“Underground Debutante” is my feminist anthem.

It’s one of my only songs for which I composed all the music before penning a single lyric.  (That’s rare for me, because my melody-moods are usually compelled by story elements and words.)  I sat on the back porch humming and strumming through chords on my guitar, with the help of wife—Amy Wray—who chimed in with cadence suggestions.

John Shipe, a good friend of mine from Eugene, has been parked in San Diego for the last six months, and he finally played a couple of shows in Orange County recently. His shows on January 30th and March 6th at the Santa Ana location of The Gypsy Den, were characteristically solid.

John is a musician's musician. He's a talented songwriter whose lyrics defy expectations, and he gets so in the zone while he's playing his guitar that he closes his eyes and performs an unconscious dance that looks a little like tenuous marching in slow motion.

One of my favorite of John's songs is "Underground Debutante," a tune he recorded with his former band, The Renegade Saints. I didn't think to bring my camera to either show (I am getting better about it, though!), so I'm borrowing a video from John's YouTube channel to share here: