So it’s been about six weeks since our last Women in Entertainment feature, and this time up we’re bringing you a pair of amazing ladies – guitarist Kelly Richey and drummer Sherri McGee, who together are known as The Spear Shakers.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky but living in Cincinnati since 2000, Richey started playing guitar at the age of 15. The late Lonnie Mack was so impressed with her hyper-muscular playing and singing that he described her as “Stevie Ray Vaughan trapped in a woman’s body.” Listed among the “top 100 gifted guitarists” by the influential Truefire Community, Richey frequently draws comparisons to guitar icons from Stevie Ray to Jimi Hendrix. Throughout her career, Richey has shared the stage with legends like Mack and Albert King and has opened for Boston, Heart, Joe Cocker, Lita Ford, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Walter Trout, Little Feat, Foghat, REO Speedwagon, George Thorogood, Average White Band, Robben Ford, Warren Zevon, and James Brown.
When it comes to touring, Richey has earned the title “Queen of the Road Warriors,” as she has covered the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia in her 30-year career. During that time, she played over 4,000 shows, logged a mind-boggling 1 million road miles (and counting) and released 16 albums on her private label, Sweet Lucy Records, earning her a reputation as a master guitarist and singer/songwriter.
On the other side of the band, McGee knew she wanted to play drums since she was a toddler. Before getting a real drum kit, she played along to Tom Jones and Monkees records using two hairbrushes on a green Naugahyde recliner, and one of her earliest influences was watching Karen Carpenter on television. McGee has been called a cross between Patsy Cline and John Bonham.
She started playing drums when she joined the 5th-grade school band in Glasgow, Kentucky. By the time she entered high school, she was in marching band, concert band, stage band, and pep band as section leader and lead snare drummer. At the age of 15, she joined The Flying Scotsmen, a 17-piece swing/big band of male adults. After high school, Sherri moved to Lexington, where she played top bass drum in the University of Kentucky marching band.
After graduating from college, McGee quickly became part of the Lexington local music scene as one of three females fronting a Motown-type band called the Twinkettes, as well as being part of Spree 33, a versatile new wave cover band. She was also a founding member of Velvet Elvis, an original pop/rock band that released an EP and a full album before securing a record contract with Enigma Records. They later released a record produced by Mitch Easter and toured extensively; shot two videos for MTV, and were favorably reviewed in Musician Magazine and Rolling Stone, among many other industry publications. They opened for Let’s Active, Adrian Belew and the Bears, and UB40, to name a few.
We asked the band to tell us what inspired them, and Richey had this to say: “The gift of music has been a constant source of inspiration in my life, it’s provided me a bridge to my soul, and a common language for connecting with those around me.”
The Spear Shakers have just completed their first release which consisted of three songs in both audio and video format, all of which were previously featured in this blog. The songs came from Richey’s extensive catalog and were recorded live in the studio.
As for their future plans, Richey says: “The Spear Shakers rock and will continue to roll with a fire that ignites peoples souls.”
If you want to keep up with the latest happenings with The Spear Shakers, you can follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook or subscribe to their YouTube channel.