Buzzin Music

Shea Seger

Born in Fort Worth Texas in 1979, Shea Seger learnt about music at an early age from listening to her parents enormous record collection that encompassed everything from classical, Motown, disco, country, pop and rock and everything in between.

Having won a scholarship to study theatre, with dreams of becoming a playwright and actress Shea met Felix Todd who had come along to one of her shows. Todd asked her to travel to London with him to try her hand at songwriting and she leapt at the chance to leave the USA.

Having arrived in London, despite the venture with Todd not working out, Shea had already decided to stay in England, knowing more than anything that she wanted to live in the UK capital.

In 2000 having written some songs Shea was signed to RCA Records with whom she made her first album, The May Street Project. Over the next couple of years she would support the likes of James, David Gray, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Pat Benatar and Emmylou Harris, but without the necessary radio airplay Shea Seger’s career was not moving on.

Unsure of what she wanted out of life Shea asked to be dropped from RCA and the label duly obliged. She later fell in love and gave birth to her daughter Luna. A trip to the USA to show off the baby followed and while there a routine back operation on her father went horribly wrong and the planned six month trip turned into years.

During those years Shea would continue to write, but the songs were never intended to be recorded, never even played to close friends. But towards the end of her stay in America she decided to put her fears aside and enter the studio.

The collection of eleven songs on the self titled album, chart those ‘lost’ years from angry and broken to eventually finding strength and hope.

As a chronicle of those years the tracks are recorded in the order that they were originally written with the delicate Wishing Trees opening the album. Pipers Dreams and Last Few Standing ramp up the tempo along with Shea’s gutsy performance.

It is almost as though the pain of these songs is as real today as when they were written, Seger’s performance throughout is nothing short of being brilliantly outrageous, honest and personal and that is precisely what makes this such a special collection 0f songs.

This is one of those classic albums that crosses divides and refuses to be bound by musical genres, the lyrics are deeply personal and yet the listener will undoubtedly be empathetic, the instrumentation is often stark but beautifully captures each mood swing to perfection.

This is an album full of raw emotion from ballad to rip snorting rock, Seger’s vocals remain true throughout from the wispy Lucinda Williams style of Wishing Trees to the bourbon and smoke fuelled quality of Last Few Standing.

A certain contender for album of the year, Shea Seger’s self titled album is available now from all digital and conventional music stores.

For more information visit the Shea Seger MySpace.