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“‘Ceremony’ is like an old language translated…one with the same earthy roots that define her music.”
"the songs hold up well, as does McNally’s vocal performance, a testament to her strength as a singer, considering that Jennings had one of the best voices in country music” —Texas Music
“She was very intelligent about her approach to the project,” Colter says “The sounds, the drums, the beat is what caught my ear because that’s all almost impossible to really capture. For Waylon that all came from his own feel, his rhythm playing. Many have tried. I was thrilled to hear ‘I Ain’t Living Long Like This’ because after I listened, I thought, ‘Okay, this is really good.’”
In the liner notes on Shannon McNally’s new record, the singer confessed that she’s had a long fascination with Waylon Jennings’ music…
"McNally realized her dream, sang her heart out surrounded by an elite group of musicians and guests, and delivered her career-best project, evident from the very first note she sings. "
by Peter Blackstock
Shannon McNally isn't an Austinite, but the singer-songwriter who currently calls Nashville home has ties to the Live Music Capital. She's spent much of the past few years singing Texas songwriter Terry Allen's band alongside prominent Austin musicians such as Lloyd Maines and Charlie Sexton. And South Austin venue Sam's Town Point has became a local home base of sorts for McNally, a place for her to work out new material with her band in an intimate setting.
Our guest this hour is Shannon McNally, who dropped by to chat about her upcoming record, The Waylon Sessions, a covers album of Waylon Jennings songs which she recorded with an all-star band and special guests like Jessi Colter, Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell, and Lukas Nelson. McNally’s put together an album of classics that challenges our perceptions and assumptions about just what made them classics in the first place, providing a feminine perspective that only a restless, and truly creative spirit like hers could conjure.
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Shannon McNally is a honky tonk hero on her new album, a dream project comprised of classic outlaw country anthems and personal favorites from the catalog of Waylon Jennings.
The prolific Singer/Songwriters latest album, a unique spin, and tribute to Waylon Jennings reimagines the classics with McNally providing a completely new and original take on the songs we all love for a new generation of music fans.
Join us, as McNally provides a unique insight into the making of the album, as well as other topics including the era of promotion on Social Media, the unexpected creative blessings of 2020, the all-star band that helped bring this project to life lots more.
No two ways about it, but the name Shannon McNally just rolls off the tongue as one of legitimacy: kind of like Reba, Tanya, or Martina. Or perhaps.. kind of like Waylon, that of the rugged outlaw country icon of whom she is covering on her upcoming LP The Waylon Sessions—a collection of songs from Waylon Jennings and his outlaw cohorts. This highly anticipated album will be released on Compass Records on May 28, 2021.
Today we premiere the wry, playful video for “Black Rose” which complements McNally’s warm, winning take on the tune.
February 12, 2021 – Nashville, TN – With her new album, The Waylon Sessions, the prolific and wide-ranging Shannon McNally set out to revisit the songs and spirit of Waylon Jennings, a legend with whom she’s always had an ongoing fascination. “I have always loved his defiantly existential but immediately accessible common man’s music and how it boogies,” says McNally. But her collection of tunes ended up being not so much a tribute as it is a recontextualization; a nuanced, feminine rendering of a catalog long considered a bastion of hetero-masculinity.
American Songwriter catches up with Shannon McNally to talk about her upcoming new album which covers Waylon Jennings songs and features an all-star cast.
Available on May 28th, The Waylon Sessions includes Waylon Jennings songs from Compass Records, such as “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” “I’ve Always Been Crazy,” and the current lead single, “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This” – which you can watch the video below.
Singer/songwriter/painter Terry Allen holds a special stature among Texas singers and songwriters. With a career that dates back more than 40 years, he’s established himself as an iconic artist whose work entails a fine Texas tradition, one made famous by such peers as Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Robert Earl Keen, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and other individuals whose wry wit and keen sense of observation reflect a sound and sensibility informed by both insight and intelligence.
