The Texas Campfire Tapes

The Texas Campfire Tapes is the first album by American singer and songwriter Michelle Shocked.[7][8] It was originally a recording on a Sony Walkman of an impromptu set performed by Shocked around the eponymous campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas; the recording was made by Pete Lawrence, founder of the Cooking Vinyl label, on his first visit to the USA.[9] 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. The album reached the top spot on the British independent record chart.[10] It was remastered and reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set called Texas Campfire Takes by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound.[11]

The Texas Campfire Tapes
Live album by
Michelle Shocked
Released1986
GenreFolk
LabelCooking Vinyl
ProducerPete Lawrence[1]
Michelle Shocked chronology
The Texas Campfire Tapes
(1986)		 Short Sharp Shocked
(1988)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauB+[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[6]

Another version of "Fogtown" appears as a "hidden track" on Shocked's breakthrough album Short Sharp Shocked (1988), where she is backed by the hardcore punk band MDC.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau wrote that Shocked "has a reporter's eye and a tale-spinner's ear."[3] Trouser Press 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."[12]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Michelle Shocked, except where indicated

Original Album
  1. "5 A.M. in Amsterdam"
  2. "The Secret Admirer"
  3. "The Incomplete Image"
  4. "Who Cares?"
  5. "Down on Thomas St"
  6. "Fogtown"
  7. "Steppin' Out"
  8. "The Hep Cat"
  9. "Necktie"
  10. "(Don't you mess around with) My Little Sister"
  11. "The Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg"
  12. "The Secret to a Long Life (is knowing when it's time to go)"

2003 Mighty Sound CD reissue (Disk two)
  1. "5 A.M. in Amsterdam"
  2. "Fogtown"
  3. "4/4 Troubador"
  4. "Steppin' Out"
  5. "Hold Me Back"
  6. "Fool for Cocaine"
  7. "Down on Thomas St"/ "Hardly Gonna Miss Him"
  8. "Hep Cat"
  9. "Necktie"
  10. "My Little Sister"
  11. "Patcheye and Meg"
  12. "Secret to a Long Life"
  13. "When I Grow Up"
  14. "Ghost Town"
  15. "Secret Admirer"
  16. "Black Widow"
  17. "Chain Smoker"
  18. "Old Time Feeling"
  19. "Stranded in a Limousine" (Paul Simon)
  20. "Goodnight, Irene" (Huddie Ledbetter/Trad)
  21. "C.C. Rider" (Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, Lena Arant)
  22. "Contest Coming"
  23. "Lagniappe"/"Memories of East Texas"

References
  1. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1010.
  2. "The Texas Campfire Tapes - Michelle Shocked | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
  3. "Robert Christgau: Album: Michelle Shocked: The Texas Campfire Tapes". robertchristgau.com.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Volume 7: MUZE. p. 425.CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 633.
  6. Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 353–354.
  7. "Michelle Shocked | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  8. "My assignment: Michelle Shocked's 'Texas Campfire Tapes'". No Depression. November 11, 2009.
  9. Buckley, Tom (June 1, 2010). "Campfire Girl".
  10. "MICHELLE SHOCKED`S VOICE EMERGES FROM A CHILLING PAST". Chicago Tribune.
  11. Bond, Jonathan. "Shocked and Awed". Tucson Weekly.
  12. "Michelle Shocked". Trouser Press. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
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