For powerhouse local musician Reese McHenry, the road to success has always been an uphill battle.
In 2008, she had to put her career on hold after suffering a series of four strokes. By 2019 she was back and better than ever, earning widespread acclaim (and comparisons to Janis Joplin) with her soaring album “No Dados” – only to be sidelined again by a cancer diagnosis three years later. But just as before, she fought that off too, returning to the stage at Hopscotch less than three months after major surgery.
“I truly feel like the luckiest unlucky person on earth,” she said then.
Visit Reese McHenry’s page on CaringBridge.
Now, Reese McHenry says the cancer is back with a vengeance: metastatic sarcoma, requiring 18 months of intense chemotherapy. But like always, she’s heading into this next phase with her head held high – and with a new single out and a pair of shows this weekend at the Cave, she’s not letting cancer knock her down just yet.
“I’m very scared,” she wrote of the diagnosis. But: “bring it. I can fight!”
The new single is called “I Do What I Want.” Like so many of McHenry’s best songs, it’s a powerful howl for empowerment and taking control, in this case in the aftermath of a broken toxic relationship. (Not very autobiographical, in case you’re wondering: Reese and her husband Justin happily celebrated their 18th anniversary just this week.)
Click here to listen to the song (and purchase a download) on Bandcamp.
Ironically, Reese started playing the song in Zoom concerts back in 2020, when the COVID pandemic was making it impossible for anyone to do what they wanted. And the less said about the timing of the single release, the better.
“The irony of that track coming out and me having incurable inoperable (although treatable!) cancer is laughable,” she says. “Sometimes I feel like laughing about it and sometimes I don’t.”
Now, with another round of cancer treatment on the horizon, Reese McHenry’s friends and family are rallying together to help. A GoFundMe effort (which you can support) has raised nearly $20,000 in just two weeks, and Reese says her friends are offering their time and energy to support in other ways too.
“I want to say something about how appreciative I am (and we are) with how generous people have been,” she says. “It’s so over-the-top, it makes me emotional, and when I look at 18 months of treatment, it seems like we could actually get through that.”
Click here to donate to the GoFundMe campaign.
And Reese isn’t done on stage either. This Friday and Saturday, August 2-3, she’ll be celebrating the release of “I Do What I Want” with back-to-back shows at the Cave in downtown Chapel Hill. Both shows begin at 9 p.m., with the BQs, Hardface, and Haruspex Palace opening on Friday night and CL3, Hex Files, and Sister, Brother opening on Saturday.
McHenry will start chemo again shortly after those shows, with an optimistic but uncertain prognosis. But if her past is any indication, it may not be long after before she’s back on her feet again – and rocking as hard as any musician in town.
“Thank you for everything, y’all,” she says to her friends, family and supporters. “We’re getting through it together, me and you.”
Photos via ReeseMcHenry.com.
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