Allen can't take all the credit for the fun, as it's a friends and family affair: Jo Harvey Allen, Bukka Allen, Bale Allen, and Kru Allen, not to mention co-producer Charlie Sexton, co-writer Joe Ely, and vocalist Shannon McNally, who steals the last leg of the show as she soars above the big top in "City of the Vampires," a carny polka stomp that creeps through the shadows like an inverted "Wonder of It All."
With the help of collaborators, the 76-year-old songwriter takes what would be another great, narrative album set to the familiar rhythms of a country waltz and brings it to new places.
“On the gorgeous “Pirate Jenny”, a sort of slow-motion sea shanty, McNally furnishes a sultry counterpoint to Allen’s spoken-word intonations, and on the Tom Waits’ish “Death Of The Last Stripper”, her backing vocals gently light up the mournful choruses like the headlights on the hearse.” – Uncut
The simple melody of “City of Vampires” will linger in your head for days and the sheer beauty of McNally and Jo Harvey Allen on “Harmony Two” is a soothing touch.
hough it would be near impossible to claim any one of Allen’s records as his pièce de résistance, his latest album, Just Like Moby Dick — his first original collection since 2013’s Bottom of the World — may vie for that title. The self-professed “sequel” to Lubbock, Just Like Moby Dick is an LP full of stunning music crafted by an inimitable cast of characters that make up The Panhandle Mystery Band: Allen’s wife Jo Harvey, Bukka Allen, Kru Allen, Bale Creek Allen, Charlie Sexton (who co-produced with Terry), Shannon McNally, Lloyd Maines, Richard Bowden, Davis McLarty, Glenn Fukunaga, and Brian Standefer.
This year’s festival is set to run Friday through Sunday, Jan. 24 to 26. The Friday concert will be headlined by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Shannon McNally, with the New Orleans Catahoulas and their focus on Crescent City rhythm-and-blues. Saturday will feature psychedelic soul from Kalu and the Electric Joint, along with Birds of Chicago and their distinctive folk-informed brand of Americana.
That was true well before the moment near the end of the second set when Allen introduced his good friend David Byrne as a guest singer on the last few songs. Wonderful a surprise as that may have been, by then we’d already been treated to almost two hours of music by a splendid cast of mostly local musicians with world-class credentials. There was Charlie Sexton, off the road with Bob Dylan to work similar magic with Allen’s songs. There was Lloyd Maines, producer for the Dixie Chicks and countless others who’s worked with Allen for 40 years. There was a sublime new recruit, New Orleans singer Shannon McNally, an accomplished Americana artist whose voice and persona were a perfect fit for this ensemble.
Terry’s sons, Bukka and Bale Allen, add a close family touch on keyboards, accordion and percussion. Cap it all off with Shannon McNally, a Nashville-based singer who’s made some of the best Americana records of the last 20 years, and this latest lineup of Allen’s storied Panhandle Mystery Band might just be the best ensemble in American roots music today.
Below is a Spotify Playlist consisting of Neal’s seven previously unavailable solo records, plus the 1999 album he recorded with Kenny Roby, Black River Sides, and 2002’s collaborative album with Shannon McNally, Ran On Pure Lightning. The playlist presents the prior available Casal solo albums, 1995’s Fade Away Diamond Time, 2005’s Return In Kind and 2012’s Sweeten The Distance, as well.
Selected solo albums of Neal Casal—the late singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was a member of the Cardinals and passed away earlier this year—are now available on streaming services for the first time. Rain, Wind & Speed (1996), The Sun Rises Here (1998), Field Recordings (1997), Basement Dreams (1998), Black River Sides with Kenny Roby (1999), Anytime Tomorrow (2000), Ran On Pure Lightning with Shannon McNally (2002), No Wish To Reminisce (2006), and All Directions (2007) can now be found on Spotify and Apple Music.
The expansive digital release of Casal’s solo catalog includes 1996’s Rain, Wind & Speed, 1997’s Field Recordings, 1998’s The Sun Rises Here, 1998’s Basement Dreams, 1999’s Black River Sides (with Kenny Roby), 2000’s Anytime Tomorrow, 2002’s Ran On Pure Lightning (with Shannon McNally), 2006’s No Wish To Reminisce, and 2007’s All Directions.