Sally Timms

Sally Ann Timms^[1] (born 29 November 1959) is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Leeds, England, she now lives in the Chicago area, where she works as a paralegal.^[2] She is best known for her long career as co-lead singer for the post-punk band The Mekons which she joined in 1985,^[3][4][5] and who have been described as "arguably […] the longest-running of all bands that emerged in the British punk explosion of 1977".^[6]

Timms has had a successful solo career in the lo-fi electronics and alternative country genres, notably writing the song "Horses", covered by Will Oldham.

Born in Leeds in 1959,^[3][7] Timms recorded her first solo album, Hangahar (an experimental improvised film score), at the age of 21 with Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks in 1980.^[3] Prior to joining The Mekons in 1986 she was in a band called the She Hees.^[3][8] She has released several other solo albums, Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat in 1988, To the Land of Milk and Honey in 1995, and a country album, Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos, for Bloodshot Records in 1998. She gave herself the name "Cowboy Sally" after the character she played on TNT's Rudy and GoGo Show.^[9][10][11] Her solo recording In the World of Him was released in 2004 on Touch and Go Records.^{[9][10][12][13]}

Timms sang "Give Me Back my Dreams" on The Sixths' Hyacinths and Thistles and has recorded with Marc Almond, The Aluminum Group, Jon Rauhouse's Steel Guitar Show, the Sadies,^[14]Andre Williams, and A Grape Dope. She participated in Vito Acconci's Theater Project for a Rock Band as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 1995 and also, along with the rest of The Mekons, performed with Kathy Acker in her lesbian pirate operetta Pussy, King of the Pirates at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and elsewhere.^[7][15]

Timms' musical style is often placed under the genre of alternative country,^[16] and she has often toured with other bands on Bloodshot Records.^[17] She sang several songs on the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' The Executioner's Last Songs albums, which raised funds for the Illinois Moratorium Against the Death Penalty, and participated in fellow Mekon Jon Langford's multi-media performance project The Executioner's Last Songs.^[18] She co-wrote the song Horses, which was recorded by herself and Jon Langford on Songs of False Hope and High Values; by Palace Music, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy.^[19]

She was the voice of SARA from Cartoon Network's Toonami block, voicing the first incarnation of the character from 1999 to 2004 alongside Steve Blum, the voice of TOM.^[20] Timms directed the first of the five Christmas pantos hosted by the Hideout bar in Chicago, and performed in several of them.^{[16][21][22][23]}

For many years Timms has lived in the Chicago, Illinois area, where she also works as a paralegal.^[17] She was married to musician and comedian Fred Armisen from 1998 to 2004.^[24][25]

The Mekons

Timms se unió a la banda post-punk The Mekons a mediados de la década de 1980. Un documental titulado The Revenge of the Mekons fue lanzado en 2014 por el director Joe Angio. ^{[ 26 ]} El estilo de la banda ha evolucionado para incorporar aspectos de la música country , la música folk , el rock alternativo y experimentos ocasionales con el dub . ^{[ 27 ]} Son conocidos por sus ruidosos conciertos en vivo. ^{[ 28 ]} La banda, que aún incluye a Timms como vocalista, continúa grabando y actuando en vivo, a partir de 2021.

• 1980 – Hangahar
• 1988 – Somebody's Rockin' My Dreamboat
• 1995 – Dice aquí
• 1995 – Hacia la tierra de la leche y la miel
• 1997 – Cowboy Sally
• 1999 – Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos . ^{[ 33 ] [ 34 ]}
• 2000 – Canciones de falsa esperanza y altos valores (con Jon Langford )
• 2004 – En el mundo de Él

• Página de Sally Timms en Club Mekon
• Colección de Sally Timms en el archivo de música en vivo de Internet Archive.