It's 2012 people! And just like all of you, I'm shaking off my holiday stupor and getting back to WORK. I've got a boatload of new songs in process, which I hope to share with you very soon by a variety of ways and means, and there are shows and tour plans in the works as well. Do stay tuned for news of all of the above!
I hope your holidays were lovely.
This year is going to be a good one!
Shelby
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
My pals and I got together last week to record a new Christmas tune I wrote called "This Christmas Is For Us". The stellar Gabriel Mintz recorded and mixed it, and it features Faustine Hudson (drums), Barb Hunter (cello), Ben Obee (bass) and Mike, Anna-Lisa and Fidelia of "Hannalee" (vocals/elec guitar). The song had an exclusive premier on Hitfix.com today RIGHT HERE! If you're interested in buying the tune for your very own holiday enjoyment, GO HERE!
Hope each and every one of your holidays are full of love and joy!
Shelby
Amazon.com shows "Burn the Boats" some MAJOR love, giving it the #1 slot on their "Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed" list! Totally AMAZING!!!!
My Southern Homies!
I am heading your way in mid-December, along with my beautiful pals Ruth and Anna-Lisa, to play some shows in my former hometown of Los Angeles. We will be opening for your very own White Buffalo at each show. I cannot WAIT to be reunited with each of you and play you some songs. We might EVEN rock a new Christmas tune for your earholes! So much merriment!
December 14th - 9PM @ Saint Rocke - Hermosa Beach, CA http://saintrocke.com/index.cfm
December 17th - 8PM @ The Bootleg Theatre - Los Angeles, CA http://www.bootlegtheater.org/
Please spread the word and invite your friends, co-workers, bandmates, and families!
RSVP at the FACEBOOK INVITE HERE!!!
Thanks to Eric Danton for taking the time to chat with me a few weeks back and for this FANTASTIC write-up on Spinner.com!
Read the Full Article Here: Shelby Earl Bolts Music-Biz Day Job to 'Kick Ass' as Solo Artist
I'm REALLY excited to play these shows in PORTLAND and SEATTLE this weekend! Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers is one of my fav singer-songwriters, and from what I've heard of Strand of Oaks, their set will be a beaute. Hope to see you in one city or the other!
Saturday, Nov. 19th - 9PM @ Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR
Sunday, Nov. 20th - 8PM @ The Crocodile - Seattle, WA
YAY!!! Thank you so much for all the love and support for Burn the Boats on national release week!
11/1/11 is a BIG DAY! My labor of love, Burn the Boats, receives it's NATIONAL release on Local 638 Records today! To celebrate, my band and I are playing a live in-store performance at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard, WA! Join us at 6pm sharp for the ALL AGES party and bring your whole family!!!
Did I mention there's a NEW TRACK on this release? The never-before-released song "Sing Low" is now on the full-length album. Order your copy HERE:
I am honored to have been asked to play KEXP 90.3's 2nd Annual "Reykjavik Calling" event at Neumos on Friday, Oct. 28th. It's going to be a beautiful night of musical partnership between Seattle and Icelandic artists. The Icelandic artists will include Ólöf Arnalds, Snorri Helgason, Gudrid Hansdottir and Nive Nielsen. For Seattle, it’ll include Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger/Long Winters) and Kyle O’Quin (Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground), David Bazan, Tomo Nakayama (Grand Hallway) and me, Shelby Earl! In addition to playing a few of my own songs, I'll be partnering with the lovely and talented Nive Nielson for a few tunes.
This is NOT a night you want to miss!
Friends and allies! I would like to personally invite you to my October 20th City Arts Fest show at the Crocodile with The Felice Brothers, Gill Landry (of Old Crow Medicine Show), and Gabriel Mintz. This will most likely be my LAST full-band show of the year and I've got a killer crew of players joining me. We're gonna play the HITZ. Seriously. Come sing along!
Your City Arts Fest wristbands will get you in, or you can pick up single tickets here.
Also, I should mention that seeing The Felice Brothers live is going to be a real fun (and possibly sweaty) party. See below for video proofage...
Photo by Genevieve PiersonBig news! I am releasing Burn the Boats nationally on Local 638 Records (owned and operated by the badass miss Rachel Flotard of Visqueen) on 11/1/11 with A NEW TRACK!!! Stay tuned for pre-order info and forthcoming tour dates!
In other extraordinary news, I recently received this heart-stopping endorsement from the rock journalist of all rock journalists, Ann Powers (NPR/LA Times). I am DEEPLY honored by her words, to say the least...
