Ian Shaul

Artist Information

Biography

*Ian Shaul has signed on with Planetary Entertainment for a nationwide college/AAA radio campaign
*North by Northeast Music Festival performance scheduled, June 7-10, 2007
*"Late Night Telephone" featured on NPR's All Songs Considered. 1/17/07
*"Late Night Telephone" received Honorable Mention in the 2006 Singer/Songwriter Awards.

Ian Shaul's music is a rich bastardization of Country, Blues, Rock, and Bluegrass that hails from Lake County, a rural area of Northern California best-known for its pear orchards and methamphetamine production. The rural and destitute surroundings have shaped Ian’s songwriting and performing styles into something unique, and uniquely Northern Californian.

Now based in San Francisco, the 26-year-old has quickly become known for his unique approach to instruments, and frantic, high-energy performances, taking his music to some of the city's premier venues. He can also be found as a sideman, filling in on guitar, lap steel, banjo, dobro and vocals for local acts including Pirate Radio.

A follow-up to the widely circulated demo "Pie for Hayseeds" (2004) "Water Return" marks Ian Shaul's studio debut. Recorded in the heart of San Francisco at the analog mecca Tiny Telephone and the historic Different Fur, the album was made on a shoestring budget at guerilla speed.

"Singer-songwriter Ian Shaul opened things up with some intense (and fancy) guitar picking, an impressive voice and a cache of folk songs about love lost and all things emo. Ladies, take note--he’s got the Jack Johnson good looks, but Shaul makes Jack Johnson sound like a one-trick pony … wait a second. Oh, and he didn’t wear flip-flops with pants."
--Mark Lore, Entertainment Editor, "Days of Lore" Column, Chico News and Review

"Ian Shaul's vocals are soulful and sincere, yet his lyrics never lose the wit that will surely become his signature. At times the songs are so sadly beautiful that I wish to suffer through a break-up, if only to feel them more poignantly."
--Juliana Tringali, Music Editor, Bitch Magazine

"Ian's music is mean for the rowdy crowd, a crowd that isn't afraid to add a hoot and a holler every now and then. It's about as hardcore as a man and his guitar can get.
--Max Fox, Bagdad By the Bay

"('Water Return' is a) skeletonal acoustic disc composed of gritty, simple songs. Ian Shaul's roots-pop blends two different rhythms together in most of the songs, as the strumming moves at a different pace than the slow, lilting lap steel."
--The Owl Mag

"I can't tell if his songs make me happy or if they make me sad. But when I listen to him play, I need a drink. Badly."
--Luc Martin, Alcoholic

Instrumentation

Ian Shaul: Vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, dobro, lap steel.

Discography

2007:
Water Return is enjoying increased national radio play in the AAA/CMJ market.
2006: Water Return
"Late Night Telephone" featured on NPR's All Songs considered.
"Late Night Telephone" featured on KDVS 90.3FM, Davis. "Late Night Telephone" and "No Surprises" featured on KUSF 90.3FM, San Francisco.
"Water Return" featured on KXBX, 98.3FM, Lakeport, CA.
2004: Pie For Hayseeds
Widely distributed CDR , live, acoustic demo.

Other Projects:
2009: Pending Pirate Radio Release
Featured on lead and background vocals, guitar, lap steel, and percussion.

2008: Pirate Radio--Welcome Home
Featured on guitar, lap steel, organ and backing vocals

2006: Karpov--Soliloquy
Banjo and Lap Steel on "Imperfect" and "Hieronymus Bosch"

Audio

• Late Night Telephone
  Listen   Download
• Building a Mailbox
  Listen   Download
• Live--When Can I See Dana Again
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Las Dias de Vino y Rosas
• Building a Mailobox

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• NPR's All Songs Considered [+ Show ]
  

  "Late Night Telephone" featured on NPR's web-only "Open Mic" portion of All Songs Considered. Click..."Late Night Telephone" featured on NPR's web-only "Open Mic" portion of All Songs Considered. Click here to see the story and listen to the podcast: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6818481.
  
