The Sheehys release second album
Great, great news for local music lovers — The Sheehys recently released their second compact disc — eight new original songs just in time to raise the spirits of everyone stuck at home sheltering in place thanks to the coronavirus.
Doug Sheehy, a fixture on the local music scene for decades, plays a 12-string at an Acoustic Café show at Lassen Community College.The Sheehys — Doug Sheehy (guitars and vocals), a long-time fixture on the local music scene, his daughter, Meg Sheehy (guitar, mandolin, vocals), and bassist John Tew — all shine brightly on the new release, entitled “Thank You.”
There’s always something very special about familial singers such as the Everly Brothers, and that unique vocal blend that can only come when family members share the vocals displays itself loud and clear on this offering.
Like everyone else in the state, Doug’s busy dealing with the events of the day.
“I’m just trying to stay in some good energy during these crazy times,” Doug said from his home in the Central Valley. “I’m so happy with the CD.”
Sheehy said the title of the CD comes from the last song with the same title, which “stems from the notion that through my life thousands of people have contributed to my life that weren’t acknowledged or appreciated enough by me. So this is a feeble attempt on my part to make up for that with a simple song. Certainly a huge part of that is my 30 years of experience in Susanville and Lassen County. So much kindness and love were given to me through that time by countless people … So, thank you!”
The CD opens with “The Wild,” written by Doug and Meg.
“It’s my music and her lyrics and melody,” Doug said. “It’s about her epic adventure hiking 640 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.”
According to the liner notes, the song borrows an excerpt from Robert William Service’s poem, “The Call of the Wild.”
“The Wild” features a hypnotic guitar riff as well as some interesting and surprising chord changes.
Meg wrote the CD’s second track, “Cold Shower,” a song Doug said deals with Meg’s transforming and shattering loss of her brother Luke, a smokejumper killed in the line of duty in June 2013 at the age of 28.
“It has been a cold shower for her and us,” Doug said.
Doug penned the third track, “I Don’t Know,” my favorite on the CD.
“I was listening to a scientist who was saying when gathering data to solve a problem, she must always recognize that one possible outcome, conclusion, is mystery — she just doesn’t know,” Doug said. “I thought our politicians don’t seem to have that in their vocabulary. (They) always have to be right.”
Doug also wrote the fourth track, “Listening For Rose,” a tune that might be familiar to local Sheehy fans.
“I heard the phrase at the USA Mini Mart on Main Street in Susanville where a woman named Rose was the clerk,” Doug said. “Rose became a metaphor for the quiet, gentle, inner voices we all have.
Meg penned tracks 5, 6 and 7 — “Long Way Down,” “Saving Mine” and “Song 47.”
Doug said those songs “stem from Meg’s remarkable imagination and creativity. Carry on girl.”
Doug said Jake Nolen, born and raised in Lassen County, was a great inspiration and recording engineer for the CD.
“I first met Jake when he was 9 years old and gave him guitar lessons from then until he graduated high school,” Doug said. “It’s a classic case of the much cherished outcome of the student surpassing the teacher in musical achievement. Jake’s singing, writing and guitar playing are all outstanding and he developed incredible engineering and recording skills. He made our environment so comfortable and relaxed and showed us lots of patience and love. He owns Studio 6 in Chico and performs regularly in the Pacific Northwest.”
For more information on the Sheehys or to get a copy of either of their CDs, visit their website at thesheehyswom.net.
