Shelley Short

Alt-country chanteuse Shelley Short entered the world and spent her formative years in Portland, OR. A February 3 Chicago Reader profile by Bob Mehr noted that her record-collector father exposed her to an enormous spectrum of sounds, after which she performed on trombone in her middle-school ensemble before switching to bass in the punk duo Bogadoy. During high school she developed a deep attachment to classic country and honky-tonk, then instructed herself on guitar while enrolled at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. An invitation to a neighborhood open-mic led her to compose her earliest original material in 2001, after which she became a regular presence on Portland stages both alone and alongside the Americana outfits the Dying Ember and Nervous & the Kid. She issued her own CD-R, Your Story Has Touched My Heart, in 2002. Two years later Tucson’s Keep Recordings released the atmospheric follow-up Oh Say Little Dogies Why?, a striking postmodern take on roots music. Still in 2004 she moved from Portland to Chicago and formed a fresh trio featuring bassist Andy Rader, violinist Tiffany Kowalski, and drummer Jamie Carter. Early 2006 brought the widely praised Captain Wild Horse (Rides the Heart of Tomorrow) on Hush Records.