Reese McHenry & Spider Bags - Bad Girl LP
ID: #1638907
Description
Some artists wait for a great record to eventually come out of their efforts. Other records wait for their respective artists to become great enough to finally complete them. In the mid-to-late 'teens of our 21st century, with soundcloud, bandcamp, and a bouquet of social media outlets at the fingertips of just about any self-proclaimed "musician" in the western world, the speed at which we (singers, strummers, knob-turners, collectives, labels, and the like) are able to churn out recordings for whatever public will have them is currently at an unprecedented production rate. But even in these increasingly hurried times, not every record is suited for such land-speed - such is the case with Chapel Hill-based songstress REESE McHENRY's debut full-length 12" BAD GIRL. When McHenry first began working on this batch of material with producer, co-songwriter, and key collaborator DAN McGEE (of fellow Triangle-area garage country cohorts SPIDER BAGS) over half a decade ago, the music scene acquaintances who merely admired each other's rock n roll outfits from a passing distance (McHenry then the defining force behind Durham's DIRTY LITTLE HEATERS) couldn't possibly have known the gravity of the journey that lay ahead of their newfound friendship. Gravity - it's a word used with intention, in this case. The word that McGee uses to describe the very nature of the situation when McHenry first imparted him with the sentiment that, above all things, she wished to make a great record before she dies. Who doesn't, right? The strummers, the knob-turners, we're all searching for that. At least that's how McGee initially took it. But as he soon came to realize, she meant something entirely more direct, more literal - perhaps, unfortunately, more time-sensitive than others. A victim of chronic heart problems (AFIB) and a series of strokes throughout the late-oughts, McHenry was deathly ill during the Heaters tenure, transitioning in and out of hospitals while continuing to work passionately on her music. In 2011, doctors severed half of her heart, replacing it with a pacemaker that helps it beat (and belt songs) to this day. Coincidentally or not, that was also the year she reached out to the Spider Bags in search of help with making this record. At the time, Dan McGee's production credits were hardly of note. Outside of his own music, he'd really only ever produced one record for friend and area musician Ben Carr's band LAST YEAR'S MEN (a group of rowdy teenagers at the time with as much of a natural knack for mature and emotive narrative songwriting - brought to the surface, in part, with McGee's assistance - as their inherent brand of balls-to-the-wall garage inferno). While he enjoyed the challenge and felt he had an ear for it, a wife at home, pregnant with his first child, and a band of his own to focus on progressing ultimately kept McGee out of other people's studios. It wasn't until McHenry approached him with the task at hand that he chose to revisit the roll of working on another person's record. The rest, as they say, is history... Well, eventually. Health and home-lives aside (if one can even divorce such nuclear matters), the making of the record itself came tangled with no shortage of obstacles. After all this woman had been through, there was inevitably a layer or two of rust that needed scraping. The Spider Bags (consisting of long-time percussionist Rock Forbes and somewhat new-comer Steve Oliva holding down the low end - both of whom, it's worth noting, start to gel as SB's definitive rhythm section over the course of these recordings) were no stranger to McHenry's organic talent. What they were there to do was make her even better. To be her "house band," like a Stax ensemble, catering themselves to the session without omitting their own recognizable charms. To write, arrange, and selflessly play, take after take, in service to the powerful, guiding tool that is McHenry's voice and the 18-wheeled Peterbilt that is her spirit. At the end of the day, Bad Girl is, by design, a singer's record. In the traditional sense, with its considerate balance of material written by her, for her by others, and/or by others all together, the collection as a whole is offered to us, in song, by a modern woman faced with the every-day trials of love and growth, and the pains that mark their passing. From the album-opening title track, a gender perspective-swapping garage-wop take on Lee Moses' timeless original, to the b-side's soon-to-be American standard "Concrete Roses," inked by McHenry herself and recorded live in one take - complete with Forbes masterfully playing brushes on a pizza box - without even having previously heard McGee's arrangement for it (after the tape stopped rolling, everyone wept), there's an almost cinematic quality throughout the long-player's narrative. It's the tale of a woman who tries her best to do good, to not be bad, but as we all know, life is rarely so black-and-white. It's what she overcomes along the way that gives her color - that not only gives her a voice, but strengthens it by giving her something to sing. And if you ask me, or just about any schmuck from Chapel Hill to Hollywood, we'd be hard-pressed to find another protagonist as easy to root for as our very own Reese McHenry - singer, survivor, Bad Girl.
