Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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SHOCKED, Michelle

(b Karen Michelle Johnson, c'62) Singer, songwriter. From a Mormon family in Texas; infl. by Woody Guthrie, she ran away from home at 16, drifted in USA and Europe. Discovered singing at a campfire during Kerrville Folk Festival by Englishman Pete Lawrence; he recorded her on a portable cassette player, released an album on his Cooking Vinyl label; The Texas Campfire Tapes came out '88 in USA on Mercury, followed by Short, Sharp, Shocked that year (incl. 'When I Grow Up'; 'Anchorage' made the Hot 100); a mystery track not announced on label or sleeve was a new and very different version of 'Fogtown' from the first album, with a band called MDC. Captain Swing '89 was infl. by '40s big bands, with a horn section, but modern lyrical concerns incl. 'God Is A Real Estate Developer', 'Streetcorner Ambassador'. After Arkansas Traveler '92 Mercury wanted to tell her what to do, and would neither let her into the studio nor release her from her contract, so top lawyer Leigh Steinberg (who had done a lot for the free agency of sports stars) dusted off a law quoting the 13th Amendment on slavery and servitude, and Mercury decided not to go to court. Kind Hearted Woman '95 on BMG incl. guests Fiachna O'Braonain and Peter O'Toole of Hothouse Flowers. Like Nanci Griffith and others like her, Shocked will accept fame only on her own terms; 'People might say I'm difficult, but did you ever hear anyone describe a label as difficult?' Her rural story-songs are unique and will see her through.