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Marshall Chapman was born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. To date she has released eleven critically acclaimed albums, and her songs have been recorded by a number of artists including Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Wynonna, Joe Cocker, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Buffett, Jessi Colter, Dion, Tanya Tucker, Russ Taff, Olivia Newton-John, Sawyer Brown, Mindy McCready, Conway Twitty, Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, and The Uppity Blues Women. She has toured extensively on her own and opened shows for everybody from John Prine and Jimmy Buffett to Jerry Lee Lewis and The Ramones.
Of her three rockin' albums for Epic, the Al Kooper-produced Jaded Virgin was voted Record of the Year (1978) by Stereo Review. Following 1982's Take It On Home (Rounder), Marshall released two albums on her own Tall Girl label: 1987's Dirty Linen (A- in Christgau Consumer Guide, released in Europe on Line Records) and 1991's Inside Job (voted Album of the Month in April 1992 Stereo Review).
It's About Time... recorded live at the Tennessee State Prison for Women (Margaritaville/Island, 1995) drew rave reviews from Time, USA Today and The Village Voice. After its release, Marshall and her band (The Love Slaves) toured with Jimmy Buffett, playing for over a million people. The following year, they went in the studio and recorded Love Slave. According to Marshall, being a love slave is a way of life. "We're all slaves to something," she says, "....might as well be love!"
In 1998, Marshall began exploring new outlets for her creativity. One was theater. She and songwriting pal Matraca Berg contributed fourteen songs to Good Ol' Girls, a country musical based on the stories of Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle. The New York Times called it a "feminist literary country music review." Good Ol' Girls continues to play theaters throughout the Southeast. On February 14, 2010, Good Ol' Girls opened off-Broadway for a limited two-month engagement. Look for cast album and tour this fall.
Marshall's first book, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller (St. Martin's Press), was published in September 2003. Simultaneously, a companion CD was released. The book was a 2004 SEBA Book Award finalist, and one of three finalists for the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. A softcover edition was released in September 2004.
From 2004 to 2007, Marshall developed a one-woman show called "The Triumph of Rock and Roll over Good Breeding," wrote commentary for The Bob Edwards Show (XM), and released Mellowicious! (Mello-WISH-us) - her first studio album in nine years. She's currently a contributing editor for Garden & Gun, Nashville Arts Magazine, and Vanderbilt Magazine.
Most recently, Marshall finished a new book called They Came to Nashville, a new CD, Big Lonesome, and acted in her first movie, playing Gwyneth Paltrow's character's road manager in Country Strong. Look for all to be released this fall.
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