FROM ANN POWERS:
"Dear music-loving pals,
I don't believe in journalistic objectivity. Still, I've always tried to maintain a space between my music writing and my private life. Over the years I've become friendly with a few musicians, and some of my old friends have turned toward music-making. In general, though, I've clung to that old idea that critical perspective and personal connection don't mix.
Until now. I'm writing this note to ask you to listen to an album by a friend. Shelby Earl is a singer-songwriter with a sharp pen and a sumptuous voice, who took a while to fully uncover her own talent. Before she made the brilliant music conveyed on her new release, "Burn the Boats," she worked in various positions within the Pacific Northwest arts community – including at Experience Music Project, where I got to know her as a part of the programming team in the early 2000s.
Shelby was part of one of the intimate circles that make up the necklace of strong women who stand behind – and at the forefront of – the Seattle music scene. We got to know each other as colleagues and as women finding our places in a frankly boyish scene. When I lived in Seattle in the early 2000s, Shelby was starting to explore her own creative possibilities as part of the duo the Hope. But she kept working regular jobs. She was a practical person. Music wasn't a lifestyle for her; it was a practice, a way into new internal spaces. Eventually, it became her vocation, and she changed everything in her life to pursue it.
Jump to 2011. I'm living far from Seattle, but still connected. Shelby sent me an email about her new solo album. Sure, I'll listen, I replied. No promises, though. In fact, I have to admit, I thought I'd send polite praise and move on.
Instead, I became enraptured. "Burn the Boats" is an album beyond trends, a classic work of singer-songwriterly craft and beautifully framed confession. It's a fully adult expression of lessons learned, loss absorbed, and hope rebuilt, plank by plank. The title comes from something her dad said about what she'd done: the expression means to risk everything, abandon all past assumptions and easy outs, in pursuit of something bigger. That urgency comes through in the album's ten gorgeous songs.
Shelby is still young – in her early thirties – but she's not a bubbly ingénue. She makes music for those of us who've been through a few things. Produced by John Roderick and engineered by Eric Corson, both of the beloved Barsuk Records band the Long Winters, and featuring a stellar line-up of Seattle mainstays, "Burn the Boats" realizes Shelby's compositions within arrangements that recall legendary genre-busters like Patsy Cline as well as more contemporary artists like Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile. Everybody wants to compare her to Neko Case, maybe because of the Northwest connection, but if Neko is bourbon, Shelby is honey wine. Sweeter at first taste, her music is subtly intoxicating.
I love "Burn the Boats" for its class, its open-heartedness and its wisdom. I'm addicted to the perfect balance of comfort and challenge in Shelby's voice. I don't want this record to get lost in the avalanche of releases that confronts every critic and music fan. It's not particularly hipsterish – one of its best songs, in fact, is "Under Evergreen," a call for Pacific Northwest music insiders to transcend their own assumptions of what's cool. But it's the kind of album that many people in your life will love. Including, I hope, you yourself.
Thanks for listening to my friend and my new favorite singer-songwriter, Shelby Earl. And yes, that's her real name. It's not her fault that it looks so right on an album cover.
Ann Powers"
We finished up Bumbershoot weekend with a bang by visiting the KEXP 90.3 "Live from Bumbershoot" studios. The KEXP staff are just about the coolest around and we had a delightful time, as always. Stay tuned for news on my involvement in another exciting KEXP event coming up this fall, but meanwhile, check out footage of a new song we shared live on the air:
Today I played Bumbershoot for the first time ever. I've been going to this festival since I was a wee lass, so it felt like a pretty big deal. And it was! The venue was fantastic, the sound was great, the mood was perfect, and the crowd was ALIVE. It was everything I'd hoped it would be!
I'm also excited to announce that my band and I are going back again tomorrow to play live in the KEXP Bumbershoot Music Lounge - Sunday, September 4th, at 2:30 pm PT! KEXP will air the performance LIVE on the dial at 90.3 FM in Seattle and stream it worldwide at KEXP.ORG. So even if you're not here in town you can tune in!
Meanwhile, check out the videos of our last in-studio performance at KEXP, this one being my personal fave due to the excessively good time being had by all...
Hope to see you tomorrow at Bumbershoot (or on the internets and airwaves)!
- Earl
I have two exciting shows on the calendar this week and wanted to give you all the scoop in case you'd like to snag some tickets and get in on the action!
*MONDAY, AUG. 29TH - City Arts Magazine presents "The Song Show (Bumbershoot Edition)" at RENDEZVOUS featuring Motopony, Ravenna Woods, and Shelby Earl! Tickets Here!
