Shivaree is a three-person American band formed in 1999 consisting of Ambrosia Parsley (vocals), Danny McGough (keyboard), and Duke McVinnie (guitar). The band take their name from the American term, "shivaree", which is borrowed from the French "charivari" and means, roughly, a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. It is most commonly used along the Mississippi River, and to the west of it.
They have produced four full-length albums (with one not receiving a North American release due to contract disagreements) and have approximately 500,000 combined sales to their name. They credit numerous other musicians in their work and are usually joined by two or three other collaborators when performing live. The band have mentioned their use of primarily Southern ideas and memes, and cite William Faulkner as an influence.
After contract disagreements with their previous label, it appeared that the group would split up after their second album. However, an EP and another two albums later eventuated. In April 2004, Parsley also embarked on a project for the liberal radio station Air America called Ambrosia Sings the News — a short song, usually under a minute or so long that attempted to encapsulate the contents of the previous week's headlines.
Their most well known song, "Goodnight Moon", was featured in Seasons 3 and 6 of the smash-hit television series Dawson's Creek as well as being played over the closing credits of the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill: Volume 2. The same song is also used in a commercial for the Norwegian clothing shop Cubus, who also uses the song as background music on their web page (as of April 2007).
