''The Texas Campfire Tapes'' is the first album by American singer and songwriter

Michelle Shocked Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award f ...

. The album was on a Sony Walkman during an impromptu set performed by Shocked around the eponymous campfire at the

Kerrville Folk Festival The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by the husband-wife team of Rod Kennedy an ...

in Texas; the recording was made by

Pete Lawrence Pete Lawrence is a conceptualist, social entrepreneur, recording artist, DJ, event organiser, music programmer writer and broadcaster based in the UK. Background Lawrence created the concept for The Big Chill in February 1994, originally as ...

, founder of the

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...

label, on his first visit to the USA. It was then released by Cooking Vinyl in 1986 and Shocked moved over to Europe to support and promote the album, which was subsequently released by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. The album reached the top spot on the British independent record chart. It was remastered and reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set called ''Texas Campfire Takes'' by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound. Another version of "Fogtown" appears as a "hidden track" on Shocked's breakthrough album ''

Short Sharp Shocked ''Short Sharp Shocked'' is the second album by Michelle Shocked. Originally released in 1988, it was remastered and reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound. The title is a play on the phrase short, sharp shock. The re ...

'' (1988), where she is backed by the

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band MDC.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote that Shocked "has a reporter's eye and a tale-spinner's ear." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called Shocked "an uncertain but ambitious singer whose early style was a weave of jazz, blues and rock’n’roll as much as folk, she comes off as a talented amateur with modestly appealing songs and the hint of substantial potential."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Michelle Shocked, except where indicated

Original Album

# "5 A.M. in Amsterdam" # "The Secret Admirer" # "The Incomplete Image" # "Who Cares?" # "Down on Thomas St" # "Fogtown" # "Steppin' Out" # "The Hep Cat" # "Necktie" # "(Don't you mess around with) My Little Sister" # "The Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg" # "The Secret to a Long Life (is knowing when it's time to go)"

2003 Mighty Sound CD reissue (Disk two)

# "5 A.M. in Amsterdam" # "Fogtown" # "4/4 Troubador" # "Steppin' Out" # "Hold Me Back" # "Fool for Cocaine" # "Down on Thomas St"/ "Hardly Gonna Miss Him" # "Hep Cat" # "Necktie" # "My Little Sister" # "Patcheye and Meg" # "Secret to a Long Life" # "When I Grow Up" # "Ghost Town" # "Secret Admirer" # "Black Widow" # "Chain Smoker" # "Old Time Feeling" # "Stranded in a Limousine" (

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

) # "

Goodnight, Irene "Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by the Weavers was a #1 hit in 1950. The ...

" (

Huddie Ledbetter Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standa ...

/Traditional) # "

C.C. Rider "See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues song that became a standard in several genres. Ma Rainey, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was the first to record it on October 16, 192 ...

" (

Gertrude "Ma" Rainey Gertrude "Ma" Rainey ( Pridgett; April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an American blues singer and influential early blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of ...

, Lena Arant) # "Contest Coming" # "Lagniappe"/"Memories of East Texas"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Campfire Tapes Michelle Shocked albums 1986 debut albums Cooking Vinyl albums