Named one of the top 25 artists on MySpace by Rolling Stone Magazine, LA-based songwriter Shannon Hurley was born in Indiana and grew up in a family of singers.  Her alt-pop style has drawn comparisons to artists like Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan, which are well deserved, what with her well crafted songs, smooth soaring vocals and talented piano playing.

Shannon’s voice is definitely her own though, and she is loved by many, as evidenced by the fact that over 400 people chose to remix songs off her recent album Ready to Wake Up and that she was chosen as KGRL.FM’s Flower Powered Artist of the Month for August 2008, among other honors.

I met Shannon on Twitter (@shannonhurley) and quickly found my way to her MySpace page to listen to her awesome tracks.  I was also inspired by the discovery that Shannon helped found a collective of female singer-songwriters called “Don’t Call Us Tori“, with the idea of showcasing great talent at group shows together in LA.  Definitely worth checking out!

Shannon wasn’t available for a phone interview but she did take the time to answer some questions I sent her over email.  Tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM or kruufm.com tomorrow from 9-10am Central to hear tracks off Ready to Wake Up!

1. Where is your favorite place to sing?

I spend so much time driving around Los Angeles, so I would have to say my car. I have an ever expanding collection of cds that I love singing to..My current favorites are Chantal Kreviazuk’s “What If It All Means Something”, Carole King’s “Tapestry” and Dusty Springfield’s “Dusty in Memphis”.

2. What are you most proud of about your new album?

I am proud that I was able to create and complete a full album of meaningful songs. I know that other musicians get what I’m saying- It takes a lot of patience, a lot of writing, and tons of organization to make a record. You have to have a vision of where you want it to go, and you need to trust the producer and the other musicians who play on your songs. Sometimes I think that non-musicians are feeling like, “When are you putting out your next album?” If you haven’t done it, you don’t know the time it takes, or the sheer force of the planets aligning in the right way. Also, you have to be really decisive about how you are going to go about it. Song choice is important. It’s hard work!

If anyone is interested, my album, called “Ready to Wake Up”, is here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley3

3. What’s the one thing you can’t leave for a tour without?

My tennis shoes! If I don’t work out, I feel like crap. I have to get moving every day. I try to find a little time each day to go for a walk, which is a really nice way to get to know the cities you visit!

4. What are your 3 most played tracks on your iPod? (if you have one, or, What music are you listening to these days?)

I am an “album girl”. So the tracks I’ve listened to most on my ipod are all the songs from “Sam’s Town” by the Killers. That album was criminally overlooked.

5. Do you get most of your inspiration for your songs from your own life or other people’s stories or both?

If another person’s story affected me, then it touches my life and I feel like it does become personal. I write from all kinds of experience..I try to write about situations that I’ve been through personally.

6. What has been your most exciting songwriting experience so far?

When I was asked to write a song about an exhibit at the Getty Museum last year. A curator contacted me and said that he wanted to see I would be interested in reading  the story of the Zuccaro brothers, which depicted an artist’s struggle in the renaissance.

It was an incredible story, and I was able to write a song that I felt paralleled my own life as a songwriter. It’s called “I’ll Turn It On” and I premiered it in late 2007 for a full house at the Getty Center, along with other LA singer-songwriters like Tom Freund, Priscilla Ahn, Libbie Schrader, and Jim Bianco. That was a terrific time!

7. Any new or current projects coming up you are excited about?

Yes- I just released a remix album of songs from my “Ready to Wake Up” full length debut. I announced that I was looking for remixes, and I received over 400 submissions from all over the world. It was fun listening to all these different styles they would shape my songs into. I was getting trip-hop, heavy rock, rap, trance, and ambient.

I selected eight songs to go on the album and you can find it here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley4

8. Let’s say you just won a big award for your music at a red carpet event - who do you thank in your acceptance speech?

My husband Ben. He has been with me since I started writing in 2001. At the time, we had met in a Duran Duran tribute band (He was the bass player and I was the keyboardist-I’m not kidding!) and I had a small handful of songs that I wanted to try out at some coffeehouses. He and I played the open mic circuit in LA (which is brutal!) but he always believed in me. He is also the best bass player I have ever played with!

9. If you could pick 5 or 6 people, (living or dead) to be in a super band, who would you pick and what would they play?

George Harrison is all I would need. I love his guitar playing..I think my mom played his music alot when she was pregnant with me so I came out of the womb knowing his songs..There is something about his slide guitar that just feels like home to me.

10. And the big question I’m asking everybody these days is: What’s your favorite sandwich?

Without a doubt, it’s PB & J!
It has to be the healthy kind…All natural fresh ground peanut butter, with the all fruit jam, on fresh whole grain bread.

There you have it!  10 questions with Shannon Hurley!

For more info on Shannon, check out the excellint in-depth KGRL interview with video and audio, her website and MySpace.

