Shelly Rená

Biography

The grand-daughter of trailblazing gospel singer and evangelist, Dorothy Jo Owens Parton, Shelley is the beneficiary of long line of talented musicians and songwriters. Her father, Dale Puckett, was a gifted, road-hardened multi-instrumentalist who lent his talent to country, soul, and gospel records for decades. And yes, her cousin is none other than Dolly Parton.

But being born with such an auspicious musical pedigree is no guarantee of an easy road. As a child, Shelley began performing and recording with her father and her three older sisters, but her personal journey took her elsewhere for a time. Her road led through love, heartbreak, motherhood, and earning a living for her family, along with other joys and challenges. “I’ve been singing since I was a baby, and nobody in the music business ever really took me seriously,” Shelley says. “There always seemed to be some hurdle I had to get over or a mountain I had to climb to be able to make music and express myself.

“All I ever heard growing up was, ‘If you don’t use your talent, you’ll lose it.’ So I kept that in my mind, and for many years my main outlet was karaoke, or I would take any type of job singing that anyone would offer me, while also being a single mom, bartending, serving food, or whatever jobs to get by until my time came.”

Things began to break her way in 2019 when she auditioned and won a spot as a back-up singer and occasional soloist in the family show at Dollywood, but the desire to make her own music her way still burned. “People say you know you’re in your forties and you should have done this when you were younger, but age is a mindset,” Shelley says. “For me, the pieces started coming together when Dolly asked me to record her song, ‘Not Bad,’ for the Smoky Mountain DNA album. I guess I impressed everybody. I was asked if I’d like to record a whole album, and when Dolly gives the nod, you don’t miss that opportunity.”

With the help of her cousin and Smoky Mountain DNA producer, Richie Owens, Shelley began a creative partnership with funk keyboardist and producer Peter Keys (best known for his work with Parliament-Funkadelic, Yelawolf, and Lynyrd Skynyrd). With Peter’s genre-bending ear and Shelley’s deep soul sensibility, they carved out the sound of Miles Away, a record that nods to tradition while unapologetically leaning into modern times and her personal story.

With the help of her sister, Karen Light, as a co-writer and back-up vocalist, Shelley began telling her story with the help of Keys’ music acumen. “When Richie told me I was going to work with Peter Keys I kinda melted into the floor,” Shelley says. “I immediately called Karen and we were both freaking out. When we got to the studio, we were both nervous, but Peter is so down to earth and made us feel like he’s known us for years.”

The title track, “Miles Away,” is Shelley’s autobiography in song. It’s the voice of a woman who was told to stay in the margins while quietly proving she belonged in the center. “When Peter sent the demo, which was just an instrumental with the title, Karen and I listened to it separately over and over. I finally called Karen and said, ‘Here’s my idea.’ I started throwing lyrics out, and she said, ‘I was on that same path!’ We didn’t know what Peter had intended for the song, but we took the title ‘Miles Away’ and applied it to my life.