Geronimo

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Geronimo, the follow-up to Shannon McNally's intoxicating 2002 debut, Jukebox Sparrows, follows the same rootsy pop/R&B/folk/alt-country path, yet goes the distance to prove that the transplanted New Yorker, now living in New Orleans and soaking up the bayou blues, is more than just a Sheryl Crow/Bonnie Raitt clone. Her songwriting--deft, atmospheric, and loaded with memorable lines ("Listening for the sound of my last hope hitting the ground")--settles mainly on the searing emotional pain of romantic dissolution, yet always offers enough irony and universal touchstones (e.g., running into an old lover by chance) to win over even the most casual listener. She hits her stride on the title cut, which uses the sad, shameful defeat of the Native Americans as the subtheme to a well-fought battle of love. As on her debut, McNally rarely veers out of a mid-tempo groove, and producer Charlie Sexton, who keeps things spare but interesting (like steel drum accents on "Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes"), is right to encourage only the one overt rocker, "The Hard Way," and to simply let the artist be herself. McNally is so irresistibly winsome, sexy, seductive, and vulnerable that, chances are, you'll be ready to move in by the end of the opening track. --Alanna Nash

Jukebox Sparrows

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The southern aura of Shannon McNally's full-length debut belies more than her own geographic origins on Long Island's South Shore. Indeed, McNally seems to have absorbed a generation or three of classic American blues, folk, and country influences with nary an ounce of self-consciousness or strained irony. Coupled with "Now That I Know"'s easy, emblematic pop sense and her natural phrasing, McNally's viewpoints range from cynically clear-eyed modern romanticism ("Down and Dirty," "Bolder Than Paradise") to the chilling rape-themed narrative "It Could've Been Me" to the surprising, jazzy impressionism of "Colorado." Comparisons to Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt come naturally, but McNally's musical ambitions are distinctly broader, especially for a singer so early in her career. If the album's midtempo groove occasionally simmers too long, the spare sheen of Ron Aniello's production and stellar session work from the likes of Jim Keltner, James Gadson, Benmont Tench, and Greg Leisz impart a mature, accomplished sensibility. And just when you might think you've got McNally pegged, along comes her most promising delight, a playfully experimental title track rife with ambient samples, a rap-blues inflected telephone-voice narrative, murky rhythms, and bop-inspired instrumental flourishes. A VH1-ready visage has gained her some press, but don't let that distract you. Just trust your ears. --Jerry McCulley

Charlie Sexton & Shannon McNally

Charlie Sexton & Shannon McNally
Southside Sessions (Back Porch)

For a recording that falls on the alt.country side of roots-rock, Southside Sessions cuts close to the bone without bleeding. Inspired by the successful 2005 tour by Charlie Sexton and Shannon McNally, who traded appearances on each other's acclaimed albums last year (Sexton produced hers), the two repeat their onstage duets on this seven-song EP (both "Burn" and "I'd Do the Same for You" appeared on Sexton's Cruel and Gentle Things). The results are a tight, canny collection of songs, sometimes languorous and understated ("Nothing Mysterious"), but more often transcendently beautiful ("No Place to Fall"). That it shapes four of Sexton's and one of McNally's original compositions with Townes Van Zandt and Jesse Winchester chestnuts makes it all the more alluring. The latter's "Biloxi" is the disc's most sublime moment, wistful but never fey, a stunning and gorgeous lament that evokes the devastated New Orleans in the most poetic of lyrics. McNally is a relative newcomer, recording less than 10 years, compared with Sexton's baptism by rock & roll fire in Austin nightclubs when he was a baby. Yet both have struck a common chord with each other, a union of luminous joy and emotional strength married in music. (Saturday, 5:15pm, Austin Ventures stage)

Shannon McNally Bio, commentary, etc

Shannon McNally was born in Hempstead, on Long Island. While studying anthropology in college, McNally began singing and playing guitar in clubs, and after graduating honed her skills on the streets of Paris as a busker. The willowy, graceful McNally secured a deal with Capitol in 1997. While the label was interested in marketing her as a second-wave Alanis Morissette, McNally herself was intent on making an acoustic record. Eventually, she won the execs over and entered the studio with a talented bunch of studio pros who included Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench, and Greg Leisz. The result was Jukebox Sparrows, a soulful, countrified affair that mixed the well-crafted professionalism of Sheryl Crow with more disparate '70s influences like the Band and Little Feat. Despite the album's promise, it was shelved indefinitely amidst power struggles at Capitol.

In the interim, McNally opened for Stevie Nicks and Ryan Adams, and was part of the 1999 Girl's Room tour with Tara MacLean, Kendall Payne, and Amy Correia. She also modeled for Urban Decay cosmetics. In 2000, McNally issued the holdover EP Bolder Than Paradise. When Capitol finally issued Jukebox Sparrows in January 2002, it did so into a market that had already embraced such roots-flavored material as Ryan Adams and the O Brother, Where Art Thou phenomenon. McNally embarked on an extensive press tour, and spent the summer of that year supporting John Mellencamp. In late 2002, she released the Ran on Pure Lightning EP. A casual, easygoing recording, the project was a collaboration with songwriter Neal Casal.

