Shelley King's decision to quit her day job in 1998 and play music full time launched a series of events that would place her firmly in the bedrock of the Austin Music scene. Having played in the area since 1992, King took some time off in the mid 90s to focus on writing songs and eventually record and release her first CD, Call
of My Heart. Two songs from that
release, including the title track, would be covered by Toni Price on her 2001
release, Midnight Pumpkin, and “Call
of My Heart,” would win Song of the Year at the 2002 Austin Music Awards. Fast forward
to 2008 when King would be named Texas State Musician – the first woman
to ever be able to claim the title.
“It was almost ten years to the day of me quitting my day
job,” said King, when we spoke of the award. People will sometimes say to me, “Oh, you’re
so good. Why haven’t you made it?” In this kind of business, these days, every
single little victory adds up. You’ve got to appreciate every single little
blessing. I think it’s a blessing that I get to play music. It’s a blessing
that I get to play at Cypress Creek. I think I’ve made it. I count every little
blessing. Not everybody gets to be Blake Shelton, I guess, or whatever the
flavor of the month is. And I don’t think we all want that. We all kind of dig
our life around here.”
King tours solo, as a duo or with a full band and additionally there are other projects that also keep this
power house singer songwriter up late at night, including SisDeville (with Carolyn Wonderland and Floramay Holliday) and Texas Guitar Women
(which features Wonderland, Cindy Cashdollar, Sarah Brown and Lisa Pankratz). You're only as good as the company you keep, and King is definitely in fine company with these legendary women.
A new CD is scheduled to be released at the
beginning of 2013. And if that's not enough to keep a gal busy, King has also managed to find some time for a serious labor
of love called HOME; Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers.
In its infancy, HOME is
a non-profit that was started by several Austin music industry leading
ladies, (King, Susan Antone, Marcia Ball, Carolyn Wonderland, Nancy Fly and Nancy Coplin to name a few) when one of Austin's premier blues singers recently became homeless. [I have not included the name of this artist in order to protect privacy.]
“This is to help aging Austin entertainers,” said King. “We
have HAAM, [Health Alliance for Austin Musicians] and we’re keeping our musicians healthy. They’re going to live
longer and they’re going to need help with housing later. This is something we
need so much. We have set up a bank account and are starting to solicit donations. We are also planning on putting out a CD to benefit HOME and hope to have it out before the holidays when everyone will be thinking about home."
[A benefit will also be scheduled at Antone’s at a later date
and we will keep you posted as the information becomes available and links to pertinent pages will be added here later.]
As King continues to blaze her trail, her songs continue
to inspire and uplift. Her character and her love of what she does is reflected
both on stage and off and she will continue to reign supreme for a long, long time. - TR
Shelley King
Saturday, August 4
The Buzzard Bar
Cypress Creek Cafe
Wristbands, $10
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