Price
$15.98
Last Updated
17 August 2026, 04:29 UTC
Store Information
physical store
Location
More from Bull City Records
View all
NxWorries - Yes Lawd! 2LP
$29.98
Anderson .Paak + Knxwledge! "NxWorries appeared in early 2015 on Stones Throw with "Suede." Knxwledge provided the dazed production, its beat a clipped gait -- Gil Scott-Heron/Brian Jackson's "The Bottle" stretched and dragged to support Anderson Paak's freewheeling vehicular exhibition and macking seminar. Dr. Dre then sought Paak for extensive work on Compton, while the rising Knxwledge produced "Momma" on To Pimp a Butterfly and released a Stones Throw album. As Paak and Knxwledge sustained their prominence with separate collaborative and solo work, their activity as a unit gradually escalated to this full-length, released during the fourth quarter of 2016. It includes "Suede," two other cuts from an EP originally released as a download in late 2015, and 40 additional minutes of keenly bent and smudged soul loops. Though Paak is an accomplished musician and bandleader, as seen throughout 2016 in several televised performances to promote Malibu, he sticks strictly to singing and rapping, leaving Knxwledge to handle all the music. Reflective of their collaborative alias, Paak doesn't sound particularly bothered, apart from some irritation related in "H.A.N.," a deflection of leeches and critics, and some serious concerns and confessions within the supremely dreamy "Khadijah." Otherwise, he keeps it lighthearted as an irrepressible rolling stone. Audibly and lyrically coarse, he rarely sounds less than entirely self-satisfied and at least a little amused, whether he's dealing out wisecracking wordplay or quoting J Dilla as he deftly coasts over and darts between the beats. If not quite as substantive as Malibu, this is one of those albums that can be played continuously without risk of depreciation. Knxwledge and Paak are so occupied with other pursuits that this seems destined to take its place in the Stones Throw discography as one of the label's fine twosome one-offs in the manner of Madvillainy and Champion Sound." -All Music Guide
Lambchop - FLOTUS 2LP
$24.98
"FLOTUS (For Love Often Turns Us Still) is a new full-length from the seminal Merge band Lambchop. Kurt Wagner, inspired by hip-hop, minimalism, and early electronic music, brings us a new sound for the band—one that's totally original and refreshing, yet distinctly Lambchop. The album's closer, "The Hustle", is an 18-minute whopper, which premiered with the album's announcement back in August along with a Stereogum interview . It was the soundtrack to the archival footage film The Dockworker's Dream by Bill Morrison, which was shared by NPR's First Watch. The album's second single,"NIV", was featured on an All Songs Considered's New Mix, and a video directed by William Tyler's sister Elise premieres later this month. A long-form essay by Wagner on the inspirations behind the record will run on Medium. NPR First Listen will stream the record in advance of the release date. Another single is set to be release ahead of that, and features, interviews, and reviews are set for Magnet, The Rumpus, American Songwriter, Ghettoblaster, The Big Takeover, WUNC Morning Edition, Dinner Party Download, and more." -Merge
Goat - Requiem 2LP
$22.98
Mysterious masked Swedish psych group dabbling in Afro-beat 'n' Japanese psych influence rock. 3rd LP. "GOAT’s only outright declaration for Requiem is that it is their “folk” album, and the album is focused more on their subdued bucolic ritualism than psilocybin freakouts. But GOAT hasn’t completely foregone their fiery charms—tracks like “All-Seeing Eye” and “Goatfuzz” conjure the sultry heathen pulsations that ensnared us on their previous albums. Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of Requiem comes with the closing track “Ubuntu”. The song is little more than a melodic delay-driven electric piano line, until we hear the refrain from “Diarabi”—the first song on their first album—sneak into the mix. It creates a kind of musical ouroboros—an infinite cycle of reflection and rejuvenation, death and rebirth. Much like fellow recluse Pynchon, rather than offering explanations for their strange trajectories, GOAT create a world where the line between truth and fiction is so obscured that all you can do is bask in their cryptic genius." -Sub Pop
Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like A Levee LP
$19.98
"The writing of the songs that became Heart Like a Levee started in a hotel room in Washington , DC , in January of 2015 during a powerful storm that darkened the East Coast. At that time I was feeling—more acutely than I had ever felt before—wrenched apart by my responsibilities to my family and to my music. Forgetting, momentarily, that for me, each exists only with the other. How could I forget? Though maybe my lapse was reasonable: I had just quit my job, the most recent and last, in a series of dead-end gigs stretching back 20 years, with the vow that my children would understand their father as a man in love with his world and the inventor of his own days. They would be rare in that regard. And then—driven by monthly bills and pure fear—I left for another tour, carrying a load of guilt that I could just barely lift. But in that snowy hotel room I found the refrain that became my compass: I was a dreamer, babe, when I set out on the road; but did I say I could find my way home?" -M.C. Taylor
Girl Tears - Woke Against The Tide LP
$16.98
"The Los Angeles/Orange County punk trio Girl Tears has mastered the art of the three-chord attack, delivering volatile blasts to the point of fury. Four tours and 100+ shows later, playing art spaces, houses, DiY venues, bars, barns, backyards, basements, and everything in between, Girl Tears has delivered a natural, confident progression from their debut. Woke Against The Tide wrestles with themes of Love/Hate, Good/Evil - and in particular - the space between these polarizing ideas. Cold Thoughtsand Uneasy personify the album's conflict. There are hooks, melody and structure, but also a bit of chaos built on a more complex arrangement that's constantly shifting and evolving, much like the band themselves. Whereas their debut Tension was more a discovery, Woke Against The Tideis more abstract. It creates a dense and unforgiving experience, really challenging the listener to keep up."
Bull City Records T-shirt! (Brown Shirt / Gold Ink)
$12.00
Printed locally by Holy Mountain Printing on Gildan Heavy Cotton shirts.