SHERMY "Friends 2020" cassette tape

Friends 2020 ~ contained within this album are 12 sparkling tracks, written and recorded with love in Chicago from 2014-2023. Within those tracks are stories of love and devotion loosely based on my own experiences. Underneath those stories is a bigger story- my life, growing up in Olympia, playing loose, warbling songs as Sundance Kids, booking shows, going on my first tours, falling in with some lovely, brilliant, lifelong friends, moving to Chicago, donning the persona of Richard Album, matinee idol, performing and making events at Big Forever and Pinky Swear, getting married, becoming a teacher, becoming a parent, moving back to Seattle...

Sometime in Chicago, songs came to me that I knew wouldn't be Richard Album songs. They felt like the songs I used to write for Sundance Kids-- I began to stash them away and the little trove began to hold some kind of power of me. These songs would be like completing a circle-- a return to form, not Richard anymore but the Real me, a reunion with myself. With friends, I labored to complete this too-important album, not wanting to call it "Sundance Kids," but stopping just shy of calling it "Shelby"...

And now the album is done! Friends 2020 was not supposed to be a concept album about friendship in the 2020s, but of course it is. Human relationships aren't supposed to be such a struggle, but these days they are. Society is pushing us apart in myriad ways. Real life social networks were replaced by nefarious online versions under our noses. I think about the sweet serendipity of making friends 15 or 20 years ago and it takes my breath away. I miss people so much. At some point in 2020 it started to sink in that so much was gone and never coming back. I keep longing...

And yet... I can still try my best, to gather, to share, to laugh and cry with people I love. We can still feed each other and put each other up. Our need and inclination to be together is our salvation - something the hungry machine can never destroy completely. So with these songs, of course I offer you my joys and tribulations, hoping we can connect over them. But I also offer my hope, a proverbial light in my window, for the next house show, potluck, picnic, pickup basketball game, rally, wedding, birthday, etc. Friendship is worth fighting for... here's hoping we never stop coming together 🙏🏻

"Let's be friends"
- The Beach Boys

Dedicated to Max Wirt <3 

Friends 2020 was recorded in Chicago with Michael Macdonald at Bim Bom studios. Shelby wrote and played mostly everything. Aaron Otheim, Jessica Risker, Brian Weza, Annie Fish, and John Stinere performed as well. Greg Obis mastered it. Christian Filardo took the photo on the cover.