Bernie Shanahan

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You

Album: You

Released: Apr 15, 2007

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You
5:49
1,353 plays
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The Road Through Town
3:27
431 plays
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Far Away
5:04
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The Rest Of Them
3:51
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Highway Signs
4:02
338 plays

Total Plays: 4,921 / Plays Today: 1See All Featured ►

General Info

Genre: Acoustic / Indie / Rock
Location Boca Raton, Florida, US
Profile Views: 8945
Last Login: 1/12/2012
Member Since 4/15/2007
Website bernieshanahan.com
Record Label no label
Type of Label Unsigned
Bio
“Like alotta people, it all started with my first guitar, that near-magical, transporting box of wood and strings and soul. Got it when I was 11, it was a little Telstar acoustic, a Christmas gift that year. I’d seen the Beatles and the Stones on tv, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I was writing before I could even play, that was the first thing I really wanted to do musically. Early on, I began playing out solo, and then in bands, from about the time I was 15. Picked up piano, banjo, mandolin, all the other instruments, along the way. I always liked making as big a sound as possible, and, well, I figured the more things you could play, the bigger the noise you could make...” “I left home, which was Bethlehem, Ct., at age 17. Played my way thru Boston and Vermont, down to D.C., Virginia, and Nashville. When I was 20, and playing out on Eastern L.I. with my band, I decided I should go to New York City, to see what I could do there. And so I did, 2 days after my 21st birthday.” “That was a fun and exciting time. Played all the local clubs, bars, etc, Kenny’s Castaways, CBGB’s, Folk City, The Bitter End, and the Bottom Line, to name a few. Did some sideman work as a guitarist and piano player, which wasn’t bad, I got to tour Europe and Canada a few times, lotsa fun. Around that time, the band and I recorded an EP for a small label out of New Jersey; a few vinyl copies still exist, mostly in my closet. Met alotta players, and soon enough put together the band and the songs that got me signed to Atlantic Records and EMI Publishing. That album, titled simply “Bernie Shanahan”, came out in ’89, and these days is kind of a hard get, but still lurks on eBay and elsewhere. Played tons of gigs all up and down the East Coast. Did background vocal sessions on some pretty diverse projects, with artists like Cher, Michael Bolton, and Alice Cooper. Eventually, things kinda fell apart at Atlantic, and I sorta drifted for a while, doing some commercials, working in bars. I kept on writing and playing, but not much in public.” “Little by little, I got more and more restless, and felt I needed to get back to what it was about music that I loved in the first place, the writing, the playing, the honest parts of it all. In 2005 I decided enough was enough, it was time to say what I had to say, do what I had to do, and this whole journey began that summer. Assembled what would come to be called BearStudio, a pretty awesome recording setup in my apartment, whose motto is “No Excuses” (a sign with those words on it hangs above the workstation, as a constant reminder to do the best I can). Then I got to work, trying to record songs as true as possible to my heart and musical vision. What I thought would take me 6 months took 8, then 12, and finally 16 months, start to finish. So now we arrive at the new album, “You”, which I like to look at as “a life in 16 songs”, in a style I’ve come to call “classic power acoustic”. Along the way I had alotta great help, tons of inspired nights, and not a whole lotta sleep. Really just about the best times I’ve ever had getting my own stuff together, written, and recorded. And now we go from here, we see how far we can drive this thing. Hopefully for a good long time...” ...... ......
Members
Well, on this record, I had tons of great help. My brother Terry sang in alot of the backing vocals groups, along with Martee LeBow, Carolee Goodgold, and Susan Rae Skelton. He also played mandolin on "Gone Are The Days". Not to mention his sitting through endless tweaking sessions, drum programming, and many "So how does THIS sound?" moments. Malina Rauschenfels, a great cellist, composer, dancer, and teacher (she's my cello instructor, too), played cello on "On The Altar of Eden" and fiddle on "The Lucky Ones". For "Have You Come For The Fight", my apartment was full of friends, a good 15 or so, mics set up around the room, singing their Jameson-fueled hearts out on the "whoa whoa's" in the outro; a memorable and totally fun session. And the spoken word parts on "Long Dark Night" and "A Very High Wire" were done by Kristina Escarzaga, Allyson Ryan, Carolee Goodgold, and Glynnis MacNicol. Added to all this talent were the invaluable contributions of Jon Smith's engineering, and the insights, ears, and photographs of Nick Diminno and Michael Alago. And finally, a huge thank you, for your generosity, indulgence, and hard work, to all those at Sterling Sound in NYC, especially Suzanne Despres, George Marino, and Ryan Smith. Without the help of all these good people, this album never would have seen the light of day. When we play live, I'm looking to include some of the great NYC musicians and singers I've been lucky enough to have played with over the last few years; once the lineup is set, I'll run it all down for you here. Hopefully we'll get going by the Fall, I'm totally psyched at the prospect of playing this stuff and more on stage, it should be a blast. On a related note, a good friend of mine, Mr. Keith Reid (lyricist of Procol Harum's catalogue and songwriter par excellénce), has just released a new CD, Common Thread. Yours truly is among the lucky singers to appear on the record, alongside Southside Johnny, John Waite, Chaz Jankel, Chris Thompson, and more. Take a second and check it out at http://www.myspace.com/keithreidproject. Please go give it a listen, there's some pretty awesome stuff on there, well worth the click. Thanks! Also, if you want to hear more than the 6 songs available here (boy, could sure use more audio space...), and even more than at my website, you can head over to my Broadjam page, at www.broadjam.com/bernieshanahan. There you'll find a grand total (so far) of 27 songs, including newer stuff, some of which will become the new album "Long Way From Heroesville"; hoping to release it early in '09. Thanks again for listening... ..
Influences
Is it too weird to say "Everything I've ever heard"? There are only a few artists whose catalog I know from top to bottom. But there are "moments" belonging to so, so many artists with which I'm totally familiar, and totally in love. Doesn't matter if it's Eddie Cochran, Eddie Vedder, Eddie Albert, Albert Hammond, or Booker T playing a Hammond, there are sounds that have seeped into me and remained there forever, called up and reveled in millions of times over. I'd say the artists who first inspired me to play/write were the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, Mozart, anything produced by Phil Spector, and the music my parents listened to, like Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. As time went on, other biggies were Dylan, Steven Stills, Leo Kottke, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, William Byrd, Henryk Gorecki, Samuel Barber, Joni Mitchell, Elton John (especially "Madman..." and "Honky Chateau", the reasons I play piano), Springsteen, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, John Fogerty, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and my all-time favorite guitar player David Gilmour. Then of course there are a heavenly host of "famous in my world" artists who were and are hugely inspiring and influential: Bill Reynolds, Martee LeBow, Carolyne Mas, George Gerdes, Randy Burns, Willie Nile, John Putnam, Ronnie Gesser, and probably a million more I'm neglecting to mention. Music is music, great is great, and passionate is passionate. And I can't imagine life without those teeming moments of inspiration that somehow, sometimes even in the smallest ways, work themselves into my psyche and show up in and throughout everything I've ever written, played, or sung.
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