Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard says people still jump out of their seats when she sings the theme song from “Ally McBeal”

Fans of Ally McBeal can do more than probably remember the melody of the show’s theme song, “Searchin’ My Soul,” sung by Vonda Shepard. The singer-songwriter, who played a fictionalized version of herself on the hit TV show as a cast member at the bar where McBeal and her fellow Boston lawyers drank, still sees the show’s star, Calista Flockhart, regularly.

“I just saw her two nights ago,” Shepard told Yahoo Entertainment. “She’s a dear friend. I love her.”

Long before it became immediately identifiable with Allies McBeal, Shepard was a normal New York kid growing up in an unorthodox household, so convincing her parents to allow her to perform in the city’s music clubs was no challenge.

“It wasn’t hard. They were total bohemians. It was a very unusual childhood,” said Shepard, whose father worked as a mime and theater director. After sleeping on her couch for about a year, a music journalist got Shepard her first club gig at 14. “My dad recognized that I had this inclination to write songs and sing and was obsessed with music. So it was a natural progression.”

Shepard made her mark in the industry in her twenties. She spent several years in artist development at Warner Bros. and broke into the adult contemporary charts in 1989 with “Don’t Cry Ilene.” Her first self-titled album came out when she was 26 and featured “Ilene” alongside another iconic Shepard hit, “Baby, Don’t You Break My Heart Slow.” (This song was covered by Taylor Swift many years later.)

During a bit of a career lull in 1995, she took a job as a background singer for Jackson Browne. When Browne heard her sing songs from her 1996 album It’s good, Eva, He invited her to open for his tour the following summer. Through a series of “chance” connections, her time with Browne Shepard led to McBeal Creator David E. Kelley, who hired her for the series in 1997.

“I have Ally McBeal because of this album,” Shepard explained. “David Kelley heard these songs. So it was all connected.”

While Shepard spent about five years at McBeal (She names “You Belong to Me” as her favorite cover, which was released during this Allies years), she performed live during her hiatus, flying to Europe for seven weeks at a time. By the end of the show in 2002, she was exhausted, but admits she “kind of loved” the nonstop nature of the show.

Today, Shepard lives in California and is married to musician Mitchell Froom, who plays keyboards for Crowded House, but presenting her music and traveling the world is still her top priority.

“I have to do it for my soul. I have to play music for people, feel the energy coming back and hear what they have to say,” she explained.

She calls creating a setlist a “balancing act,” weaving some covers with many originals from her nine studio albums. It can be a little confusing to wonder if most people in the audience are familiar with her because of her years as a Ally McBeal.

“It was essential to incorporate these songs and introduce people to my other songs. Sometimes I look at the audience and think, ‘Is this 100% Allies (Fans)? Is that about 95%? Allies (fans) and nobody knows my stuff?” Shepard said.

“I always play ‘Searchin’ My Soul,'” says Shepard, who will perform at the 20th Cape Cod Jazz & Arts Festival on July 30 at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Harwich, Massachusetts. “It’s practically always the last song in my set, and I like playing it because I wrote it and because people just jump out of their seats.”