An Echoes Acoustic Thanksgiving with SHEL

Get the right music for your turkey repast with a special Echoes Thanksgiving show of acoustic sounds for late autumn and a live performance by SHEL, the acoustic trio of sisters from Colorado who make a beautifully charming sound on their self-titled debut.

SHEL live on Echoes

The band called SHEL is from a generation of musicians who grew up on their parents record collections.  The four sisters from Colorado, ranging from 19 to 25 years old, were listening to folk music and classic rock as much as contemporary music, maybe more.  They’ve created a charming and infectious sound, full of serene harmonies and playful instrumentation, but there’s also something deeper lurking in this music.  On the heels of their self-titled debut album, SHEL came to echoes and gave us a glimpse into their music.

SHEL are Sarah, Hannah, Eva and Liza Holbrook. Despite their age, many of SHEL’s songs portray a sense of loss and tragedy that is beyond their years, especially from people who appear to have had an idyllic childhood full of music and a “Waltons” kind of family life.  So you might wonder where the angst comes from in one of their earlier songs like “Try To Scream.”

SHEL looking serious on Echoes

“I read a lot of books by C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald,” says SHEL’s Eva Holbrook. She’s the writer and mandolin player in the band. “Actually those are some of my favorite things to do, actually to curl up and read George MacDonald because his books are so convicting.  And it just reminds me that you know, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve been through, the challenge of doing the right thing even when it’s hard, or not doing the wrong thing even when you want to do it, all of that like even in an ideal life there’s angst… you know, I’ve been in relationships that I felt really trapped in and always come out on the other side of it But that’s just how I expressed it is through music.”

Hear SHEL playing live on an Echoes Acoustic Thanksgiving tonight.

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

ECHOES CD OF THE MONTH CLUB SPECIAL

New members of the Echoes CD of the Month Club will get Moby’s Innocents album, our November CD of the Month and a BONUS CD of Bombay Dub Orchestra’s Tales from the Grand Bazaar.  You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time.  You’ll also get the new Echoes CD, Transmissions: The Echoes Living Room Concerts V19, which includes a track from SHEL. You can do it all right here.

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