Teen-Beat. Tracy Shedd.

Born and raised in perpetually sunny Jacksonville Florida, Tracy Shedd was exposed to music at an early age. The daughter of an accomplished country music singer, Tracy studied classical piano and trumpet throughout her childhood, later showing an interest in jazz and alternative pop. She picked up the guitar out of necessity, after changes in her first band, Sella, forced the members to switch instruments. It has been her primary songwriting tool ever since.

RELATED ARTISTS

SELLA

TRACY SHEDD Cigarettes and Smoke Machines album

Teen-Beat's 20th Anniversary Commemorative

Tracy Shedd
Photo by Mark Robinson
[download high resolution file]

Tracy Shedd
Photo by Skid Severson

Tracy Shedd
Photo by Mark Robinson

Tracy Shedd
Photo by Skid Severson

MORE PLAYERS

August Brown, (2003)

Tasha Bundy, (2007-10)

Joey Burns, (2008)

Andrew Colberg, (2011)

Matt Datesman, (?)

Brian Espinosa, (2008)

Dana Fehr, (2010)

Kane Flint, (2010)

John Girgus, (2008)

Steve Haley, (1998)

Taro Hatanaka, (2003)

Hrishikesh Hirway, (2003)

Becca Hummer, (2008-10)

Michael Hummer, (2009-10)

Heather Ivins, (1999)

Johnnie Munger, (2010)

Brandon Patton, (2008)

Mark Robinson, (2008)

Mike Sanger, (2010)

Craig Schumacher, (2008)

Summer, (1999)

Daniel Thiel, (2008)

Mark Walker Jr., (2003-04)

Emily Wilder, (1999)

Andrew Wright, (2011)

COLLABORATIONS

Audio Explorations, (2001)

Lysergic Garage Party, (1993)

Pocket, (2010)

Room 136, (1995)

Saint Maybe, (2011)

The Sweet Spots, (2011)

Denison Witmer, (2002 tour)

TRACY'S 1990s BAND: SELLA

Frank Mazzeo,

Tom Stevens,

Steve Haley

FILM

I WISH WE WERE STILL FRIENDS

Directed by Mike Rueter. From the Red album, 2003.

CITY AT NIGHT

Directed by Emily Wilder, 2010.

BIOGRAPHY

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE

Tracy Shedd's helpful reminder on the opening track "Never Too Late" from Cigarettes & Smoke Machines, her latest album of smart, pointed pop is a direct and economic assertion backed by sharp musicianship and just the right amount of reverb. Cigarettes & Smoke Machines, is Shedd's most accomplished record in a career that has now spanned four full-lengths.

Raised in a music-friendly home - growing up with piano lessons and a public address system in the living room to practice Patsy Cline on - Shedd found punk rock as a teen and morphed into a singer-songwriter wrestling with a love of distortion. Also a fan of artists that drape their vocals in various shrouds (My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus & Mary Chain), Shedd decided that she never really wanted her vocals up front, an edict that permeated her previous recordings. Now, with Cigarettes & Smoke Machines, Shedd lets go and we benefit from vocal performances that establish the arresting emotional core of her latest record.

The album comes at just the right time, too. Now that declarative female songwriters like Liz Phair and unheralded classics such as Bettie Serveert's Palomine are finally being celebrated, Cigarettes & Smoke Machines appears just when its audience is ready to identify with it. "What ever it takes, don't let them break you down," Shedd sings on "Whatever It Takes." What's the hardest part of goodbye? Shedd makes you wait for the answer on that track. When we find out that it's "why," we nod our heads. "Remember The Time We Set The Highway On Fire" takes the record in a different direction where the guitars take over and Shedd's connection to The Cure's nine-minute moments are more evident. Shedd's co-existing vulnerability and strength make for convincing, winning and relatable songs that you'll need to hear again and again.

It's been a long road to this level of compositional confidence for Shedd. Letting go of a lifetime of music theory made it easy to write a batch of songs within weeks of first picking up the guitar and Shedd's first album Blue was quickly produced in her then-home of Boston. Counting the infamous DC band Unrest as an influence (the Sarah Records oeuvre and The Softies come to mind as well), Shedd had aspirations to be signed to Unrest leader Mark Robinson's label Teenbeat, though she knew that he only signed DC-based groups. She decided to give it a shot anyway.

Robinson was convinced and Shedd was signed to Teenbeat which released her debut in 2001. In 2003, Robinson went on to produce Shedd's second album, Red and a third LP, Louder Than You Can Hear appeared on the Devil In The Woods label the next year. Shedd then "got domesticated," and moved to Tucson where the heat "slowed her down" and provided the time needed to craft her most inspired album.

CIGARETTES & SMOKE MACHINES

Cigarettes & Smoke Machines brings Shedd back home and is now her third album for Teen-Beat. Shedd's place on the Teen-Beat roster has obviously grown stronger throughout the years and it's an immense pleasure to see that at a time when the record industry is in a state of "huh?" a record as worthwhile as Cigarettes & Smoke Machines can appear on a label as true to itself as Teen-Beat.

Teen-Beat's beautifully packaged releases are often as of note as the musician's work that they house and Cigarettes & Smoke Machines' jacket is yet another in the long line of meticulously crafted Teen-Beat sleeves. The photo of a blindfolded girl in profile that graces the cover is that of one of Shedd's best friends during her upbringing in Jacksonville. Shedd has had the photo since 1996 and held on to it thinking she would one day use it in relation to her music. It spoke to her twelve years later and is now the stark and stunning image that represents her latest and greatest.

This time around, it's not about being the next best thing to Shedd. Cigarettes & Smoke Machines is her most definitive and easy to climb into statement to date. It truly isn’t too late to fight for what you want and this time Shedd really got it.

