Self-released

****

From the small rural community of Farmington, New Mexico, this 18-year-old grew up a country girl spending much of her time outdoors, feeding the animals on the family farm, barrel racing at the rodeo, fixing cars with her father and listening to country music by the likes of George Strait, Reba, Tanya, Loretta, Tammy, Trisha and the (Dixie) Chicks. She came to prominence a couple of years ago when she won season 15 of The Voice America. Though she was offered a major record contract she turned it down preferring to remain an independent artist and record what she refers to as ‘genuine country music’. Last December she released a self-produced Christmas collection recorded with her band members. Following a series of single releases comes this Nashville recorded 7 track mini album. Produced by Todd Tidwell it was recorded, the old-fashioned way, live in the studio with all the session musicians playing together.

Though she wrote Broken Hearts, her debut single, she’s astutely chosen songs by other writers such as Kasey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, Nora Collins, Shane McAnally, Julie Wood and Kellys Collins for this collection.  

From the opening track, Everybody’s Got A Story, we’re hit with driving guitars—pedal steel and electric—typical of classic 1990s country yet sounding just about right for today. Her airy singsong may strike you as sweet but listen a little closer and you’ll realise she’s spitting fire. Her voice is charismatic and fierce and she doesn’t need anyone else’s help. She turns in a lovely performance on Mama Got the Chair. A slower number and a quirky tale of being the continuing story of the romantic chance barroom encounter outlined in George Strait’s 1985 hit The Chair. She pairs longing with nostalgia, which sounds straight out of the Tammy Wynette catalogue, as a steel guitar and the reminiscence in her voice work together to create a vintage country song. Southern Boy feels like the thumping heartbeat of the album. Like much of the record. it makes a bold, clear statement as she flutters her eyes and voice in tandem on this spirited blend of beat-heavy twang and seductive ecstasy.

One of the album’s most immersive tracks is The Letter. Layers of softly tinkling piano and crying pedal steel unite with words a dying mother wrote for when her daughter was old enough to understand. With its sweet but melancholic air, Chevel exposes a heart pained by loss with vocals that are so intimate and full of longing, regret and love. She shines every time her voice hits the speakers but perhaps no more so than on Good Boy, a sweeping sense of longing for her parents to accept her new boyfriend. Her vocals weave flawlessly with a trusting innocence to an acoustic-based accompaniment of melodic guitars and fiddle.

Credit Chevel Shepherd and the studio musicians for finding the ideal compromise between that which is classic and contemporary. The teenager’s commitment to a more traditional country styling in these days of disposable commercialism is commendable for one of such tender years. She lets her voice bend and unravel, soothing the anxiety of the record’s more unsettled, emotional aspects and even quavers toward atonality once or twice, in moments that are all the more powerful for their scarcity. There should be a very bright future in store for this youngster.

www.chevelshepherd.com

February 2021