The Parenting Panel with Shannon McNally
With THE WAYLON SESSIONS, Shannon McNally set out to revisit the songs and spirit of Waylon Jennings, a legend with whom she’s always had an ongoing fascination. Over and over again, she manages to locate a smoldering intensity, a searing hurt buried deep within the music’s deceptively simple poetry, and she hones in on it with surgical precision on this new album, which features special guests like Jessi Colter, Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell, and Lukas Nelson. “The world has changed a lot since these songs were first recorded,” says McNally. “I have never heard a woman sing any of them, but these tunes are poignant and relevant to me and to women in general right now. As a songwriter, bringing a song to its full potential so that a larger or different audience can connect is all I’ve ever cared about.”
Thom Jurek at All Music said it best, "Only Gram Parsons' term "Cosmic American Music" begins to touch her mercurial, changeling roots aesthetic, ... McNally is a Zen-like, post-Beat song poet”. For those who have followed McNally’s nearly twenty year career the thing that most sticks with the listener about her, is the timeless effortlessness that she brings to all she does. With a long catalog and longer list of peers with whom she has written, recorded and toured, McNally continues to turn out great music that defies blatant genre-fication.
1. How many children do you have? And what are their names and ages?
I have one child, a daughter age 12.
2. Did you have fears or concerns about how becoming a parent would interfere with your artistic endeavors?
I very much decided to have a child and went about doing it after a long stretch on the road, most of it dead end and low rent. I felt demoralized and spent, like I was surrounded by people I didn’t like and wasn’t inspired by. My body was screaming at me to get pregnant. I hadn’t ever really thought about it before that point. I was married and I was 34. I had zero worries that being a parent would interfere with my “career” which I just looked at as my life. Everything about the pregnancy was easy. I was very lucky.
3. In what ways has parenthood helped your creativity, if any?
Parenthood has probably slowed down my songwriting but it’s made me a more interesting person. I made her to take the heat off of thinking about myself all the time. I was happy to have this perfect little person to put before myself. I got off easy because she was an easy baby and healthy. I just took her everywhere I went. My husband was a road dog and musician as well so he wasn’t conflicted about my split life which helped, I’m sure. Ultimately, having a child is the most “creative” thing one can do. Now I am motivated to catalog and document my work more so that she can see it as an adult and know me better.
4. How do you juggle your family and your career? Who’s your support system?
My daughter’s father and I are no longer married but we live next door to one another and have always maintained an open door policy when it comes to co-parenting. I think in many ways it’s like we are still married in her mind. She has both of us on the reg. There is sone relief in her getting older now and being able to do short time frames alone (a few hours here and there). My parents were very helpful when my daughter was little, losing my mother was a serious blow that took my daughter and me a couple years to adjust to. There are definitely times you just have to say “no” to shows or other things you might want to do because ultimately you want to maintain your child’s sense of peace but that never felt like a sacrifice to me. The sacrifice is neglecting your baby’s needs.
5. How have you been managing parenting during the pandemic? What has been the hardest part and what is the silver lining?
The pandemic forced me to take much better care of myself. I have fought with chronic fatigue for years and it just got worse over the course of the lockdown ironically. I finally couldn’t blame it on traveling or juggling work and home so I had to go to doctors and really investigate my health.
6. In what ways has parenthood helped your creativity, if any?
My wanderlust and sense of adventure ruled me before I became a parent. I was positively bored with my friend’s lives which were much more “straight career and parent path” they started earlier than I did and seemed to understand their own finances better. My finances were so willy nilly for years as were my husband’s that I wish I’d been more forceful in looking out for myself and had tightened the reigns earlier. I wish I’d paid more attention to how many kids my daughter had access to. In hind sight she didn’t have enough kid buddies and so didn’t get to play to the degree that I wish she had been able to. I wish I’d made more of a plan for her.
7. What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you became a parent? Any advice for others?
My advice for other “soon to be parents” would be relish labor and birth. All anyone ever tells an expectant mother are horror stories. Yes, things go wrong but your body is a genius and so is the baby’s. I recommend sitting still and nursing as long as is possible with your new born and plan on having a second one oh and don’t get a divorce if possible. Go to couple’s counseling while you’re happy with one another.
Find Shannon McNally via:
https://www.facebook.com/ShannonMcNallyMusic/
https://twitter.com/McNally
https://www.instagram.com/shannonmcnallymusic/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7MnItka0A4PsGNVzO7Ad0T