Alexis Gewertz Shepard was a folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

. She led the Alexis Shepard Band, also including John Rapoza, Jerry O'Hare, and Mike Aiello. She was hit by a truck and died while riding her bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

. This occurred just before the planned recording of her debut album, and a group of Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

-area musicians, including Faith Soloway

Faith Soloway

Faith Soloway is a folk-rock musician, comedic performer, and creator of several folk-rock musicals, based in the Boston area. She studied theater at Indiana University and performed improv comedy regularly, along with leaving school to tour with Second City...

, Jenny Reynolds

Jenny Reynolds

Jenny Reynolds is an American folk singer/songwriter. She began her career performing at open mics in the Boston area in the early 1990s, while working as a high-school English teacher. After several years of performing, she quit teaching to pursue music full-time, though she continues to do...

, and Esther Friedman, collaborated to release an album of Shepard's songs (from demo

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

s and live recordings) after her death.

Shepard's mother, Deborah Gewertz, is an anthropologist who studied the people of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

, and wrote about the ritual that commemorated Shepard's death in an article in Amherst magazine.

Her song Purple Ray Gun appeared posthumously on the Respond compilation, a benefit for domestic violence

Domestic violence

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

 causes, and the project was dedicated to her.

External links

• Official web site