The Sit Down with Sheyna Gee
Californian raised and now Nashville based, Sheyna Gee is a honky-tonk angel blessed with gritty and raspy vocal tones that deliver emotionally raw and powerful lyrics. Spotify describes her sound, as per her Instagram bio (which sits below her really fitting and cool user name of geeis4gangster) as “breakup western country” and the phrase “y’allternative” can often be heard to describe her music but the bottom line is that she blends traditional country music with a rocky modern edge. This style and her charismatic delivery on stage has already seen her venture across the pond in the past, so when she recently was over to open the Main Stage at Country Calling in Chelmsford, we took the opportunity to hang out with Sheyna at the festival after her set.
Welcome to Chelmsford.
“Thank you.”
It's actually my hometown so it’s cool to have a festival here.
“Oh, this is perfect for you then, you haven't got much of a commute.”
No, I’ve fled the nest and I live in West London so I have long since moved from Essex and I now spend a lot of time at an old haunt of yours in Highgate.
“Ah, I love everyone there.”
Yeah we were there the other night and Sinéad made the point of telling me to let you know that she says hello but also why the fuck aren’t you going to see her?
“Ha-ha I was going to surprise them, so don’t tell them but I was going to go in on Monday night or Tuesday so, hopefully she’s there.”
We love it up there, did they have the slushies last time you were there?
“Ooh no.”
They do frozen margs there now.
“They're becoming real Nashville now, if they weren’t already before. I've played there twice now it’s like a home town honky-tonk.”
Welcome to Chelmsford.
“Thank you.”
It's actually my hometown so it’s cool to have a festival here.
“Oh, this is perfect for you then, you haven't got much of a commute.”
No, I’ve fled the nest and I live in West London so I have long since moved from Essex and I now spend a lot of time at an old haunt of yours in Highgate.
“Ah, I love everyone there.”
Yeah we were there the other night and Sinéad made the point of telling me to let you know that she says hello but also why the fuck aren’t you going to see her?
“Ha-ha I was going to surprise them, so don’t tell them but I was going to go in on Monday night or Tuesday so, hopefully she’s there.”
We love it up there, did they have the slushies last time you were there?
“Ooh no.”
They do frozen margs there now.
“They're becoming real Nashville now, if they weren’t already before. I've played there twice now it’s like a home town honky-tonk.”
Obviously with playing the festival here, going up first on the main stage, is not always the easiest thing to do.
“It was a blast. I actually had a better turnout than I thought.”
That's good and it went well, especially considering that you were lacking an essential piece of apparatus.
“Yeah, my guitar but I would have gone up and sung a cappella if I had to. It didn’t even make it on the plane so I told them to just not send it because I didn’t think it would get here before I go back.”
Are you playing any other shows while you're here?
“I am, I'm playing Newport in Wales and it’s my first time in Wales, so I'm checking another country off the box and that’s tonight so I’m going straight from here to there.”
Wow, you’re getting around.
“That's what they say about me ha-ha.”
You’re Nashville based now but California is home and I guess even since you've moved there, Nashville has changed a lot where some of it's good and some of it, maybe not so good.
“I love it. For me, I think the growth has been amazing and I've been able to support my original career because of the growth in Nashville.”
If you could bring one thing from the west Coast, what would you want in Nashville?
“The beach obviously ha-ha. Everything else from California has made it over there but the thing that I missed at the beginning, was that there were no restaurants with vegetables. Everything was deep fried but now we have vegetables and all the good restaurants are starting to come over to Nashville now.”
That’s cool about the food, I haven't been since before the pandemic so I imagine it's got even more crazy.
“It has gotten even more crazy, there's even more bars of artists.”
Exactly but in good news, I see Robert’s have just bought next door and they're expanding.
“YES! I'm excited for that. That's my favourite honky-tonk.”
Everyone's quite wary about it. It's like, well, we love Robert’s, we like it for what it is, so what if it stops being Robert’s?
“I'm hoping it stays Robert’s. Hopefully it just stays what it is but bigger because they do need more room in there. It's gotten too big, like too packed.”
“It was a blast. I actually had a better turnout than I thought.”
That's good and it went well, especially considering that you were lacking an essential piece of apparatus.
“Yeah, my guitar but I would have gone up and sung a cappella if I had to. It didn’t even make it on the plane so I told them to just not send it because I didn’t think it would get here before I go back.”
Are you playing any other shows while you're here?