In 2005, McNally returned with the ambitious country, blues, and soul influences of Geronimo. The album's June release was accompanied by a summer's worth of live dates. Early 2006 saw the release of McNally's third album, North American Ghost Music. Tour dates with Son Volt also coincided its release. Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

Shannon McNally pix

Shannon McNally: I don't want to know

Shannon McNally: TMR

TMR: Thacker Mountain Radio

Shannon McNally: Worst Part of a Broken Heart

Shannon McNally - Now that I know

Now that I know what I know, I know I'll always love you
Now that I see what I see I see it will always be
Now that I got what I got I know I had it all along

Midweek morning time I wake up next to you
With your head on my pillow and your arms around me,
Oh baby it's so warm
Still I lay here thinking about the way I thought it would be
But all my planning aside

Now that I know what I know, I know I'll always love you
Now that I see what I see I see it will always be
Now that I got what I got I know I had it all along

And I'll be your ground if you'll be my muse I can tie on to
You follow me and I'll follow you
Yes I'll follow you
Still I lay here thinking 'bout the way I used to be
And man baby with you I've come a long way

Now that I know what I know, I know I'll always love you
Now that I see what I see I see it will always be
Now that I got what I got I know I had it all along

And it's all a trick till you figure it out
I couldn't hear myself thinking till I started to shout

Now that I know what I know, I know I'll always love you
Now that I see what I see I see it will always be
Now that I got what I got I know I had it all along

Now that I know what I know, I know I'll always love you
Now that I see what I see I see it will always be
Now that I got what I got I know I had it all along

Shannon McNally: Pale Moon

Oh I'd like to find myself trapped in some desert town with you
just me and you
my long black hair waving in the dry wind
me waving at you my lover from some ancient balcony
but like a thirsty vision I see you and you're gone
where could you have run to?
come back, come back, come back
but you're gone to California
and it's just my fate making me blue
why else would I see you today?

But I'm not in some desert town and you're not there with me
I'm underground in NYC
the city of perpetual motion, the city that never sleeps
that's alright I wasn't tired anyways
I was so close to getting clear
thought I had nothing to fear
you'd be on a plane and you'd be gone
and it would be done
there are eighteen million people in this town
I spent the day just bumming around
just to bump into you on Third Avenue.

It's a pale moon, burning sun
when will I see my only one
Pale moon, burning sun
when will I see my only one?

I think it's unbelievable,
I think it's incredible,
it's magical, it's tragic.
but I know we'll meet again someday
we'll be very far away
I'll know you and you'll know me
and we're gonna both agree
that we belong together
we belong together
we belong together

It's a pale moon, burning sun
when will I see my only one
Pale moon, burning sun
when will I see my only one?

Shannon McNally - Down And Dirty

Come on in through my screen door
Tell me all of your cares
I'm here to lend my ears
Where have you been lately, haven't seen you much around here
You've been hiding out in the shade
Your skin is all gone to grey
Did you eat today when are you coming home to stay?

CHORUS
Don't you know I love you when you're down and dirty
Don't you know I love you when you're clean

If you could see what I see, you'd see a boy who thinks that sad is all he is
You've been looking around without your vision
Hearing things without listening suffering but feeling no real kind of pain
And you know I'd like to help but if I let you ride for free
You'd only drag me down into the cheap, cheap seats

CHORUS
Don't you know I love you when you're down and dirty
Don't you know I love you when you're clean

You've got this thing against living with the best
but you sure like to visit it don't you?
When the streets get too cold, when you're feeling weary and old
When your chances for survival are looking oh so slim
When all of a sudden you want to live to be 80, maybe 90, maybe 110

CHORUS
Don't you know I love you when you're down and dirty
Don't you know I love you when you're clean

I know that everything ain't always what it seems to be

Shannon McNally - "Bohemian Wedding Prayer"

Shannon McNally: A new blues-rock singer updating sounds old and Gritty

"Don't you know that I love you when you're down and dirty," sings Shannon McNally on her hook-filled debt, Jukebox Sparrows (Capitol). Her predilection for grit and rawness is obvious: The 27-year-old Long Island native sings with bluesy abandon and displays a fervent love of the live band dynamics of classic rock. "I wanted lots of real drums," she says. "I was adamant about not having any computer sounds on there. I didn't want it to be categorizable, but I did want to make pop music." And she succeeds, with songs that draw on the past--gutsy soul, southern rock and '70s AM radio--while somehow sounding contemporary. If this isn't what pop music sounds like in 2002, it should.

McNally is not worried about her glamour undercutting her rootsy authenticity. "I look at Dolly Parton," she says. "Here's a woman who had it all and used it all. There's this idea that I wouldn't be taken seriously if my picture is too pretty. But I figure whoever is going to get my music is going to get it, no matter how I look."