Shawn Camp Announces New ‘The Ghost Of Sis Draper’ Concept Album

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Shawn Camp’s The Ghost of Sis Draper, a concept album built on the songs born from Camp and Guy Clark’s most revisited muse, Sis Draper, will be released Sept. 12 on Truly Handmade Records.

The album’s songs are tied to one another by characters, narratives and kernels of old-time fiddle tunes. The project immerses listeners in a sharply drawn world: The devil’s box is temptation and salvation; life is beautiful, but death lurks nearby; and the hero is a wayfaring, fiddle-wielding woman called Sis. The Ghost of Sis Draper features 10 songs co-written by Camp and Clark, as well as one solo Clark composition.

Camp was seven years old when a traveling fiddle player named Sis Draper finally arrived at a pickin’ party in the hills of Perry County, Arkansas. To young Camp, Draper was already a legend—and he was dying to play with her. 25 years later, in Guy Clark’s basement workshop in Nashville, Camp and Clark were stumped on what they’d write their next song about. Camp told Clark about Sis Draper; the lore, the excitement.

“Guy said, ‘Well, there’s your song,’” Camp remembers. “We wrote ‘Sis Draper’ that day. ‘Magnolia Wind’ came next. For years, we would work on other songs, then fall into ‘Sis.’ If we got stuck on something, we’d end up going to the Sis Draper project. It’s partially fairytale and partially truth,” Camp continues with a grin. “We intentionally wrote songs that fit together.”

“Now, Truly Handmade Records, the label that manages Guy’s legacy, is the home of Shawn Camp and The Ghost of Sis Draper, a masterpiece album that only Shawn could record,” says Tamara Saviano, President and Creative Director of Truly Handmade Records. “Shawn is the keeper of the flame of Sis Draper. Truly Handmade Records is the keeper of Guy’s legacy. It’s a match made in folk music heaven.”

The Ghost of Sis Draper Track List: (all songs written by Camp and Clark except where noted):
1. “Sis Draper”
2.” Magnolia Wind”
3. “Soldiers Joy 1864”
4. “The Fiddlin’ Preacher”
5. “Old Hillybilly Hand-Me-Down” (by Shawn Camp, Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson)
6. “The Checkered Shirt Band”
7. “Big Foot Stomp”
8. “Grandpa’s Rovin’ Ear”
9. “Cornmeal Waltz”
10. “New Cut Road” (by Guy Clark)
11. “The Death of Sis Draper (part 1)”
12. “Hello Dyin’ Day”
13 “The Death of Sis Draper (part 2)”
14. “The Ghost of Sis Draper”

Lorie Hollabaugh
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