*SATURDAY, SEPT. 3RD @ 3PM - Shelby Earl (and Band!) at Bumbershoot Music Festival. EXCITING NEWS!!! From now until tickets last, you can use a special "Fans of Shelby Earl Discount Code" to purchase a one-day Bumbershoot ticket for the day I am performing (Sept. 3rd!) at the discounted rate of $29. That's $16 off the regular single-ticket price! Go to bumbershoot.strangertickets.com, add up to 4 tickets for Sept. 3rd, and then enter this code during checkout: 4A977.
Also, as you may know, the legendary Hall & Oates are headlining Bumbershoot this year. (Aside: an old co-worker of mine called me "Hall & Oates" for years before admitting later that it was because he thought I was "a man eater." Hilarious. No idea what he was talking about. :) But I digress...in anticipation of the big H&O performance, and in honor of the festival, I teamed up with members of some of the other local bands playing Bumbershoot to make this video... enjoy!
-- Earl
As expected, Doe Bay Festival weekend was spectacular and beautiful. Honestly, it was too good to sum up in a brief blog post. So instead I will share this video, shot on our last evening in Doe Bay, by the fabulous Eratosthenes Fackenthall. We'd been camping for 4 days at this point so we were tired and a little rough around the edges, but absolutely full in spirit and happy as little clams. Everything about the experience made us want to sing!
Of all the exciting things I've done this year, and of all the promising plans on the calendar in the near future, there's nothing I've looked forward to more than this coming weekend's Doe Bay Fest! Last year I played the Cafe Stage at Doe Bay Fest and had a blast, but this time around I have the distinct privilege of getting to play the mainstage with my full band. The rest of the line-up includes many faves - John Vanderslice, Damien Jurado, The Head and the Heart, Pickwick, The Maldives, and Cobirds Unite - to name just a few. It's going to be a beautiful weekend full of beautiful sounds and fantastic people. We can't wait!
IF YOU ARE HEADING TO DOE BAY, MAKE SURE YOU GET THERE EARLY. WE PLAY AT 4:15PM ON FRIDAY!!!
Here's a pic from last year's fest. The two beautiful ladies with me are Charity (of The Head and the Heart) on violin and Katie (my bestie!) on keys. And then there's me, in SERIOUS need of a tan.
Pics of this year's fest to follow!
-- Earl
Friends! I'm home from tour and happy as a clam about how it went. I met tons of new pals, drove 4,000 miles across absolutely BEAUTIFUL terrain, ate fantastic food, and played 9 shows in 11 days. It was a whirlwind! Here is some video footage my friend Kathryn shot at the Hotel Cafe show in LA. Enjoy!
Pals!
I've got my '92 Camry all souped up and I'm hitting the road this week to make some tracks across our beautiful country, to listen to some books on tape, and to play a bunch of shows! I'm SO EXCITED to play new places and meet new faces. I would love to see you and yours along the way!
Details are on the Tour Page, but here's the list of stops my bandmates and I will be making...
7/7/2011 - THE EAGLES LODGE, BOZEMAN, MT
7/8-9/2011 - DEADWOOD MOUNTAIN GRAND, Deadwood, SD (Grand Opening Weekend feat. Gretchen Wilson, Big and Rich and more!)
7/10/2011 - TRIPLE NICKEL TAVERN, Co. Springs, CO
7/12/2011 - HOTEL CAFE, Los Angeles, CA
7/13/2011 - SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA - Details TBA!
7/14/2011 - PAINTED SKY STUDIO, Cambria, CA
7/15/2011 - SOPHIA'S, Davis, CA
7/16/2011 - MAXWELL'S, Redding, CA
7/17/2011 - DOUG FIR LOUNGE, Portland, OR
***Keep an eye out for this bad boy (Given Name: "Murphy") in a town near you!
- EARL
A couple weeks ago, my buds (Mike Notter, Anna-Lisa Notter, Faustine Hudson, Dylan Rieck, and Ben Obee) and I stopped by the FANTASTIC, one-and-only, world's BEST commercial-free radio station, KEXP 90.3, to play a few of my jams live on air. The show went smashingly, despite the 100° heat in the studio and the sweat dripping down my forehead, INTO my eyes while we played (seriously...video proof to follow).
Here's a link to the audio in case you missed it!
Also, Mike Notter (of SHIM and Hannalee fame) came prepared for the set with THIS (slippers/Can'O'Rainier/Champagne) in hand. A perfect example of how he always lightens the mood and why we love him so dearly:
And henceforth came the sweet, sweet jams...
- EARL
Hey-o! My band and I will be playing a few songs live on KEXP 90.3 (the world's BEST commercial-free radio station!) this Saturday, June 11th at 8pm! We will chat with the lovely Hannah Levin and play a few tunes from my new album, Burn The Boats. Tune in on the dial or visit http://www.kexp.org to stream live from ANYWHERE in the world!!!
