A CONVERSATION WITH MICHELLE SHOCKED (continued)

PM: Now your stroke of genius is better revealed. How did you know to do that, and how did you get it together at that point in time? Was anyone advising you?

MS: Three things, I would say. First, the goodwill of Nanci Griffith, who told me "Own your work." The second thing was my own hard headedness, and my background in radical politics. I looked at my understanding of global politics, and knew that if Brazil had not gotten so far into debt, it would not have had to sell its natural resources. So I structured a deal based on those two pieces of information that kept me from going into debt. I didn't take a big advance up front; I just took enough to record the record. So I was never in debt to them.

The third thing was that the success of The Texas Campfire Tapes was so unexpected that, unlike with most artists, they came knocking on my door, instead of the reverse. At that point, all I had to do was stand on those two principles. Under the circumstances, they had the predictable fear that if they didn't give me the deal I was looking for, somebody else would.

I don't give much credit to my manager or lawyer of the time, because they were busy doing a backdoor deal for themselves, which was a custom label on Mercury. They didn't reveal any of those conflicts of interest to me at the time. So I feel very strongly that I was looking out for myself, and following my political instincts, and my own personal values. These days, I know that God was obviously watching out for me, because artists need a way out of the wilderness. And it had been so egregious for so long, how was this chain ever going to be broken, and then someone like me came along.

PM: And the first credo was the simple one passed along by Nanci Griffith.

MS: Right, and then I heard Prince say it later: "If you don't own your masters, you're a slave."

PM: He went his own way, right? How did that turn out?

MS: We were just talking about him last night. I'm not exactly sure, but my understanding was that he was so embittered with his fights with Warners that he was determined to go back and re-record the songs from those albums he didn't own the rights to.

PM: Are you allowed to do that?

MS: Yes. But it would be a huge challenge, for instance, to record "When Doves Cry" 15 years later and make it sound like it did then. And I give myself credit for that, too. When push came to shove and they started shoving, I had to sit on the hot seat for what turned out to be three years. They know that as an artist you need to create and record and that your creativity can get really twisted and cause you to buckle in. So I feel that God protected me from getting too engaged with that feeling of being trapped. There were moments that I felt, "I need my freedom, just let me go." But I knew they couldn't take away my creativity, and touring just made me stronger and better, and gave me the validation that I could no longer get from recording and having new records be broadcast and go over.

PM: Have you stayed on the road all along?

MS: There was only one year I took a sabbatical, '97. I just went to church. Other than that, I give minor credit to my understanding that, when most acts were out there touring to promote their records, I was out there promoting records so that I could tour. I consider that to be the foundation of what it is I do. I perform and I communicate with my audience. I never took tour support. I made sure my touring budget was fiscally responsible, so they could never say "Do it our way, or we'll cut off your tour support."

PM: It's interesting how your personal politics and your background in radical politics had everything to do with the way you handled your career.

MS: I feel that way, too, and I also feel like this emerging spiritual politic, if you like, also goes hand in glove. Things are really integrating in my life. The choices that I've made, and the values I've developed, and the principles I've stood on, have really served me well.

PM: I want to talk about spirituality. I was at the show when you talked about your conversion experience, and then how you were taken back when a "new members" leader made the ridiculous reference that in the Bible it says Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. You went into "Peach Fuzz" at that point, and then I drifted on out. I didn't get to hear where your faith led you after that negative experience. Where do you stand with Jesus and the Church, and all that now?

MS: It led me to this. That I had been raised a Mormon, and a lot of the Mormon doctrines were extremely racist. I thank God for having given me an instinct early on that that was not right, even though I was surrounded by it. You know how a cultural collective can indemnify a misguided consensus. But my early rejection of those values turned me towards politics for my idealism. So it's not unusual that my political orientation was basically an anti-racist one. A lot of my politicking and feminism were informed by racism. I realized much later in life that politics were only going to get me so far.

By nature, I am a spiritual person. By turning back to organized religion, I was taking a risk, because it had let me down so many times in my earlier life. When I had that negative experience, I realized that I'm older and wiser now, and that it takes all kinds of people to make a world. And, rather than let this narrow minded type of bigotry drive me away again, I was going to stand on my own beliefs and principles. Just because we're part of the same church doesn't mean that we have to agree on everything, and share a common understanding of it. Because the Baptist church used the Bible for a long time to prove that slavery was intended and endorsed by God.

PM: Just the way that they're using it now to say that homosexuality is not endorsed by God.

MS: Exactly my point. Let God decide what is beautiful. I don't think we humans have any business deciding for anyone but ourselves where we find beauty and grace. If you want to use the Bible to prove or disprove that, I'm sure you can. I have no interest in being a heretic among believers. Everything I agree with, I do so wholeheartedly. When I disagree with something, I just quietly accept that we can't all think alike. You just can't.  continue

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