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Shea Seger (album)

Shea Seger is the second album by singer-songwriter Shea Seger, released on July 19, 2010 through the independent record label, Truthcore.

Since recording, releasing and promoting The May Street Project ten years earlier, Seger had become disillusioned by the constraints of maintream music and the demands of major record labels. Although proud of the album, Seger describes how she feels "very distant from it musically ".

Background
Seeking focus and a direct connection with the music she was making, Seger began work in East Texas with guitarist Chester Kamen and bassist Dale Davis, eschewing distractions such as a telephone, television and computers and creating "great, honking hit songs" "absent of formula". Seger assumed that these sessions would produce her next album released by RCA, but on travelling to the UK and finding the label unable to nurture her creativity in view of mainstream movements, Seger requested she be freed from her contract and the relationship with RCA ended. The music created at this time was released digitally in 2019.

Development
Around the time of the breakup between RCA and herself, Seger met Andrew Wallace, a musician who has toured with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, and soon became pregnant with their child Luna.

A neck operation on Seger’s father was tragically botched, forcing the sixtysomething to relearn basic motor skills. Seger took her family to Texas to care for her father. Financial struggles impacted on the family when Pink Floyd's Waters decided not to tour, thus leaving Wallace without a steady income. These challenges helped Seger turn to writing as a release:

"I never wanted to write [confessional music] ... The real stuff going on my life was a bit too intense and heavy … and that’s the last thing you want to write about if you’re trying to get into music, especially if you’re a girl and now a mom. But I had to. It was all pouring out of me, pouring out of me and then being locked in a safe."

Once Seger's father was well enough, the family moved to Austin, Texas, where Shea recorded a demo CD at home, and despite much interest and many meetings, Seger did not feel offered contracts were appropriate for her. “I told [them] thank-you but no thank-you,” Seger said. “I waited this long. I can wait some more.”

As the family's financial desperation grew, Seger was suddenly contacted with a cheque for outstanding royalties from The May Street Project. Seger described this as a "godsend" and " thought;

"'I’ll pay my bills, and if there’s anything left over, I’ll book a studio and I’ll pick up that guitar and I’ll just sing some songs.' Because at that point, it was the only thing I could think to do. It wasn’t a strategy. It was desperation. I was cornered and creatively just stripped, and the only thing that I hadn’t done, the only part that wasn’t exhausted, were the songs in the safe and me with my guitar without anybody else."

Recording
Seger began recording at Wired Recording studios in Austin. Her only stipulation was that she record directly onto analog tape with no cuts or edits.

"It was not fun. My fingers would bleed. … A lot of times I’d have to stop and, y’know, be a little bit of a mess for a bit and then get back on the chair and go. Do it. Record. Go."

The album features contributions from Seger's boyfriend Wallace, bassist Pino Palladino, who now plays for The Who, and J. J. Johnson, a drummer who has played with Joyn Mayer and Doyle Bramhall. Additional sounds – Johnson’s drumwork, Palladino’s bass guitarwork, some strings, accordion playing by Bukka Allen –– were inserted later.

Release
The album was released digitally through Seger's website and is available to stream online. "I don’t care in that department, when it comes to strategizing a commercial release of this record. I think it’s gonna do something that it’s gonna do, and I don’t really wanna mess with it that much.”

Critical reception
Anthony Mariani wrote on the Fort Worth Weekly that the album is "semi-bluesy, semi-folky, and raw ... There are meditations on destiny versus fate, heated missives to charlatans and other heartbreakers, elegies for the living, assertions of purpose, and paeans to the redemptive qualities of love of both the romantic and spiritual varieties."

Personnel
All tracks mixed by John Harvey, Andrew Wallace, and Shea Seger “Piper’s Dream” mixed by Joey Benjamin with Andrew Wallace and Shea Seger Recorded at Top Hat, Wire, and Premiuim recording studios in Austin, TX… Additional tracking at the Spirit Ranch, Sarasota, FL. Engineered by John Harvey, Boo Macleod, Andrew Hernandez, Bud Snyder and Jared Tuten. Assisted by Mary Podio, and Jeremy Stacy. Mastered by Jeff Lipton assisted by Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering, Boston,MA

Shea Seger: vocals, acoustic and baritone guitars, piano, percussion Andrew Wallace: electric and acoustic guitars, piano, organ, banjo, jews harp, porchboard, percussion, harmonium, timpani Pino Palladino: bass J.J. Johnson: drums Brian Standefer: cello Warren Hood: fiddle Bukka Allen: accordian Thorson Moore: slide guitar Extra percussive madness provided by: jo, mo and luna