines into her phone, texting song verses back and forth, co-writing with Marcia, it all came together before she got off the trail – in time for a game of dominoes! Delbert McClinton and Marcia bring guest vocals to this highlight of the album. It’s definitely a party.
‘Kick Up Your Heels’ is a high-water mark for Shelley King. Through multiple incarnations of bands with friends and collaborators, and performing at hundreds of house concerts, honky tonks, theaters, festivals and solo shows, she has explored different avenues and attitudes, but she has hit her stride with this new project. She proves with this album, created with her musical friends and family, that music is much more than a career for her.
I met up with Shelley King at the Shipping & Receiving nightclub in Fort Worth, Texas before her performance with Carolyn Wonderland. We took some photos and then talked about her new album and everything I love about her music.
Alan Mercer: Shelley, your new album has several mentions of rainy weather. What’s that about?
Shelley King: I am inspired a lot when it rains. I do find a lot of rain references in my songs. I think that is kind of who I am. The songs just kind of found their way to be that common thread. The storm comes up at the beginning and then there’s a hurricane and then there’s a party and the whole thing is a big party. I feel like you’re up against all odds and you persevere and finally you’re thinking we have to have a good time no matter what. It’s really a party album.
AM: That was your intention wasn’t it?
SK: I think so. It feels like a party.
AM: Your albums are getting more and more party themed. The first ones were a little more Country music influenced.
SK: Yeah, I think over time I’ve been growing from this Country place to more of a Blues thing. I do think all my records have a Country Blues sound mixed with Soul and Gospel. This new one is really for dancing. A lot of people come up to me at my merch table and ask me which album is the most dance-able. It will be my new one totally.
AM: You recorded an old gospel number called, ‘I Know I’ve Been Changed’ that is very powerful.
SK: That’s a traditional old gospel song. I think it was my mom who discovered that song for me first. I started looking for more renditions of that song and all I could find were these preachers in the deep South singing it to their congregation as part of their sermon. What a song! That song got stuck in my head and I couldn’t stop singing it. I wasn’t planning on recording it, but when I got into the recording studio, I just started singing it, so I said, let’s record this. I love it. It’s haunting.
AM: It is haunting. You come from a musical family and yet you thought you were going to be a lawyer?
SK: I’m a mom now with a teenage son and I can see where that was coming from in my head. I knew I had musicians in my family, but they were not professional musicians and not pursuing that. I just didn’t see a path for it. I didn’t have a role model for that so I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I could go to college and have a regular career. As a kid I thought I’d be a lawyer and be rich and I liked law shows on TV. I went to work for a lawyer while I was in college and realized this was super boring. I ended up growing away from the whole idea. I thought what the heck am I doing, all I really want to do is play music.
AM: Were you writing songs at this time?
SK: Yes, I’ve been writing songs since I was 13 years old. I had them in a hidden away notebook. Nobody ever heard them. I started playing with a band in 1990. We did a couple of my songs, but we did mostly covers.
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AM: How did you start performing your own songs?
SK: I tried to get a gig in Houston that primarily hired musicians that do original music. I went in with my set list which was primarily covers and they asked what is this? They asked if I had any of my own songs and said they wanted to hear those.
AM: Wow, I didn’t know originals were a requirement at some clubs.
SK: It had never dawned on me that anybody would want to hear anything I wrote. That woke me up to the fact that my songs were worthy, and I should do something with them, so I started focusing on my songwriting. I moved from the Houston area to Austin in 1992 and was really exposed to incredible songwriters. That’s where some of the Country music influence comes from, other than the fact that I grew up in Arkansas and Texas.
AM: You have naturally evolved as a songwriter.
SK: Being exposed to all the great music coming out of Austin in the early 90’s made me realize I should not just be singing dance songs with a band. I needed to be saying something. I worked on my songwriting and had some success with the Texas Country thing, but I love the Blues. Back when I was playing Gruene Hall all the time singing Country I really wanted to be singing with Delbert McClinton and now he’s on my record.
AM: All your dreams are coming true!
SK: They really are.
AM: How was it having your song, ‘Call Of My Heart’ winning awards?
SK: It won Song of the Year in 2002. That really gave me a big boost. I’d been struggling trying to gather an audience and get some people to pay attention. My record went under the radar, but then Toni Price picked up my first album and ended up covering two songs off of it for her ‘Midnight Pumpkin’ release in 2001. It went right to radio and they played the heck out of it. She played it on ‘Austin City Limits,’ which was the biggest thrill, just hearing when Terry Lickona’s voice announced her and she started her show with my song! Wow, it was so awesome.
