Singer, writer, teacher, and poet Sharla June is a north Florida native who first appeared on the Tallahassee music scene with soul/punk band The Shakes, a scrappy garage ensemble that sounded like The Stooges drilling through the entire Stax/Volt catalog. Sharla went on to form Begs and Achin', a southern-fried cowpunk band who built a massive and loyal following with their stellar song-craft and rollicking live shows.
When Sharla and her guitar moved on to Athens, Georgia, she began to explore the possibilities of acoustic music. Earnestly digging into her southern roots, she learned slave songs, Bessie Smith blues, and Hank Williams, incorporating these influences into her writing while following her own, way-out, loopy muse.
Having built an extensive catalog of songs and an itch to see more of the world, she moved to Prague, where she fell in with a group of like-minded miscreants and busked her way across Europe with just her guitar and her big, black dog, Sushi. It was during this time that she and fellow traveler Traci Buckle released the album Self-Help Songbook, and Sharla recorded an 8-track collection called One Hand One Crooked Finger.
Missing home, Sharla returned to the land of swamps and sink-holes, and has followed her voracious creative intelligence from one music and artistic success to the next. The Mayhaws bring together a wealth of influences, styles, and disciplines, and yet, like everything Sharla June touches, is uniquely itself--joyous and strange, wonderful and weird. We can eagerly look forward to what this particular synergy of talent, creativity, and originality will bring.
by David Ferguson
What the press have said:
Athens has a lot of musical treasures tucked away but few may be as undiscovered as Sharla Benedict. Sharla sounds something like Exene Cervenka in the early/mid-days of X, then can get less jagged and more delicate in a second....She could and should be the next big thing around here.
~ Dan Matthews, Classic City Live
If you havent heard yet, Sharla Benedict is a tiny powerhouse of a singer/songwriter with a gigantic voice and the energy of a tornado. Put her in front of a rock band and she storms through a set like some weird cross between Toni Basil and Exene Cervenka. But she knows how to rein it in too, and her acoustic shows are pensive, moody, and provide a much better opportunity to assess the quality of her voice and writing.
~Liz Ireland, Classic City Live
Sharla is no tortured, confessional prima donna. After years of gigging in bands she knows how to have faith in a group of top-notch musicians and when its time to kick out the stops and rave it up."
~David Ferguson, Flagpole Magazine
Sharla Benedict has wandered this sweet, old world far - Prague - and near - Gainesville, and is now ensconced back in the bosom of her nearest and dearest. She's a superlative song stylist and mesmerizing performer. You'll hear a mix of choice covers - from Big Star to Lucinda Williams to Memphis Minnie - and freshly minted originals. ~Kati Schardl, Tallahassee Democrat
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