![]() I needed to rest and reconnect with my Willamette Valley community after an intriguing but derailing stint in Hollywood. With a project so well-received in 2011, I had ample opportunity to tour abroad, but I didn’t have it in me. “You will fall into the velvet embrace of John Shipe’s lush collection of highly descriptive tales of love and woe… beautiful and harmonically sensual combination of musical dexterity and lyrical erudition.” – Rich Quinlan, Jersey Beat. ![]() “Hands down among the top ten…” – Andrew Fickes, Northwest Indie Music News “All these good songs and catching melodies… quality & integrity beyond words.” – Mike Penard, ISA Radio France. “I have found my favorite Americana CD.superb lyrics & melody.” – Lee Williams, CMR Nashville. and Radiohead for 2 weeks on Radio Marabu in Germany.) Here are some kind words uttered by champions of Independent Music at the time: I hit a number of top ten playlists on American & international chart-reporting radio, sidling up to releases by folks like Mavis Staples & Gregg Allman. (“ Love Belongs to Everyone” beat R.E.M. Elsewhere in the music-journo world, I was compared favorably to Elvis Costello, Jeff Buckley, John Hiatt, and both Joshes (Ritter & Rouse.) None of whom do I imitate on purpose, so I come by it honestly, and I’m flattered. This was a duet with Jazz-Americana singer Halie Loren, reminding some reviewers of the classic country duets of Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra. The Register Guard honored “ Hard to Believe” as one of the Best Local Songs of 2011. Accolades followed, starting in my home town of Eugene, OR. It was a step-up in my production standards – slick with an array of my best session-cat pals for maximum Americana versatility. The aforementioned Villain, produced by Ehren Ebbage, was hard to beat. “Tell your story.” Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal, but, yeah… Suffice it to say the things you do to beat addiction are the same things you do to be a good artist, which explains the current flow I’m enjoying. “You’re the real-deal as an artist,” they said. Meanwhile, my publicists at Public Display PR have encouraged me to be forthcoming about the role of alcohol recovery in my process. The Beast reveals 18 of my 75-plus unreleased songs about: secrets, sacrifice, friendship, rejection, redemption, parenthood, subjection, repentance, faith, doubt, reckoning, grace, forgiveness, goodbyes, surrender, violence, loss, and triumph. Click on my One-Sheet for glimpses into what they’re saying.) (My peers and early reviewers seem to agree. ![]() Personal & material resources were a frustrating puzzle until my life-partner/graphic designer (Katie) and producer ( Tyler Fortier) focused me into making the album of my life. It has been a baffling decade of struggle since my last release, Villain (which went damn well). October 2020 marks my 30th year in the Biz with the release of my dozenth project, a double album – The Beast Is Back. And writing one’s own promo is a questionable chore. Hype, bio, genre-labeling, and name-dropping are a dirty business, but someone’s gotta do it. The Belabored History of John Shipe’s AcoustoAmericana
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |