Museum of New Mexico Media Center Press Release

Michelle Shocked in Concert

New Mexico Museum of Art

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2011

MEDIA CONTACT

MICHELLE SHOCKED: Roadworks 2011 Campfire Girl Tour

Tour Marks 25th Anniversary of The Texas Campfire Tapes

SANTA FE, NM—April 13, 2011—Between the widening gap of ultra-rich and working poor - or, for that matter, uber-celebrities and starving artists - stands Michelle Shocked, an independent singer-songwriter and a working artist thriving on the spoils of a hard-won fight. 

Shocked’s Roadworks 2011 Campfire Girl Tour lands on the St. Francis Auditorum stage, New Mexico Museum of Art, on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance/$30 at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased at the Lensic Community Box Office at 988-1234.

This year’s Campfire Girl tour bears witness to the enduring legacy of her highly unusual debut, The Texas Campfire Tapes, a bootleg famously recorded 25 years ago on a Sony Walkman and released, unbeknownst to Shocked, by an enterprising Briton. Shocked was more surprised than anyone when her unauthorized debut album, The Texas Campfire Tapes album made its debut on the UK independent charts in November 1986 – “I never made a record,” she recalls, “so why would I expect to be on an English chart?” This early experience, and a 1996 legal battle to retain her catalog ownership against Mercury Records, made Shocked a natural poster child for artists’ rights. In 2003, The Texas Campfire Tapes finally found its way home to her Mighty Sound label.

Her solo set will recapture the raw intimacy of a portrait of the artist as a young woman, and refresh memories of that audacious introduction. In addition, along with a trio of sassy singers accompanying her in a girl group/doo-wop style, she’ll introduce new songs from her not-yet-recorded series, Indelible Women; a duet with visual artist David Willardson featuring portraits painted in song of such female icons as Audrey Hepburn, Amelia Earhart, Ella Fitzgerald, and Anne Frank to accompany the startling images Willardson has recorded on canvas.

While she’s at it, don’t be surprised if she works in a pitch for support of arts education in public schools into the act. This year’s Campfire Girl theme also gives voice and calls attention to a cause of concern; the austere paucity of arts education in public schools.  Shocked asserts that the arts are a critical element of educational development and demands, with an ebullient panache all her own, that audiences gather ‘round the campfire, raise their voices and sing along.

This concert is co-presented with Heath Concerts.

Call 476-5068 for more information.

The New Mexico Museum of Art is located at107 West Palace Avenue, on the historic Plaza in Santa Fe, NM.

Media Contacts:

Cary Baker

(323) 656-1600

cary@conqueroo.com

Martha Landry, New Mexico Museum of Art

505-476-5068

martha.landry@state.nm.us

 

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