  

• Days of Lore, Chico News & Review [+ Show ]
  

  "Singer-songwriter Ian Shaul opened things up with some intense (and fancy) guitar picking, an impre..."Singer-songwriter Ian Shaul opened things up with some intense (and fancy) guitar picking, an impressive voice and a cache of folk songs about love lost and all things emo. Ladies, take note--he’s got the Jack Johnson good looks, but Shaul makes Jack Johnson sound like a one-trick pony … wait a second. Oh, and he didn’t wear flip-flops with pants."--Mark Lore, Entertainment Editor, "Days of Lore" column, Chico News and Review.
  Read the full Article:
  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=327210

• Water Return Review [+ Show ]
  

  "("Water Return" is a) skeletonal acoustic disc composed of gritty, simple songs. Ian Shaul's roots-..."("Water Return" is a) skeletonal acoustic disc composed of gritty, simple songs. Ian Shaul's roots-pop blends two different rhythms together in most of the songs, as the strumming moves at a different pace than the slow, lilting lap steel"
  --The Owl Mag

• Never a Dull Moment: Art and Music in SF [+ Show ]
  

  Ian Shaul, a singer/songwriter from Lake County California, brought the folk to the semi-populated a...Ian Shaul, a singer/songwriter from Lake County California, brought the folk to the semi-populated art space. Where the people were absent, Ian filled the room with a soulful sound that can just as easily bring on the tears as it can the laughter. Ian's sound could be dropped into that broad category of modern folk music, but this man definitely stands alone. His sound is different, but familiar, a mix, I guess you could say, of old time country bluegrass and a sprinkling of rock and roll. It's about as hardcore as a man and his guitar can get.
  
  Ian's new CD, titled "Pie for Hayseeds," will deliver all you could want from a folk album, everything from wailing heart strong ballads to rockin' countrified concoctions where the steel string twang wont never stop. Ian's music can be accessed at his website: ianshaulsgotaslackjaw.com. There you will find mp3s, bios, booking info and show dates. Ian has been performing locally in SF for a few years now and his seniority shows. I fully recommend checking him out, but just between you an me, a bar is the place to see this man perform. I'm all for supporting the arts, but there's something about three dollar glasses of two-buck-chuck and the reserved ambiance of an art gallery that doesn't do Ian's music justice. Ian's music is meant for the rowdy crowd, a crowd who isn't afraid to add a hoot and a holler every now and then, I mean, the mans got a slack jaw for cryin' out loud. .

• 2004 Pie For Hayseeds CDR Review [+ Show ]
  

  Ian Shaul's vocals are soulful and sincere, yet his lyrics never lose the wit that will surely becom...Ian Shaul's vocals are soulful and sincere, yet his lyrics never lose the wit that will surely become his signature. At times the songs are so sadly beautiful that I wish to suffer through a break-up, if only to feel them more poignantly.
  

• Now Magazine, Toronto [+ Show ]
  

  "In performances that range from frantic to subdued and visceral, Shaul makes music that's equal par..."In performances that range from frantic to subdued and visceral, Shaul makes music that's equal parts Gillian Welch and David Rawlings."

• Water Return Review [+ Show ]
  

  Water Return is an intriguing record. Shaul has a voice meant for country, but lyrically Water Retur...Water Return is an intriguing record. Shaul has a voice meant for country, but lyrically Water Return is more of a folk record. The guitar strumming is for the most part a combination of both folk and country, with a noticeable bluegrass influence in tracks like "Rest My Soul." On top of all of this, Shaul attempts a cover of Radiohead's "No Surprises" and certainly succeeds in making the song his own...Shaul succeeds in leaving the listener with vivid imagery and fantastic, weepy melodies which ultimately are the guiding force in Water Return.

Setlist

Sets range from 45minutes to 1hr 15minutes normally, but occassionally span 3 hours.
Any combination of the following originals:

An Anathema's Theme
The Aryan Race
Bloodwork
Building a Mailbox
Compline
Dangle
Effigy, Elegy, and Eulogy
Futility
Genesis 4:9
The Great Divide
In My Best
I Won't Have It
Lake County Dregs
Las Dias de Vino y Rosas
Late Night Telephone
Let Me Down Hard
Life Among the Weeds
Liquor Blues
More Cowgirl
Never Danced Before
Northern California Country Boy
Old Man Shouts at Cloud
The Open Wild
Patsy Cline
Poker Face
The Preacher Said
Rest My Soul
Scotts Vally Eyes
Set To Fall
Slackjawed
Something Good
St. Helena
That You Cannot Sever
They're Cutting Down the Pears, Man, and Putting in the Grapes
This Old Border Town
Three and Five
3 Chords and I'm Already Drunk
Water Return
Well, I
When Can I See Dana Again?
When It's All Said and Done
3 and 5

Covers:
No Surprises by Radiohead
My Morphine by Gillian Welch
Please Tell My Brothers by Jeff Tweedy
Heavenly Salvation by Kurt Weil and Bertoldt Brecht
White Freightliner by Townes Van Zandt
Take Me Down to the Infirmary by Cracker
Loser by the Grateful Dead
John the Revelator
Little Sadie

Basic Requirements

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