Our latest Off the Shelf guest is Carson McHone. In September last Year, Carson released her third album, Pentimento, described by Mark Underwood in his KLOF Mag review as a gem…a dense, multi-faceted tapestry, with fragments of poetry, spoken verse, field recordings, pastoral folk, guitar and chamber pop. It showed there are no real limits to McHone’s vision, and her drive to making that a reality.
Carson McHone begins her UK/EU tour this month (dates at the end of the article), so what better time than to invite her to be an Off the Shelf guest. For those new to this series, we ask an artist to select ten objects from their home and talk about them. These tend to hold a meaning for their daily life, their musical practice, or the overlap between the two. What artists choose to share and talk about is often surprising and revealing; this one was no exception (I especially love the desk).
As is customary in this series, we start the music – taken from Pentimento, watch her latest video for The Canvas:
Off the Shelf with Carson McHone
My Desk
At my desk, I face a wall, and on the wall in front of me I have lots of things always looking back at me – a LA LUNA loteria card. The first film photo I took of Daniel sitting in my old house in Austin holding a grapefruit and wearing my old brown blazer and my nana’s straw hat. A hawk feather I found in Texas while riding my horse. letters from my mom, my dad, my Papa, our friend Salty in Edmonton, and our friend Pim in the Netherlands. a picture of Nina Simone. a Lino cut and a poem that Daniel made for me with a sprig of rosemary and a blue jay feather. Two cardinal feathers wrapped in leather and a letter from my friend Coco. a polaroid of Me and Daniel in a tree, and one from my friend Layla’s wedding (which I ordained). a postcard invitation Daniel designed for our wedding (which Layla ordained). a porcelain doll from my friend Lauren. a strip of film stills from Agnes Varda’s “La Pointe Courte”. a postcard from the Gulf Coast of Texas of leaning oaks. a woodcut of a rooster. two wooden devils – one a mask and one a rattle. a black panther pin. The wrapper from an El Milagro corn tortilla packet. A thank you card from my godson…
A Carved Cicada
Also on my desk lives a little carved “turquoise” cicada from a market in Beijing. I went to China when I was 8 years old to visit my grandparents, who were teaching in Xin Xiang in Henan Province at the time and I met their students and kept in touch with a few of them for years following. We traveled around a bit while we were there – by train, which I loved. I think it was wonderful to be exposed to such a seemingly different culture at such a young age and to experience new customs in new places – I was very lucky to begin traveling quite young, and perhaps it is why I am happy spending a good deal of my time on the road. I have always loved cicadas – hearing them in the evenings and finding their exoskeletons clinging to trees. I drew this one from my desk and made a Lino cut of the design.
A Book of Langston Hughes Poems
This book of Langston Hughes poems belonged to an old boyfriend (I may have stolen it, whoops), and it is torn and tattered and being held together by duct tape but I love these poems so much and they have been hugely inspiring to me and I have written songs after some. It smells great.
My Mother’s Journal
My mother’s journal from when I was an infant. Each entry is addressed to me, and it begins with the Emerson quote that I recite to open my Pentimento album (listen below). She gave it to me when I left Texas to move to Ontario with Daniel – what a gift!
My Great-Grandfather’s Sketchbook
This sketchbook belonged to my great-grandfather, and there are three more diaries like it that he kept while living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in the late fifties, filled with drawings. The album cover for my Still Life record was cut from the pages of one of them. This one was blank when I received it, but I’m filling it up fast, and it’s getting pretty beat up around the edges from being on tour – but it’s sturdy, and I love the big yellow pages.
Tolkien Books Boxset and Small Horse
Daniel found this box set of Tolkien books recently – The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit – and it is the same set I grew up with. My dad started reading The Hobbit aloud to me when I was three years old, and he had such an amazing voice for it – I loved the ritual of his reading to me, and I also loved the stories – though the wargs really scared me. The box set itself, and the covers, are works of art even beyond the stories…
This small horse came from our friend Niek in the Netherlands. Niek and Pim live and work on a monastery and are ceramicists – it is a joy and a privilege to see them when we are on tour and we always leave with beautiful fragile works in tow from their shop – I noticed this little horse the last time we came through and Niek said I could have it, and it survived the tour, so it lives with us now. We drink our coffee out of perfectly imperfect mugs from Niek and Pim every morning.
Old Tambourine
This is an old tambourine we found at a loppis flea market on the side of the road in Sweden somewhere – it looks so cool, and it sounds terrible.
A Painting by Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band
This is a painting by Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band called “The Rough Red Woman”. We found his works listed on his website, and I had a very brief exchange with him on the telephone regarding the shipping – it was thrilling. The painting is perfect – this photo does not do it justice!
My Favorite Candle Holder
This is my favorite candle holder made by my friend Alejandra Almuelle – it also flips over to become a flower vase too. Jana’s work and her approach to work has been hugely influential on me, and she is a dear friend who I don’t see often enough, but when we are together we dive deep and soar! I love having her work around the house, and we use it and break it sometimes too, and it’s ok! She also has large projects on show in galleries across Texas, and you can find out more about her work here – https://www.alejandraalmuelle.com/
Pentimento (September 12th, 2025) Merge Records
Order: https://lnk.to/Pentimento
Carson McHone Tour Dates
