Shannon Murray is an singer-songwriter from the northwoods of Minnesota. A member of the next generation of great folk singer/songwriters, she is shocking and delighting audiences everywhere with her quirky stories and passionate songs. This self-titled debut album, was made possible by an arts grant through the Minnesota Arts Council. It includes 14 songs written in her folk-singer youth. Did we mention that the \"little girl with the big guitar\" played live after only a month of self instructed guitar? Oh and by the way, she recorded this album only one short year later, so we can safely say this is the album that started it all. Recorded in a small studio on the Turtle River in a wooded area of Northern Minnesota, the album is a labor of love. Shannon is proud to proclaim it was made by local businesses, \"My music is an extension of my personal beliefs, to separate the two is to live two lives, and I am not willing to do that.\" Some of her silly stories about the songs on this album: Girl Enough: A Feminist Anthem (The WORST pick up line ever!) So I was playing in this dirty little bar, and this guy comes up to me and he says, \"You know what honey? You could almost be pretty if you tried. You know... wear some make-up, or fix your hair, or dress nicer. Something.\" And I think he was trying to say I was understated and had some real potential if I\'d conform to those damn beauty standards. He thought it was a compliment. I thought he was an idiot. So I decided to immortalize his stupidity in a song. In the end I discovered it wasn\'t about that drunk guy in that bar with the bad pick up line. (There is also a hidden track on this album with the other side of the story) Dandelion Child When I was in elementary school there was this beautiful girl who came from a poor family and everyone treated her so badly for something she had little control over. She was dirty and didn\'t wear nice clothes and that somehow meant she was a bad person. She was taken away from her family and she moved away from our school. Years later when we were all in high school, she came back to our town to visit. She had been adopted by a wealthy family, and everyone suddenly wanted to talk with her. The song is about how we so often don\'t really feel like we belong. There are so many roles to play, and people treat the same people differently based on such superficial things. This song is for her. Election Day I tend to be a very politically minded person, and we often separate our lives into political and personal spheres. That is the language, but the two are not separate things. Much of my material comments on the state of the world around me, so people often say, \"I love your politics.\" And then we have a great conversation. Or people will say, \"Politics don\'t belong in music. You should take your music in a new direction. People don\'t want to hear that s$%*. So what people beat their partners. So what there is war. So what. So what. Entertain me. Don\'t depress me.\" There is usually a real good conversation after that, and then I go home mad and frustrated and I think, and I write. And I decide it isn\'t \"politics.\" It is life. I am an artist; I am an activist. These are deeply connected aspects of my life. The political tides that shape our laws and our perception of the world are so closely tied to our everyday lives that to deny this connection is to live in blissful ignorance of the horribly obvious. And this song is about that.