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Why so Blue, Bird?

by JShogren Shanghai'd

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1.
Swampland 03:47
Elizabeth, today we wed and tomorrow we must part Mr. Wilson’s vindicated war needs a swampland Bonaparte Elizabeth, tonight we dance and tomorrow we must die By and by, hand in hand, am I the only one who wonders… What I find so remarkable To those we leave behind Love can be So merciful to an unremarkable life Like mine Like mine Elizabeth, today we vow and tomorrow we must pray By his grace, by your side as we wash the blood away Elizabeth, tonight we kiss and tomorrow we must kill By and by, hand to hand, am I the only one who wonders What I find so remarkable To those we leave behind Love can be So merciful to an unremarkable Man like me Love can be so kind to an unremarkable life like mine I never wanted to be Anything like you see Love can be so kind To an unremarkable life Like mine Like mine
2.
Temperance 02:51
Temperance I raised three boys and I raised them right Raised them up: ... Temperance each and every night … Gospel by the Kerosene light I raised them up not to drink & smoke So what you’re telling me now …Must be some kinda hurtful joke …Told by some kinda jealous folk You are free to tell me I did wrong But I know who will judge me when I’m gone …Gone …True to the book I was raised by a river rat and his wife Raised me up: …to stand firm on the Rock of Ages …strengthen the Fallen & Contagious I raised my boys to walk the same line So what you’re telling me now …comes from some kinda Drunkard’s wine …mockery from some kinda vine You are free to tell me I did wrong But I know who will judge me when I’m gone …Gone …True to the book Down along the Temperance River we kneeled and we prayed Now you’re telling me it’s my boys who need to be saved You are free to tell me I did wrong But I know who will judge me when I’m gone …Gone…True to the book …Gone…True to the book …Gone…True to the book
3.
Seeds 03:08
4.
Fence 04:01
5.
Apple Seed 01:08
6.
Works 04:13
7.
Absinthe 03:16
8.
9.
Wade 02:46
10.
Snows of May 01:15
11.
Apple Tree 03:43
12.
13.
Skavijaviska 01:04
14.
15.
16.
17.
Birds Return 00:36
18.

about

Why So Blue, Bird? Adventures & Death in the Great Northwoods, east of Blackduck, west of Cloquet, south of the Lost 40
Catawampus American music--Roots & folk music filtered through a contemporary dissonant transmitter.

credits

released August 1, 2016

Why So Blue, Bird? Adventures & Death in the Great Northwoods, east of Blackduck, west of Cloquet, south of the Lost 40
- J Shogren Shanghai'd
- Jascha Herdt, guitar, percussion, misc
- John Grigsby, bass
- Zack Littlefield, drums, percussion
- Jim Wilson, Omnichord, misc.
- J Shogren, vocals, guitar, misc

- Produced by Jim Wilson

- Recorded at Wind Over the Earth Studios, Longmont, CO
- Recorded by Mark Venezia & Jim Wilson
- Mixed by James Stevens, Ear Studio, Austin, TX
- Mastered by Jim Wilson Mastering, Longmont, CO

- Art work on cover by Robb Quisling, Duluth, MN
- Album design by Mike Vanata, Square State Films


J Shogren Shanghai’d from Centennial WY (pop 100, 4 bars) have a singular vision of what they are doing musically:
Roots & folk music filtered through a contemporary dissonant transmitter.

They call their music “catawampus american music”. Shogren shows up with a lived-in rasp of a voice, acoustic guitars, a mandolin and a batch of his own songs and some well-traveled numbers by cohorts from another time. Shogren has released five albums over the last decade, played all over the Rocky Mtn region & Europe, and won the Wyoming Blues Challenge in 2012.

“Brilliant storyteller from Wyoming. Hard Boiled, sometimes dark humorous stories delivered with a voice that clearly have lived through them." Lennart Persson (SWE) Rootsy

“J Shogren is an intellectual dealing in pop music. He's funny, but the jokes are wry and subtle, drawn from a wide range of high and low cultural references....Like traditional music itself, Shogren's songs occupy their own other world." J Clark (US) Rambles

“Shogren’s style is definitely singular. Whether solo, duo or with a larger ensemble, Shogren is like the distant, Wyoming-born cousin of quirky songster Bonnie Prince Billy.” Aaron Davis (US) Planet Jackson Hole

"When he’s not growling the lyrics to irreverent tunes like “Hand Grenade” (“When my Tommy-gun starts burpin’ Satan will be a-hurtin’ ”) Jason Shogren, the lead singer and songwriter in J Shogren Shanghai’d (the latter term a reference to how he strong-arms musicians into his band), holds down a day job in the economics department at the University of Wyoming. More impressively, he’s among the few pop musicians who have been party to a Nobel Peace Prize. After serving a year in the Clinton White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, Mr. Shogren was appointed to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, which shared a Nobel with Al Gore in 2007." M Segell, New York Times

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JShogren Shanghai'd Centennial, Wyoming

Catawampus American Music
- new songs played through a dissonant transmitter

Jshogren.com

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