The Interviews

SHeDAISY

Interview by Chris Macon

Some time ago, I had the great pleasure of seeing the real-life Erin Brockovich speak to a group of college students. The theme of her talk was “stick-to-itiveness,” or what is essentially an amped up version of perseverance. I mention this because SHeDAISY has it. And, they’ve had it. For years, the sisters from Manga, Utah have been knee deep in fantastic, genre bending (but, always country at its core) music. And, while they’ve been nominated for awards as prestigious as the Grammys, critical acclaim in the form of a “Group of the Year” or “Album of the Year” trophy has eluded them. That travesty ends today. Though I may not carry the same weight as one of those big voting bodies, I do know good music. SHeDAISY is 2006's Group of the Year.

Their latest album, Fortuneteller’s Melody, is nothing short of a modern day masterpiece. From tracks that just rock, like “23 Days” and “I’m Taking The Wheel,” to one’s that hurt like a knife to the heart (“She Gets What I Deserve”), there really is something for everyone. “In Terms Of Love” will give you strength and perspective, “Whatever It Takes” will make you want to fall in love, and ”Burn Down The House“ will just kick your butt. It’s solid from top to bottom and just so enjoyable.

Before Fortuneteller’s Melody came the bounce back album, Sweet Right Here. The first single, “Passenger Seat” became a chart hit and fan favorite. There really is something to be said for a song with lyrics like “Chewin’ on a Slim Jim, can’t stop thinkin’ ‘bout him, yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s the one.” The fun didn’t stop there, however. “Good Together (Bucket & Chicken)” is a riot and half. Even without it ever making it to radio, that sucker live is like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Taking it back another step is one of the finest albums that I have ever had the privilege of hearing. Knock on the Sky will forever be the smash hit that got away. Those, along with their eclectically weird and wonderful Christmas album, Brand New Year, and debut blockbuster The Whole SHeBANG, round out the girls’ catalogue to date. Fans will be happy to know that 2007 will see them returning to the studio to cut something new, and no, it won’t be a “best of” package.

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending some time with the girls, backstage, after their set at the Country Bash. Karli Osborne sat in for her sister Kelsi, who was still out on maternity leave. My thanks to SHeDAISY, Lyric Street Records, and everyone else who made this interview possible!

Chris (WOC): So, Karli, how are you enjoying things?

Karli: How am I enjoying things? I’m loving it!

Chris (WOC): And, how are they enjoying you?

Karli: They hate it! [laughter] No, obviously it’s different. As the little sister, I mean, I’m not like Kelsi at all. I’m not the mother, I’m the child. So, sometimes they’re like Karli why did you do that?! But, they needed me.

Kristyn: It’s a good energy. It’s nice to have a young, kind of fresh…

Karli: I get excited about everything, you know?

Kristyn: It has brought a good energy to the group. And, all the guys have enjoyed it. ‘Cause we’ve been doing this so many years and this is really new for her. So, its been fun to watch her evolve and be excited when she does certain things or when we do a show for 20,000 people and she just kind of goes “AAHHH,” you know? It’s kind of fun to watch.

Chris (WOC): How was the first show together?

Kristyn: [to Karli] I think that first show was overwhelming for you.

Kassidy: For you, was it?

Karli: Oh, the first show, yeah. Well, I learned the stuff in about a month. That was it. By the time I got the songs in my hand to our first show, it was month. And so, I learned 26 songs… 25 songs, or whatever, in a month span. And, I got out there and I’m going “I hope I remember the words. I hope.”

Kristyn: And, it happened a little sooner than she expected. Kelsi was put on bed rest pretty quickly and we didn’t expect that.

Kari: But, if I made a mistake they turned me on. They even turned [my microphone] louder.

Kristyn: [laughing] Yeah, the band…

Karli: Yeah, you guys teased me.

Kristyn: Her first gig, she walked out on stage at a beach performance. So, she’s like goin’ “wow.” And, then like, 20,000 people…

Kassidy: And, we had a great hotel. She’s like, I could get used to this! And, then the next week we’re in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny little hotel with bugs everywhere. It was like, yeah, get used to this! [laughter]

Chris (WOC): And, how’s Kelsi?

Kassidy: Doing great. Doing so well. Her babies are beautiful and healthy and cute…

Karli: … and big.

Kassidy: We miss ‘em every time we leave. But, she misses it out here. She really does. She calls and checks on us to see how the show went and see when we’re coming back. She’s just anxious to get back out. She really is. So, that’ll be soon; probably this next year. But, you know, she’s taking on an even bigger challenge and that’s being a mom to twins, mind you. It’s tough. It’s a tough world that she’s in right now.

Chris (WOC): And, are you [Karli] sticking around?

Karli: I’m getting out of here! I’m getting out of here while I can! [laughter] I’m going to finish school in the spring. I’ve got a lot of things I’ve got to accomplish and make a checkmark on my list. We’ll see, we really don’t know. Nobody knows.

Kassidy: Nobody knows where this train is going to go.

Chris (WOC): You’ve described the new album [Fortuneteller’s Melody] as being one big story, whereas previous albums were more-or-less individual songs... individual snapshots. For those who haven’t heard it, how would you describe the story?

Kristyn: It pretty much follows the trail of a person who’s going through experiences in life and relationships. It’s pretty much universal. All of us have gone through the same process, I just decided to write songs about it. Finding love and losing love and coming to terms with losing it and finding yourself again... The feedback we’ve got is that people understand what we’re saying. It is very personal, but it’s also very personal for a lot of other people. It was interesting how it all came into place and it does, it’s kind of a like a little winding river. You follow this person along a path in their life. I’m not saying which person of the three of us it is…

Kassidy: No, it could be a combination.

Kristyn: It could be her, or it could be her, or me.

Kassidy: Or it could be the neighbor.

Kristyn: [laughs] It could be the neighbor.

Chris (WOC): Well, “In Terms of Love” is my favorite song off of the album. Talk a little about it and how it came to be.

Kristyn: That one was one of those special moments for all of us when we were recording. And, the writing process... it was written with one of my favorite people in the world, I mean, I idolize this songwriter. Don Schlitz, [he’s a] classic writer. We had both gone through the same experience; we were just at different points in our lives. He was in the middle of really terrible divorce and I had just finished one up. We were writing about what it felt like to get to that place... he was looking forward to it and I had just got there. It really came from an honest place and I think that’s why people understand the lyrics. It’s about losing something and coming to terms with that.

Chris (WOC): I love that it’s so simple.

Kristyn: Yeah, very simple.

Chris (WOC): But it’s such a big message.

Kristyn: That’s a hard thing to do as a writer. For me, I like to get busy with my words. He taught me how to simplify things and make it a little more concise. The impact of the words has to be bigger and the number of words has to be smaller.

Chris (WOC): Switching gears real quick, I can’t let today go by without acknowledging that Los Angeles has lost its country station [KZLA 93.9 switched formats in August 2006]. Any thoughts?

Kassidy: We’re saddened by it... very saddened by it. This is a place that we always felt at home. KZLA has been really good to us over the years and they’re great people. It’s just been sad to see that world completely taken away. It’s unfortunate for country music fans too, because there’s a lot of listeners here and a lot of people that enjoy country music. So, I know there’s been a lot of devastation at that end, but also on our end. We know how vital radio is and how important it is, and especially when you see a station as great as KZLA go away, it’s just unfortunate. And, it’s a shocker, I think, for all of us. It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t understand why that happened. But, we definitely hope it changes sometime soon, because we need it. We can’t lose our people.

Kristyn: And, you know what, the whole day we’ve been running into all the people we know from the station and it’s been nice that they’re still positive.

Kassidy: They’re still here to support us even though it’s not their show anymore.

Kristyn: Yeah, that’s the thing that’s really cool. That’s the whole point, though. You’ve got these people that are really spirited and they are about the music. They’re not going to let the fact that they’ve all just lost their jobs hold them back from coming.

Chris (WOC): And, the listeners have been great. There are “I Want My Country Back” t-shirts, “Save Country Music” ribbons, and a whole website devoted to the cause [CountryBoards.com].

Kassidy: That’s great. There are a lot of people that are really affected by it. And, angry and upset about it. It can’t stay this way much longer.

Karli: There are a lot of loyal fans and they deserve their music... they do.

Kassidy: And, that’s the thing, there’s a lot of loyalty with our fans and country music fans in general. I know that they’re not going to stop listening because they don’t have their station, but it certainly is something that they’ve loved or listened to their whole lives and they feel that loss. They want it back.

Kristyn: Give us our country back, that’s right.

Chris (WOC): I want to talk about Knock on the Sky. That album really couldn’t be any more of a favorite of mine. Your current bio makes reference to it being a “misstep.” So, I guess my question is, do you really feel like it was a misstep or just ahead of its time?

Kassidy: I definitely would never call it a misstep.

Kristyn: We personally don’t feel like it was a misstep, in fact that’s probably one of our favorite projects to ever work on. That’s such a really tender spot for us because we were absolutely convinced that we were going to help change the face of the format. It was a really, really raw kind of record, personally, and the timing couldn’t have been worse... and what was going on around us. The missteps, I think we were more referring to the way the record was handled. We don’t blame anybody, because we could have changed that, too.

Kassidy: But, you trust people and you make decisions and you have to go with them confidently. Some work, some don’t.

Kristyn: The part that really gives us some validation is the fact that the most letters and e-mail we get are about that album. So, that makes us feel good. We did the right thing. It gave us a feeling of credibility, too. Because all of a sudden we had that kind of deep, intense record. And, coming off of what we just did [1999’s The Whole Shebang], we felt like we needed that a little bit.

Chris (WOC): There are so many great songs on Knock on the Sky. “Now”, “The First To Let Go”...

Kristyn: I think there are a lot of really interesting individual message on that. It was really wide reaching. It wasn’t one-dimensional. I think because of the time and what our country was going through, anything that was negative people didn’t want to hear. And, our first single happened to be a little bit.

Kassidy: But, you know, it could have been ahead of its time, like you said.

Kristyn: I’d like to think that.

Kassidy: But, the point is that you can’t stop what you’re feeling, and you can’t stop what you’re going through, and we just happened to be going through that. Whether we wanted to or not, whether it was ahead of its time or not.

Chris (WOC): Somewhat along those lines, what are some of your favorite songs that were never released as singles?

Kassidy: Let’s ask her [Karli].

Kristyn: She’s going, “I don’t listen to their records.”

Karli: [laughs] I had 25, that was enough for me.

Kassidy: I really liked “Punishment.” “Punishment” is one of my favorites. I love it.

Kristyn: “I Wish I Were The Rain.”

Karli: “Without A Sound” probably, from the last record [Sweet Right Here]. It’s just the piano and Kassidy singing. I think it’s very simple and it’s sad, but relatable. It’s beautiful.

Kristyn: It’s a deeply intimate song. Even the way it was recorded.

Kassidy: It was hard to get through. I remember that moment.

Kristyn: But, it’s hard to choose ones that are my favorite, because in my opinion, I’d like them all to be singles. I feel like we do records where we have a lot of options for singles. I can’t stand that when you buy a record and you get one great song on there...

Chris (WOC): ... and, you burn that one to your iPod and forget about the rest.

Kristyn: Exactly. I like albums full of great songs that I can listen to and it’s hard to find that. So, I think we try to keep that in mind when we make records.

Chris (WOC): Well, what’s next? What does 2007 look like?

Kassidy: A new record.

Kristyn: Yep, we’re already starting.

Chris (WOC): Not a greatest hits record?

Kassidy: Oh, no, not a greatest hits.

Kristyn: That’s been thrown around, but we think we need to get a few more hits before we get a greatest hits. We’re going to work on [the new album] in the next few months, after the holidays. We really need to focus on that. We want to make the right record, write the right songs, record it with the right producer, and be really focused on it. We’re going to go back to where we were in the beginning, in terms of being in control of our creative life as a group. I think we’ve kind of lost track of that a little bit, but we’re excited to get back there.