“I am, I'm playing Newport in Wales and it’s my first time in Wales, so I'm checking another country off the box and that’s tonight so I’m going straight from here to there.”
Wow, you’re getting around.
“That's what they say about me ha-ha.”
You’re Nashville based now but California is home and I guess even since you've moved there, Nashville has changed a lot where some of it's good and some of it, maybe not so good.
“I love it. For me, I think the growth has been amazing and I've been able to support my original career because of the growth in Nashville.”
If you could bring one thing from the west Coast, what would you want in Nashville?
“The beach obviously ha-ha. Everything else from California has made it over there but the thing that I missed at the beginning, was that there were no restaurants with vegetables. Everything was deep fried but now we have vegetables and all the good restaurants are starting to come over to Nashville now.”
That’s cool about the food, I haven't been since before the pandemic so I imagine it's got even more crazy.
“It has gotten even more crazy, there's even more bars of artists.”
Exactly but in good news, I see Robert’s have just bought next door and they're expanding.
“YES! I'm excited for that. That's my favourite honky-tonk.”
Everyone's quite wary about it. It's like, well, we love Robert’s, we like it for what it is, so what if it stops being Robert’s?
“I'm hoping it stays Robert’s. Hopefully it just stays what it is but bigger because they do need more room in there. It's gotten too big, like too packed.”
In terms of original Sheyna Gee music, we've had a couple of tracks that you have released through this year so have you decided that is the best way to go right now where you are able to focus on one track at a time with do all the socials and stuff around it, rather than spending all the time of money on putting a bunch of tracks together on an extended project? Or are we looking at something bigger towards the end of this year or early next year? I see a nice little smile on your face there.
“There might be an album coming at the end of next year and there is an EP that I'm working on right now. The songs were all written last month, I actually wrote a whole album in two weeks, but I took the five songs that are my favourite out of that. Well not my favourite, I took the five songs I wrote solo, by myself, the other ones were co-writes and those co-writes will be on the album but at the beginning of next year, I will have an EP called “Two Weeks” and it's these five songs I wrote by myself in two weeks.”
Oh, I like It. Lastly coming back to here, you’ve obviously seen a lot of festivals back home but how does here compare and things? What do you feel about the vibe?
“This is great, I think all festivals are amazing. It's so fun to hang out with the other artists at the festivals and then just meet people that are maybe here to see another band, but they accidentally saw me and became a fan.”
Thank you for the hang.
“Thank you, I appreciate your time.”
Enjoy the trip to Wales.
“Thank you, we'll see how the drive goes.”
You’re driving? You're braving driving on other side of the road?
“Yeah, I drove up here. I only hit one curve, so I should be good but we will find out.”
Awesome, let’s hope so.
The latest track “Clean” from Sheyna Gee is out now along with a number of other releases that she has put out this year which you can check out on Spotify or Apple Music. You can learn more about Sheyna on her WEBSITE whilst you can keep up to date with all that she is up to over on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
This year’s Country Calling was a resounding success with plans for 2026 already in progress so you can be the first to find out more details on their WEBSITE and relive all the 2025 highlights on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“There might be an album coming at the end of next year and there is an EP that I'm working on right now. The songs were all written last month, I actually wrote a whole album in two weeks, but I took the five songs that are my favourite out of that. Well not my favourite, I took the five songs I wrote solo, by myself, the other ones were co-writes and those co-writes will be on the album but at the beginning of next year, I will have an EP called “Two Weeks” and it's these five songs I wrote by myself in two weeks.”
Oh, I like It. Lastly coming back to here, you’ve obviously seen a lot of festivals back home but how does here compare and things? What do you feel about the vibe?
“This is great, I think all festivals are amazing. It's so fun to hang out with the other artists at the festivals and then just meet people that are maybe here to see another band, but they accidentally saw me and became a fan.”
Thank you for the hang.
“Thank you, I appreciate your time.”
Enjoy the trip to Wales.
“Thank you, we'll see how the drive goes.”
You’re driving? You're braving driving on other side of the road?
“Yeah, I drove up here. I only hit one curve, so I should be good but we will find out.”
Awesome, let’s hope so.
The latest track “Clean” from Sheyna Gee is out now along with a number of other releases that she has put out this year which you can check out on Spotify or Apple Music. You can learn more about Sheyna on her WEBSITE whilst you can keep up to date with all that she is up to over on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
This year’s Country Calling was a resounding success with plans for 2026 already in progress so you can be the first to find out more details on their WEBSITE and relive all the 2025 highlights on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
