stream Shilpa Ray's "Shilpa Ray's Got a Heart Full of Dirt"

Shilpa Ray‘s new album Door Girl comes out on September 22 via Northern Spy (pre-order), and we’re premiering a new song off that album, “Shilpa Ray’s Got a Heart Full of Dirt.” Here’s what Shilpa tells us about it:

I wrote this song after getting rejected by a record label for not having strong enough hooks. It took me about an hour to write. Then I started making fun of myself by singing the Anthony and the Imperials song “Tears On My Pillow” over the chord changes. It felt so good, I ran with it and wrote it into the song. I guess this is one of those making stuff with lemons stories. I think there’s a lot of uses for lemons in NYC.

The song does have a classic ’60s pop vibe that you could indeed sing “Tears On My Pillow” over (complete with a “Be My Baby” beat at certain parts), and with Shilpa Ray’s punk-blues take on the sound, it kinda ends up sounding like Blondie. It’s good stuff, and you can check it out for yourself below.

As mentioned, Shilpa celebrates the album at NYC’s Pianos on September 20 & 21 (the album title came from Shilpa’s time spent working the door at Pianos). Tickets for those shows are still available. After that, she tours overseas in October and does a North American run in November. All dates are listed below.

Shilpa Ray — 2017 Tour Dates
SEPTEMBER
20 – New York, NY – Pianos
21 – New York, NY – Pianos
28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite

OCTOBER
03 – Brighton, UK – Green Door Store
04 – London, UK – The Social
07 – Gateshead, UK – The Central Bar
20 – Trencin, SK – Luc
21 – Opava, CZ – Klubova Noc
22 – Olomouc, CZ – Jazz Club Tibet
23 – Prague, CZ – Futurum
24 – Plzen, CZ – Andel
25 – Brno, CZ – Kabinet MUZ
26 – Zilina, SK – Sanica
27 – Vsetin, CZ – TBA
28 – Jihlava, CZ – Film Festival

NOVEMBER
01 – Buffalo, NY – Nietzsche’s
02 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
03 – Sarnia, Ontario – cineGAZE
04 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout
05 – Detroit, MI – Lager House
06 – Columbus, OH – Rumba
09 – Ithaca, NY – November Music Series
11 – Washington, DC – Comet Ping Pong
12 – Richmond, VA – Strange Matter
13 – Durham, NC – Pinhook
16 – Athens, GA – Caledonia
17 – Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light
18 – Athens, OH – The Union
19 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie