INTERVIEW: Ellen Angelico Memorializes Their Mentor: A "Girl In a Hurry"

For every pop country artist singing in front of an arena, there's at least a hundred more who are grinding their way down backroads and shitty gigs just to get there. And they all start from the same place: the bottom. Ellen Angelico, who's toured with artists like Cam and Brandy Clark, memorializes their mentor with their six-part podcast series Girl In a Hurry: The Shelly Bush Story. Not only does Angelico provide a biography of Bush, a relentless performer who did not know the meaning of "no," they also take us into Nashville's working class – the grind you don't always hear about.

Rainbow Rodeo is proud to feature the first episode in the series in tomorrow's podcast, but of course you can subscribe to the series on your favorite app. Each episode is less than half an hour – and it's worth your time. Below, Angelico discusses how they prepped for the podcast and why it's so important for everyone to know about Bush and the legacy she's left behind ten years after her death.

I love this series because I know it has a great deal of meaning to you and I can hear your heart in it. What did it mean for you to have Shelly take you under her wing?

It means more to me now than I realized at the time. At the time I was just grateful for the work, but in retrospect I see the way her style made me the musician I am today.

I think the most interesting aspect of the series from a macro perspective is what it looks like when you're trying to make it in country. Mainstream country is different from every other genre in that there is simply no discussion of paying your dues. I know what it looks like for a rock band or hip hop artist to come up through clubs and touring and all that, but Music Row likes to make that invisible. Why do you think that is?

I don't know if I agree with this premise! From my perspective, there's an over-emphasis on paying your dues in country. Or maybe it's not so much emphasis on paying your dues as the romanticization of work. I considered spending some on this topic in the podcast, because Shelly was obsessed with work. I don't believe you have to experience hardship in order to be a good musician or good person. I wish no one experienced hardship! Ultimately, I decided not to include it in the podcast because I didn't think Shelly thought about it a lot. Work was just in her DNA.

I guess what I mean by country music and "making it" is that you don't really get road songs the way you do in rock or even Americana. There's a lot about paying your dues or working on your grandaddy's farm or whatever, but the storytelling skips the part where you're a struggling musician and that struggling just kind of sucks. Like, I understand how rock bands build their audiences but maybe because I'm in New York I don't have a sense of what a mid-tier venue is for someone who wants to be in mainstream country, specifically.

It may just be because I've made a living out of the mid-tier of country (lol) but I see that storyline popping up. You've got songs like "Takin' Pills" by Pistol Annies ("We owe $400 to the boys in the band, gas light blinking on our broke down van") or "Chasing that Neon Rainbow" by Alan Jackson ("This overhead is killing me, half the time I sing for free") or Merle Haggard's song "No One to Sing For but the Band." But I understand what you're saying: it's not the predominant narrative. Interestingly, I think the predominant (mostly "bro" oriented) narrative is: I worked on grandaddy's farm and I'm telling you all about it from this stadium stage but I'm still a Grandaddy's Farm Guy. Sometimes it feels like a contest to prove who is the most down-home.

Shelly saw working with an all-women band as an asset. I think it's curious that in 2025, you see so many women in country advocating for gender equality...but everyone in their backing band is a cis guy. What do you make of that? 

While I do think it's critical that women artists have women on their teams, I'm hesitant to put the burden on women's shoulders entirely when it's happening across the board. My little corner of the music business is stuck in a cycle. There's turnover in a band, the old band member may recommend someone, the management may recommend someone, they may hold auditions, and the result is a new band member who looks a lot like the old one. Breaking out of this cycle needs to become a higher priority for people at the top of the ticket.

Why did you choose a podcast to tell Shelly's story?

It started out as an oral history, partly because I was inspired by my old roommate and dear friend Teddy Minton's oral history project on women musicians in Nashville. But after collecting hours and hours of interviews, I realized it was too much information for the average music fan to take in. Hopefully my narration makes the story digestible and believable, and doesn't distract from Shelly.

I believe this was your first time making a podcast. What was your process? How do you feel it relates to your work as a side musician?

The process was winding and challenging and I intend not to do it again unless I'm paid an exorbitant amount! I started by collecting dozens of interviews, which I then transcribed. I grouped the stories into different general topics, from which I hacked out an outline, and another outline, and another outline. I completely rewrote the script about four or five times. I couldn't have done it without the help of Karen Pittelman [of Karen and the Sorrows] who is an unbelievable writing coach and one of the smartest people I've ever met. It's a privilege to be her friend.

We all think the Internet is forever but that's really not the case. How was it for you to try to dig up information from the early 2000s and 2010s? 

As the amount of information grows, things fall deeper into the ocean. In some ways, the internet is still forever because once something resurfaces it's back in everyone's view. But someone still has to put on a scuba suit and go get it. I couldn't have done this project without the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which allowed me to see a couple old versions of Shelly's website.

You released the series on the anniversary of Shelly's death. Why did that date stand out for you?

When it was still an oral history project, I realized the tenth anniversary of Shelly's death was coming up. I couldn't believe it had been that long and to my knowledge, no events were planned around the anniversary. But, I mean, the world keeps spinning, right? People die and anniversaries pass. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I just didn't want this particular anniversary to go by unnoticed. I wanted her family and friends to know Shelly's story matters, their stories matter, and these memories are cherished by more people than they may realize.

Lastly, can you shout out some of the musicians you highlighted in the series so we can shout them out here?

ABSOLUTELY! So many members of Shelly's band are still out there making music and being amazing.

Amanda McCoy plays bass for Tanya Tucker. Beth Garner is an incredible guitar player and is involved in loads of different blues, country, and soul projects. One of Shelly's fiddle players Caitlin Nicol-Thomas still plays and is also an accomplished actor. Erin Holiman plays bass and leads a band out in Vegas. Karen Dee still plays around Nashville and I just love her to pieces. Karen Pendley has her own band and plays downtown and teaches fiddle. Mandy Shucher plays bass for outlaw legend Dallas Moore. Merna Lewis plays fiddle for Terri Clark. Paula Jo Taylor has a duo with her daughter Amanda and was recently featured on an HBO show called Second Change Stage.

Those folks are not just great musicians. They're some of my favorite people in the world and I probably wouldn't have met some of them if it weren't for Shelly. It's just another way I'm grateful to have been a small part of Shelly's world.

Girl in a Hurry: The Shelly Bush Story is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Girl in a Hurry: The Shelly Bush Story – Official