Once again, Ready to Wake Up is here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley3

And the Ready to Wake Up remix album is here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley4

Or if you prefer you can download from or Amazon.

Filed under: Lyrical Venus Radio, Uncategorized, interview, music, musicians, singer-songwriter, women | 4 Comments

Hooray! I’m in the process of switching over to Wordpress for Lyrical Venus!  I’m very excited because it will be all new and shiny, but in the meantime I’m still working out a few things, so please go to http://lyricalvenus.blogspot.com for all my posts about female singer-songwriters.  (The old posts will shortly all be moved over here as well!)

Thanks for your patience!

Heather aka DJ Hum

Filed under: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Wow, I think this is the first week in a looong time that I DON’T have an interview lined up for The Lyrical Venus Radio Hour! That’s fine though, I’m sure not lacking in fantabulous music to play. Tune in Tuesday from 9am-10am Central time to hear it! http://kruufm.com

If you’re needing an interview fix though, I’ve got just the thing for you - last week I spent FOUR hours at the station after my show and posted up a huge bunch of past interviews to the archives! It doesn’t take that long to actually post an interview, but if I have to tweak levels or something, that’s the part that takes a while. I’m no audio engineer, so sometimes in the craziness of the moment - running the sound board, two mics, the computers, the playlist, the phone AND trying to have an intelligent conversation LIVE on the air, well, things can come out a little less than perfectly sometimes. There’s some stuff I can do to make parts of it a little better, but I can’t fix everything.

I hope that the love and appreciation I have for these artists is evident enough in the interviews and can make up for any little technical glitches you might notice. It’s rather similar to a live recording of a concert - if something messes up, it’s recorded that way forever!

That said, I think the mess ups are far fewer than the fun and magic moments, and I may be listening with a hyper self-critical ear! I’ll let you be the judge! Here is the link so now you can stream them to your heart’s content, or even download them and listen later on your iPod (or computer or whatever mp3 device you have):

http://kruufm.com/station/archives/2482

Sadly there was some sort of glitch at the station a few weeks back which resulted in a couple months worth of interviews being temporarily inaccessible to me, so I couldn’t post ones from part of October and November, but those will be coming as soon as I can get them up! And you’ll have plenty to check out in the meantime (the blog entries will have more info and links to all of their websites):

Jana Pochop Interview Blog
Beaucoup Shakti (LIVE in the studio)Interview Blog
Kristi Martel Interview Blog
Bonnie McKee Interview Blog
Truckstop Souvenir (LIVE in the studio)Interview Blog
Moira Smiley of VOCO Interview Blog

So there you have it! Tune in Tuesday from 9-10 central for the live show, this week and every week! KRUU-LP 100.1 FM in town, kruufm.com online anywhere.

(If I cook up some good theme idea between now and then I’ll put up another post to let you know. )

Filed under: Lyrical Venus Radio, female vocalists, interview, music, musicians, singer-songwriter | Post a comment

It’s cooooold here in Iowa. I’ve been spending lots of time snuggled under my down comforters (yes, two at a time, I told you it was cold!) watching music videos. So if you’ve got a snow day, I encourage you to make some hot coco and snuggle down under your own blankets for a nice little music break, because I found a few really great clips from some live shows at a cafe in Massachusetts called Mocha Mayas.

The artists that caught my eye were ones I’d actually seen at house concerts on my street! I hosted Brooke Brown Saracino at my place, and Truckstop Souvenir hosted The Starlings at their place across the street. These videos are such good quality, it’s almost like being back in the living room with the musicians singing a few feet in front of me!

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see all the videos

Here’s Brooke Brown Saracino singing Half a Buck, Left to the Birds and Lonely Song.

Here she is again, singing a cover of Anais Mitchell’s Namesake and her songs Falling, and Boat.

Next up are The Starlings singing Rosie, Hand to Mouth and Acorn.

Three more by The Starlings: Wild Child, Bluebird and Bone to Ashes.

Looks like Mocha Mayas is a pretty cool place to hear good music, eh? They have a bunch more videos! Here’s the description of the cafe from their YouTube channel:

Mocha Mayas is a small cafe situated in the hills of western Massachusetts. A small town on the banks of a lazy river rolling over an expanse of glacial potholes provides the scene for what is known as Shelburne Falls. A small town where artisan shops and excellent restaurants provide the atmosphere for intelligent discourse and clear headed thoughts. Intimacy and community is what we are about. Mocha Mayas provides musical interludes on most friday and saturday nights - for those in our general area who might be interested in attending a live show please check out our Myspace for information on upcoming shows and events.

Unless otherwise labeled all video and sound by Elijah Rottenberg.

I’m always singing the praises of my local coffee shop/acoustic listening room Cafe Paradiso and all the great acts they bring through. It’s really nice to discover there are other great places out there with the same type of commitment to quality in everything they do - from their coffee to the entertainment they host on their stages.

