Shannon her guitar, ukulele and a harp (when she gets a bigger car)
Influences
Joshua Heineman, Joanna Newsom, Utah Phillips, Tegan and Sara, Annalise Aakhus, Michele Shocked, Hattie, Huck Brock, Cyndi Lauper, Ani Difranco, Jolie Holland, Cat Power, Be Good Tanyas, Inga Muscio, Jay Hotaling, Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Sylvia Plath, Georgia O'Keeffe, Howard Zinn, Joe Hill, Neil Young, Mavina Reynolds, Valerie Solanas, Kimya Dawson, Riot Folk!, Lia Rose, Jolie Rickman
Shannon Murray is a folk/punk singer-songwriter and activist originally from northern Minnesota. With a style and sound that merges the folk sensibilities of Dar Williams, the energy and spunk of Cyndi Lauper, and the story-telling of Utah Phillips, there is no telling where this young troubadour will take you. She is shocking and delighting audiences everywhere with her quirky stories, passionate songs, clumsy wit, and contagious energy.
After six years studying clarinet performance in college, Shannon quit graduate school, sold her clarinet and headed out on a tour of the west coast with $20 dollars to her name and a car with 230,000 miles on it. Two years later, she is still reinventing the way she approaches making music and touring, and working to make her professional life more in-line with her political beliefs. She has toured by bus and bicycle to question the obvious contradictions between touring as a political musician and car culture. She makes all of her music available online for free downloading, and sells cds for sliding-scale, offering them to people for whatever they can afford to pay. She is also a member of Riot Folk!, a anti-profit, mutual-aid collective of radical artists and musicians, making music to provoke, educate, heal and inspire.
With six self-released albums of under her belt, Shannon is determination to stay independent. Her self-titled debut album “Shannon Murray” was released in 2002. She followed that up with “you and a six string” in 2003, “Scream” in 2004, “Hallelujah! I'm a Bum" in 2005, “Love and Fear" in 2006, and “Elated” in 2007. All of these albums (except the Bum cd which she recorded herself) were recorded in a small studio on the Turtle River in a wooded area of Northern Minnesota. The albums are labors of love, and Shannon is proud to proclaim that they were made by local businesses and artists, "My music is an extension of my personal beliefs, to separate the two is to live two lives, and I am not willing to do that." She is currently working on a month long bicycle tour of Florida with fellow RiotFolker Evan Greer and some other amazing artists!
Hey girl, how have you been? I'm glad to hear that your community space is coming along nicely and hope you can get the funds you need by winter. The leaves are changing color here already, and the geese are already migrating in huge gaggles you can hear from inside the brick and concrete walls of my university. It's going to be a cold one!
Hey girl. F to the Y to the I, I miss you, like crazy. The city is huge, & vast, & wild, & I feel like a shrew. How's the house? How's the singing? How are the friends? How are you? Tell me things.
So how did the rest of the tour go? I just wanted to say I think you and Evan kicked ass and I would be honored to have you come back if you are ever in the area. There isn't too many good musicians out there trying to make a difference and for your dedication to making change I am grateful!
hey babe,. im in arizona and dont have minutes until now on the weekend. butt. i wont be back until monday so. i hope the tour was great and you are excellent and also that we talk real soon. lots to catch up on my dear. love love4 love your sony
Hey, Shannon. How you been? I am back in Oregon and things are crazy. Lots of change around here. I just posted 6 brand new songs! Check 'em out and send me an update when you get time.
Happy valentines day, superhero. hope you are having a safe and awesome trip full of new stories. give evan a consensual hug for me. tell him he sounds sexy on TV when he's you know, sounding smart:-)
Yo Gur! We will be down there this weekend and playing @ Brigid's Cross with The Limns on Friday and Saturday night!!! Come out and dance with us lady friend~ PEACE!
