Shay Sparks

What do you get when you combine bluegrass purity and a powerhouse entertainer? A fiery redhead from Kentucky bursting on to the national bluegrass music scene, Shay Sparks.

Shay began her music journey by singing in church and playing in family members’ bands. Music was always a large part of her heritage, “My dad put the radio station on bluegrass and broke the knob off,” She laughs! At a young age, she began playing guitar to complement her singing and song-writing. As with most people from musical backgrounds, Shay spent a lot of time playing music in different genres and learning new styles of expressing her vibrant vocals, expressive stage personality and impressive writing skills! When finally settling on her true calling of bluegrass, Shay notes, “I always loved this music because of fan loyalty and the very fact that it still matters if you can sing! When you are covered in layers of electric guitar, drums, etc… mistakes can be masked. When you are singing acoustically, you better be good or go home!”

After playing in country bands for several years in Texas and learning the ropes of the music business from the ground up (which really means from redneck honky-tonks to local Oprys,) Shay has cultivated her own unique style she laughingly calls, “BlueSgrass.” Playing live in bars helped Shay hone her entertainer skills, “When people are there to drink and party, you better have a great show to capture their attention. I gave 150% every night, whether it was to 2 people or 2000.” Shay garnered a female vocalist nomination at the Terry Awards, an award that recognizes the top performers in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. “I’ve spent a lot of years trying to define what kind of music I want to make; Country? Blues? Bluegrass? What I have found is that I’m best at making my own type of acoustic soul music which is reminiscent of the “New Grass Revival” music of the 80’s.

As a writer, Shay has immortalized many relationships in her tunes. “Every serious relationship I have been in has been inspiration for songs. Not every man wanted that to be so, but it is how I write. I can’t tell stories that I haven’t lived!” Shay wants those who hear her songs to know they are personal and that others can identify where she has been. She is continuing to write new material under her “Shaydes of Red” publishing company and is very excited to not only cut her own tunes, but that other artists may be interested in using her music in their projects. “I love Rhonda Vincent, Larry Sparks, The Grascals, and the list goes on and on…If they want to cut a Shay Sparks tune, that’s great for me!”

“Right now is the best place in my life. I know what I want to do and the music I want to make to spend the rest of my life living my passion.”