5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Heidi Shepherd of Butcher Babies 

Name  Heidi Shepherd 

Best known for  Vocalist of Butcher Babies.

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Current city  Las Vegas, NV. 

Really want to be in  I’ve been so lucky to travel all over the world for my career and I really feel like I live in my favorite place. However, sometimes I think about escaping real life and moving to a tiny beach town in a foreign country and only leaving to tour. 

Excited about  Butcher Babies is in the beginning stages of releasing a bunch of new music. We [recently] released the first new single called “Sincerity,” and it’s been incredible to see the response from the public. The creative process for these songs has been some of my favorite and most rewarding experiences of my entire career. I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we have been cooking! 

My current music collection has a lot of  My musical taste is incredibly vast. But at the moment you’ll find my selection bouncing between Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Morgan Wallen, Paleface Swiss, Slaughter to Prevail, and Seven Hours After Violet. I’ve also been heavily diving into shoegaze. It’s my go-to genre while I get ready for pretty much any event. It feels zen to me. 

And a little bit of  Pop (Sabrina Carpenter, Post Malone) to tickle my songwriter bone. The songwriting in pop has been incredibly inspiring over the past few years. It seems like the pop world has become very experimental lately, and I’m loving the wordplay these artists are coming up with. 

Preferred format  With as much as we tour, it’d be impossible for me to bring my entire CD/vinyl collection with me. I enjoy new music any way I can take it, but the easiest way for me to indulge is through streaming services. However, when I’m at home, I love to put on a vinyl record of some of my old favorites while I make dinner, clean the house, or relax with a backyard cozy fire. 

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: 

1

Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt 

When this album became popular—cause it was released a couple of years before it hit the mainstream)—I was in 7th and 8th grade. Forbidden to watch MTV, I remember sneaking into my parent’s basement in the middle of the night to feed my curious mind with all the channel had to offer. Which at the time, was all the latest and greatest in music videos. I saw Marilyn Manson, Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Wallflowers, and all the men making waves in rock. But, then one night, I saw a spunky, blonde girl (like myself at the time) in what would become the soundtrack to my adolescence, “Spiderwebs.” My mind was blown and I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV. In my hometown of Provo, UT, No Doubt wasn’t on FM radio yet. So, this was my only exposure to my newfound, idol!
Anytime my parents were away, or I could sneak a little MTV into my life, I would sit and wait for MORE NO DOUBT! I found the CD at my local Sam Goody, and I continued to play it over and over again while daydreaming that I too could someday be just like Gwen.
I believe that this band, and this album in particular made me into the artist and performer I am today. 

2

Ropin’ the Wind, Garth Brooks

To be honest, this album is what “roped” me in. But, the “hits” album that came in 1994 held all of my favorites. My love for Garth Brooks is something that trickled down from my mother. She would play this album over and over again on long drives as it became our favorite to sing along to together. I could still sing every word of every song! If you travel down the timeline on my Twitter, you’ll find dozens of tweets of me begging Garth Brooks to add his albums to streaming services. I have favorites in EVERY SINGLE one of his albums. It’s hard to pick just one. 

3

Memoirs of a Murderer, King 810 

When this album was released, all I heard around the industry was, “King 810, so hot right now!” So naturally, I had to check it out.
From the first note of the first song “Killem All” I was hooked. I had never heard anything this raw and angry yet, poetic and beautiful. The songwriting is superb; it comes from an obvious place of honesty that stems from an upbringing that only Flint, MI can offer. This album has some of the heaviest songs musically and lyrically with insane hooks, but also features a Western, spoken word, sensual ballads, and acoustics. It’s incredibly diverse. 

King 810’s unique ability to tell a story within 3:30 that makes you feel like you are the main character behind the song is unlike any other band that I have heard. I love all of their albums, but this debut is undeniably one of the best records of the last two decades. A true masterpiece. 

4

Dirty Dancing (Soundtrack), Various 

This soundtrack holds some of my favorite songs of all time from my favorite movie of all time. “Hungry Eyes,” “She’s Like the Wind,” and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” are classic staples in the soundtrack to my life. I grew up playing this soundtrack on my parents’ record player and am on the hunt to find my own copy on vinyl. It’s great background music for hosting a dinner party or sipping wine next to a fire.
 

5

Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette

I know every single lyric to every single song. I think this album is the angsty anthem for teenage girls in the ‘90s. This was one album that my parents actually let me buy, as opposed to me sneaking it into the house and hiding it in my closet (like all of my metal albums).


The songs are all so diverse and in-your-face honest. This was one of the first albums that really made me think. At a young age, I dissected every lyric and felt like she was singing about how I felt. Alanis Morissette became the voice of a young, teenage me. From a moment of rebellion screaming “You Outta Know” at the top of my lungs, to a glimmer of hope with “Hand in My Pocket”, to gushing over a high school crush with “Head Over Feet,” there wasn’t a song on the album that I didn’t relate to. I STILL relate to all of the songs.


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