Wake The Dreamers

As of 11/5/16 we've got 60 more copies of this lovely gem on vinyl! Surely they will not hang around long, so grab your now!

The one thing we knew from the outset was that we wanted it done fast and live, like the old days. I’ve recorded Shelley more than a few times over the years, and I have yet to hear anything but pure elegance and grace come through the studio monitors. I knew if we got a good band together, performing the songs live-in-the-studio was going to be a ficile endeavor, easily achieved in one or two takes of each song. Contrary to most records these days, this wasn’t going to be pieced together with endless takes, overdubs, punch-ins and editing. We corralled a group of amazing musician friends and even without rehearsing prior to entering the studio, Shelley and the band needed just a few run throughs to work out an arrangement before I was able to let the 2" tape roll.

When Shelley sings, it sounds like what she was born to do. She’s a musician with innate talent. As a youngster, she took piano lessons but faked her way through them by using her ear and keen sensibility. Growing up, there was a ceaseless stream of music filling the house (and in the car, often with family sing-alongs). Her dad, Joe, listened to everything - Nina Rota, Bobby Bare, Thelonious Monk, and of course, Bob Dylan. At age 19 Shelly set out on a cross country journey through the south that led her to the Jimmy Rogers museum and Hank Williams’ grave. Not your typical 19 year-old destination spots. It’s not that she was immune to modern music, in fact, she has an ongoing fascination with Ween. Still, Shelley has always been enthralled with the sounds of yesterday.

Wanting to make a record with these sounds in mind, Shelley asked her dad for help in compiling a list of songs. Joe thought of Oregon’s own Johnny Ray and his rendition of The Little White Cloud. He was an outcast who cried when he sang and Joe thought Shelley could personify his spirit. Peggy Lee’s I’m Looking Out the Window is sophisticated and naive at the same time, a contrast Shelley exemplifies so well here. Shelley also enlisted suggestions from her longtime friend Eric Isaacson, founder of Misissippi Records. Eric made her a cassette tape of contenders including songs by Michael Hurly, Irma Thomas and Lee Hazelwood. Wake The Dreamers is an eclectic collection for sure, but the band's unparalleled creativity and Shelley's captivating voice gives the album a cohesion that makes it sound as if the songs were always meant to be together, even if on two separate sides of a record.  - Adam Selzer, 2013, Portland, Ore.