Let's listen to Michelle Shocked!
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You're welcome.
Somehow, in 1989 or so, I found an album by Michelle Shocked called "The Texas Campfire Tapes". This was reportedly made on a handheld cassette recorder, and it's twelve songs of Michelle Shocked playing guitar and singing around a literal campfire at a campsite at a folk festival in Texas - you can hear crickets, and cars in the distance. It was recorded before she had a record deal and it became her first album.
It was nothing like anything else me or my friends were listening to at the time, and I don't think I shared this with anyone. It was my little folkie secret. And it was a favorite for many years. Then I mostly forgot about it, and her. I never bought another of her records.
But I gave it a spin last week and, BAM! It's a favorite again.
This was recorded in 1986, long before she became ... confusing.
For some reason (maybe the 'confusion'), the songs from this record are scarce on YouTube. And this particular version of this song is nowhere to be found anywhere. So, Imma break the law and put my own copy up.
Love that! My first run-in with her music was in the early 90s, and I loved Short, Sharp, Shocked.
recorded on a Sony Walkman Pro, which was a seriously great piece of gear. surprisingly good audio quality. Used to have one, but they’ve been made obsolete by all the digital stuff that’s come out since then.
sold mine to a birder who wanted to make field recordings with it.