Mocha Mayas also has a website and a MySpace page:
http://www.mochamayas.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mochamayas

While we’re on the subject of awesome listening rooms, I’d like to take a moment to encourage you that wherever you live, be sure to go out and support your local small businesses like this! While watching clips online can certainly be a good reminder of the magic that happens in those concerts, nothing can replace the electric connection that happens when you’re actually in a room full of people sharing the experience.

Plus, if you don’t go to shows and such, they’ll stop having them. No joke. I heard about a restaurant near Cedar Rapids, IA called Cibo Fusion that used to have live music every weekend, but stopped having musicians play because they had to cut back. That was a regular gig for some of my friends. I just came across a restaurant called Calavino’s in Decatur, Georgia that is in danger of closing altogether, that has also been a regular gig for a great musician down there, Doria Roberts.

It’s a crazy time for our country, where it’s easy to feel a pinch between the desire to give during the holidays and a need to save money to help ward off uncertainties in the months ahead. I’d like to humbly suggest that if you give gifts this year that they be from local businesses and independent artists - musical and otherwise. For an independent artist, every dollar really does count, and when you buy locally, your dollar circulates through the community 3 to 15 times before leaving!! That’s what I call strengthening the economy!

As a citizen of the web, I also would say there are plenty of really cool “neighbors” selling stuff on their own sites and others like Etsy and eBay. And if you do end up with a few special requests that need to be purchased from big companies online, consider clicking through to those shopping sites from your friend’s blogs and websites to kick back a commission to them.

Finally, as an artist myself, and supporter of artists and indie business owners everywhere, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for every time you have gone to a live show, bought a CD or handmade gift, shopped at your local Farmer’s Market or got your latte at a local coffee shop! Really! You’re supporting the kind of world I want to live in!

Alrighty, I think you get the idea! I’ll get off my soapbox and leave you with a completely fun promo for a completely non-local event, though it IS connected to Indie artists.

Girlyman Gives Advice on Packing for the 2009 Cayamo Music cruise:

OK, one last question! What are your favorite listening rooms and local businesses?

Filed under: Brooke Brown Saracino, Cafe Paradiso, Doria Roberts, Girlyman, Mocha Mayas, The Starlings, YouTube, buy fresh buy local, coffee shop, female vocalists, indie, music, restaurants, singer-songwriter | 2 Comments

You might not notice them a first glance, but check out the boots on the ladies of VOCO. More than just a fashion statement, the boots are actually an important part of their act! The wide variety of music they perform, from original folk to traditional ballads, makes VOCO a little hard to categorize. But one thing that makes them stand out as a super cool band, above and beyond their gorgeous harmonies, is their body percussion sets. And that’s where the boots come in - slapping their ankles is a lot louder (and probably less painful) with boots!

I first saw Moira Smiley, radiantly living up to her name, at Song School when she lead the opening sing at the beginning of the week. I didn’t get a chance to take any classes with her that week (there were SO many classes to choose from!), but I sure appreciated how she got everyone involved, moving and singing as a group right off the bat, and brought it all back together for the closing sing as well.

And then, I got to see Moira perform with her band VOCO during the Folks Fest that happened the weekend after Song School:

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

That was when I found out Moira plays banjo, one of my favorite instruments! She also plays accordion, and composes and arranges music for the group. Jessica Catron plays cello, Jess Basta and Christine Enns round out the group - all four of them provide vocals and body percussion.

I think it’s a testament to how tuned in Moira is to traditional music that when listening to both of the latest VOCO albums, I can’t really tell which of the songs are her originals without looking at the CD case! (Except maybe the ones that aren’t in English are pretty obviously Eastern European traditionals.)

The newest release from Moira Smiley & VOCO is a live EP called Circle Square Diamond and Flag, which is a reference to the notation used in traditonal shape note singing, which is the style mainly used for this collection of songs. And while the songs may come from varied backgrounds, somehow the harmonies tie together the diversity of the music across the disc. That and the fact that the performers all have sense of a joyous celebration of life that radiates from every note, every boot stomp, every hand clap, hoot and holler.

The description on their site sums up VOCO pretty perfectly: “stompin’ gorgeous vocals - lush, fierce vocal harmony and delicious vaudevillian combo of cello, accordion and banjo. Original songs, sweet hard-driving Americana, rompin’ body percussion, emotional ballads of Eastern Europe. A visionary blend of four exquisite voices.”

Join me for an interview with Moira Smiley on Lyrical Venus Radio, which is this Tuesday from 9-10am Central Time! KRUU-LP 100.1 FM here in town, kruufm.com from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Check out Moira Smiley & VOCO on their website or MySpace.
Get their CDs Blink and circle, square, diamond, & flag at CD Baby.

Filed under: Folks Fest, Lyrical Venus Radio, Moira Smiley, Moira Smiley and VOCO, Song School, VOCO, female vocalists, folk, interview, music, musicians, singer-songwriter, women | 1 Comment