Michelle Shocked (given name: Karen Michelle Johnston) is an indy folk artist who became a musician almost accidentally. Her first album (The Texas Campfire Tapes) was a bootleg recording of her made on a Sony Walkman performing an impromptu set at 1986 Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. The recording (released without her permission) became a hit in the UK and led to a recording contract.
Her next album, 1988's Short Sharp Shocked reached #73 on the album charts, while "Anchorage" hit #66 on the singles chart, making her a bona fide indy folk star. Shocked followed this up with a 40s style swing album (1989's Captain Swing) and a folk / old time country album (1992's Arkansas Traveler). When she recorded a gospel album next, her exasperated label dropped her, and she has continued to record interesting music in a variety of genres (mostly folk based) since then.
"Anchorage" is a pretty, slightly sad song sung as if it were a letter. While the lyrics are straightforward, there is a beauty to them -- and more than a hint of feminism and nostalgia. As with many great songs, it is open-ended enough to allow many interpretations.
Note: As folks can see below, Michelle Shocked has asked that we pull the video, and so we have.
And That's What's Great About This Site
ReplyDeleteAccept Then Michelle Shocked
The 80's Where All Over The Place
Just A Great Site To Remember That
What's Next? Just Like Watching Early 80's MTV
-Sam
Both the song and the album would be on my list of best 1980's folk music.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely.
I don't have much to add to what you have written except I completely agree with you. I really liked this tune and went searching for it and found this site. That song kind of brought a tear to my eye and made me think of times gone bye, bye.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. Folks who are finding this (or linking to it) should click the title to explore other Eighties Rare Videos, and can like us on Facebook for an update (with trivia) whenever we update the site (around 3x per week).
ReplyDeleteHey, were do you have your video and Michelle Shocked singing posted, all my Michelle Shocked videos on my 'GShots' TV channel are gone, persumable pulled for some reason, I believe by Michelle Shocked herself, and other vids which should contain her voice are quite S-I-L-E-N-T.
ReplyDeleteHow Shocking!
Gary J. Mondfrans,
Chief Videographer,
G-ShotsTV,
'GShotsTV' on YouTUBE
Sorry about the typos, there is no edit feature.
Deletewere=where
posted,=posted.
all=All
~G-~~
Thanks for stopping by -- the video is on blogger, I think, but I don't remember where it originally came from.
Deletelove this song
ReplyDeletethere is a live version of this song cant find it any where :-((
ReplyDeleteUnforgettable song from waaaaay back. Lovely, haunting. Kacey Musgraves now flying a similar musical flag, thanks be.
ReplyDeleteAn absolutely amazing song. My fav. for the 30+ years since its release. A real shame I dont have ease of sharing it with my children. I guess Michelle has her reasons.
ReplyDeleteI remember my Momma listening to this song growing up. I just found it and heard it as an adult and understand it now. Me and Momma are gonna have a goot topic to talk about on Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteYou are violating my rights as the creator and owner of this song and video. Did I give you permission? No I did not. If I wanted to share my work for free on a Google-funded platform like Blogger, while Google makes gazillions driving artists out of work, I would have done it myself. Make up any justification you like. Fact: You're a thief.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, it was never my intention to violate your rights as a creator; I post videos as a labor of love and to highlight great, generally lesser-known music from the 1980s. As you can see above, I have pulled the video off my site, and will not put it back up unless you are ok with it.
DeleteAs an aside, there's no need to be hostile - all you had to do was ask.
dear Michelle shocked, you wrote a great song. I think you should be paid but on the other hand you are denying fans unable to listen and show your work especially to my kids. please reconsider or find a happy medium. I want my kids to listen to your music
ReplyDeleteMichelle I want to buy a cd or record. Please!
ReplyDelete