RED

Tracy Shedd is a singer/songwriter from Jacksonville, Florida. During the past few years, Tracy and her band have traveled throughout the United States playing everywhere from one-room bars to the College Music Journal festival in New York and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Tracy Shedd's debut solo album, Blue was released in 2001. Her next album release to be announced soon!

Over the past two years Tracy and her band have toured with the Trembling Blue Stars, Aberdeen, True Love Always and Denison Witmer. She also considers herself fortunate to have shared the stage with: Mark Robinson, Edith Frost, Magnetic Fields, Ron Sexsmith, American Analog Set and Cyndi Lauper, just to name a few.

"These melodies and harmonies grab your heart. Melancholy (often) and touching (always), the compositions of the cultured American woman evoke thoughts of sweet summer nights, where one's head is inevitably lost in the stars and one tries to close the eyes to dream better. To dream that, each day, one can listen to recordings as touching. And as troubling." - Magic!

"Soft and lovely songwriting reminiscent of Sarah Records artists. Deep, dark, and moody. Quite captivating and engaging." - Teen-Beat

"Her summery songs will fill you with joy and longing at the same time, as only an August evening can." - Translucence

BLUE

Do you remember lazy summer days, window open, with the sound of traffic seeping into your sleepy memory? Or the wind gently blowing a falling snow, quietly coating the streets and making the harsh world gentle? Do you remember the way you felt? Tracy Shedd's music is that feeling.

Born and raised in perpetually sunny Jacksonville Florida, Tracy Shedd was exposed to music at an early age. The daughter of an accomplished country music singer, Tracy studied classical piano and trumpet throughout her childhood, later showing an interest in jazz and alternative pop. She picked up the guitar out of necessity, after changes in her first band, Sella, forced the members to switch instruments. It has been her primary songwriting tool ever since.

Collaboration and experimentation are constants in Tracy's music, live and on record. After the demise of Sella, Tracy began working with other Jacksonville musicians, trying to sharpen her solo sound. The result of one of these collaborations, Aerial, included Colin Keely (of the Jacksonville Symphony) on viola and Joseph Yorio on saxophone, with Tracy playing piano and guitar, and singing.

Armed with her trademark avocado-colored Micro Frets guitar and a four-track, Tracy's solo songwriting has been her main focus for many years. Her husband, James Tritten (of the band Audio Explorations), joins her on drums for live performances, and on her debut album, Blue. Rounding out her live band is longtime friend Richard Dudley on bass.

Now living in the Boston area, Tracy has toured New England and shared stages with Edith Frost, The One AM Radio, Audio Explorations, and Mark Robinson (Teen-Beat, Unrest, and Air Miami). Her music is low key, yet dynamic pop. It simmers and shines, sometimes white hot, other times a warm orange glow. Her voice is surprisingly strong and forceful when it needs to be, sweet and occasionally fragile when it doesn't.

Through her music, Tracy becomes that breezy summer window whispering warm melodies, tickling your sleepy memory.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD'S DAUGHTER

Tracy went to grade school with the daughter of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Marshall Pyle. She has yet to perform "Sweet Home Alabama."

PIANOS & TRUMPETS

She's played piano since she was a little girl and had early ambitions of being a classical concert pianist. Later, she picked up the trumpet and played in her high school marching band.

COCTEAU TWINS / RIDE / BELLE & SEBASTIAN

Some of the bands Tracy likes to listen to while not playing her heart out and entertaining the kids on stage.

SONIC YOUTH

The band Tracy would most like to tour with. If you're reading this, Thurston, Kim, please give her a ring!

SKIING / RUNNING / COOKING

She has to do something when she's not writing hit songs! Her favorite food is gespatcho soup and her fav drink is lemonade.

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

Split single with Audio Explorations
Split single with The One A.M. Radio
Split single with Wet and Reckless

ALBUMS

Blue
Red
Louder Than You Can Hear
Cigarettes & Smoke Machines
Live from WMBR
E.P. 88
Arizona

COMPILATIONS

2001 Teenbeat Sampler
2002 Teenbeat Sampler
Christmas with Planting Seeds Records
2003 Teenbeat Sampler
2004 Teenbeat Sampler
Teen-Beat 20th Commemorative
Teen-Beat No.1 Record Label

ALSO

Teen-Beat's 16th Anniversary
Teen-Beat's 17th Anniversary
Teen-Beat's 18th Anniversary
Teen-Beat's 19th Anniversary
Teen-Beat's 20th Anniversary

SONGS

Airplane
All The Little Things
Blue
Boats
Brighton
Broken Arrows
Calm Sea
Candy
Circles
Clichê
City At Night
Conley
Control
Eleven
End of Spring
End of the Night
Faint Pale Smiles
Falling on Ice Hurts
Go On
Friday Night At Einstein's
Hardest Part of Good-Bye
He Hangs Gently
Hesitate
Home
How Your Eyes Affect Me
Husbands & Wives
I Wanna Know
I Will Keep You Warm
I Wish We Were Still Friends
If You Really Cared About Me You Would Have...
Inside Out
Jumping Waves
Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You
Long Day
Million Pictures
Never Too Late
Never Too Late (Version)
Ninety-Five
Not Giving Up
One By One
Opposites Attract
Paris
People are Changing
Plastic World
Red Pillow
Remember the Time We Set the Highway on Fire?
Rise
Sing To Me
Sister
So Sick
Somersault
Something Good
Something Out There
Sugar, Please
Sweet Talking
Take A Ride
Tear It Up
Teenage Riot
Tokyo Rose
Try And Get Some Rest
Valentine
Wednesday's the New Thursday
West Inn Love
Whatever It Takes
What's on Your Mind?
White Pillow
Won Past Ten
You're No Fool
You Remind Me of Someone

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