AM: That is pretty awesome but what about being the first woman to be appointed Official State Musician of Texas by the legislature in 2008?
SK: That was pretty awesome too. It’s way up there and is pretty huge. It’s a great honor.
AM: You certainly deserve it, but I wouldn’t have thought you would get that honor back then.
SK: I wouldn’t have thought that I would get it either. When I found out I was on the short list for nomination and then looked at the short list of the people who had it before me, it was a huge honor to just be on the list. There’s not a chance in hell I’ll get it and I flipping got it. I don’t know what happened that day, but somebody in the legislature liked me so that worked out great. (Laughter)
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AM: It sure did. You belong with Willie Nelson and all the others who have received the honor.
SK: It’s probably a lot more competitive and a lot harder to be named State Musician now.
AM: I like that the title stays with you forever.
SK: You can’t take it away.
AM: I want to talk about another song you wrote called ‘Texas Blue Moon.’ Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra recorded it. Were you happy with it?
SK: It’s super cool they chose my song. It doesn’t matter how I liked the production. I did like it because it was them and that was cool. It was kind of mind blowing and one of those things that just happened out of the blue. Apparently, Lee Hazlewood, who wrote ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ and his wife were driving through Texas and they heard the song on the radio. He thought it would be a great song to do with Nancy on their duet album. His wife tracked down my song and they cut it in a studio in Nashville and it was already released in New Zealand.
AM: How did you even find out about it?
SK: This Austrian Music Journalist came to one of my shows in Austin at this little BBQ joint I played every Wednesday. This guy came in and said he wanted to congratulate me on my Nancy Sinatra cut. I thought, you must have me confused with somebody else. I don’t think that’s me. (Laughter) Then he said, no it was me. Now I know this guy and he does know music. Could he be right…no. I went home and googled it and sure enough, I found her album with my name credited properly. My name was spelled right. It was real.
AM: Talk about excitement.
SK: Probably the coolest part of it was getting to meet both of them. I got to go to his home in Las Vegas for his 78th birthday party and met Nancy and hung out with them. Of course, I was really nervous about it because I envisioned this big Hollywood party but there were 12 people there. Actually, Lee Hazlewood was really ill with cancer. He passed away 6 weeks later.
AM: What was Nancy Sinatra like?
SK: I remember I was shopping, trying to figure out what to wear. I got my boots all fancied up and shined up, so I’d look good. Nancy showed up in jeans, a T-shirt, a crunched-up straw cowboy hat and tennis shoes that have the spring on the back of the heal. I thought to myself, those boots aren’t made for walking. What are you wearing? (Laughter) It was just a casual dinner. They told stories and we sat around and played guitars and sang songs. It was really cool and a great experience.
AM: Overall, you have to be pleased with your career.
SK: Yeah, I’ve had a lot of good fun. Some interesting doors have opened, and I’ve taken some interesting paths.
AM: Are you open minded about the future?
SK: Sure. I love to play music, I love to travel, I love to play music with a lot of different people. Since I’ve spent a lot of time up in Woodstock, Carolyn Wonderland and I have become friends with Amy Helm, Levon’s daughter. We’ve got a couple of different band projects we do with her. I tour with Carolyn a lot and with this new album I will be doing a lot of duo touring. I’ve got a kid in school and my husband is my drummer, so I’ll probably be getting with a guitarist and going around the country doing smaller shows.
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Shelley with Carolyn Wonderland
AM: More and more musicians are doing acoustic tours it seems.
SK: It works. I like touring with my band too. They are a lot of fun.
AM: How do you avoid the pitfalls of the road?
SK: You do not avoid the pitfalls of the road. Do not kid yourself. You will not escape. (Laughter)
AM: You’ve had a lot of experience, so you know how to handle things.
SK: I’ve had a lot of experience but you can never experience everything so there are always surprises. Something new will happen any minute. I’ve had crazy things happen and somehow you get through it and you live to tell this ridiculous story. My husband always says adventures suck while you’re actually having them. When you look back you always say, “Oh, it was an adventure.” (Laughter)
AM: Do you have any other projects you want to talk about?
SK: I do have more new music coming out after the beginning of the new year. I have an all-girl band with Carolyn, Sarah Brown, Lisa Pankratz, the drummer with Dave Alvin’s band, and Floramay Holliday, who is a singer/songwriter based in Dallas now. We have an all-girl band called Sis Deville and we have a 7 song EP that is finished. It should be out by Spring 2020.
To learn more about Shelley King visit her web site https://www.shelleyking.com/