Shane Wilson

Presently a solo acoustic act, I find it best and necessary to "keep it simple, stupid." I recently began rehearsals to add bass and drums with my piano and acoustic guitar, which will only increase an already ever-present electricity. You see, I, not unlike Elvis Aaron Presley, absolutely cannot keep my feet still when the music is right! Have fun with that at my expense - you'll remember seeing me, for sure.

Raised in the South on a small farm, we were almost exactly as far from Birmingham, AL as we were Atlanta, GA - about 1-1/2 hours on a really good day. I inherently danced to a different drummer. The rhythm here - in the South, my part of the world, it's just different, unlike any other. And the music inhales and exhales that intangible piston to create a pumping, slumping, shuffling but driving pulse. Part New Orleans/Dr. John, Professor Longhair piano - a splash of nearby Appalachian mountain music - an Irish, English and Cherokee Indian heritage - and born with a love of the blues, I simply started telling stories through songs. I'm a writer, first, but I've been on stages all my life, and it is my home. So is my piano. The guitar, well, I can do what is needed on my Taylor. Just don't ask me for more!

Whether it's an easygoing, finger-picked love story like "All This Time", or a much more ambiguous tale of lost love told in U2-Meets-Southern Boy fashion - "Empty Handed" - my songs are not just "my" stories - people relate to them and "see" the pictures in their minds. These are, indeed, "our" stories.

Critics wrote that my "Town That Knows Everything" was "the best song Springsteen never wrote." I was floored by such a compliment. But I'm most proud of my Mom's favorite - the tenderhearted, yearning for lost innocence detailed in "I Know Better". Not all are this meaningful - you can have a stomp-fit with "Down In Alabama", or shuffle through Birmingham "Looking for Something Good", only to rejuvenate yourself upon your return to "Momma's Kitchen". 'Cause "I know that woman 'sho do treat me right..." Ha,ha! Yes-sir! Amen and A-women! Watch y'alls step comin' out the barn...

My work is constantly changing, growing and almost always ahead of my conscious thought. Yet it's simple, straightforward and, most importantly, sincere. Please enjoy listening - if for no other reason than it means so, so much to me. I'm proud that you've at least decided to hear a song or two, no matter who you are, where you work, what you do or how you believe. It'll keep you outta trouble, too, for at least 3-1/2 minutes!

And from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank you...
SHANE WILSON, Dec. 2010

***All Songs Copyright Shane Wilson, 1995 and 2011, BMI