Shea hails from the gritty end of Route 66 in San Bernardino . The place used to be known for its sprawling honky-tonk scene, and he soaked up the local ambiance and took it to heart.
Shea started out playing folk on the coffeehouse circuit before gravitating to the country scene as a sideman. This on-the-job education translated into a solo career that's produced five albums and countless gigs at venues and festivals all over the country.
He's received rave reviews for his songwriting and playing and is hailed as a honky-tonk storyteller.
But this is honky-tonk with attitude.
Sounds Like
As a sideman, Shea has worked with everyone from roots rock kingpin Dave Alvin to folk chanteuse Katy Moffatt to indie rock legends R.E.M. As a member of Dave Alvins band, The Guilty Men, Rick toured the U.S. and Europe for 6 years as an opener and multi-instrumental sideman, playing everywhere from Hollywood to Austin to Madison Square Garden and played on all of Daves albums during that time including the Grammy winning Public Domain.
For me the story comes first, the musical setting follows and an acoustic guitar seems like a good place to start, but sometimes you do need to plug in the Telecaster and put a little grit on things. Ive always liked the analogy that your songs are kind of like your children and for me I guess that means a few of mine may need to go to reform school.
60 miles east of Los Angeles where the urban sprawl starts to thin out and the desert starts to take over sits the old railroad town of San Bernardino. In 1978 when Rick Shea was growing up there, dozens of honky-tonks and truck stop bars still lined the outskirts, tough places where the remnants of Californias golden age of country music still drifted through like the hot winds.
I started playing folk and coffeehouse gigs after high school and sort of fell into the country music scene...as a sideman and a singer I worked 6 - 7 nights a week. It was rough sometimes but a good education, thats where I first heard a lot of those old songs - Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell and Buck Owens - every night.
Shea has managed to parlay that tough but real education into a successful career as a solo artist, with five critically acclaimed albums and appearances at the Strawberry Festival, the Tucson Folk Festival, the Canmore Folk Festival, the Freight and Salvage, McCabes and many of the other folk, rock and acoustic venues in California and the West.
RICK SHEA tomorrow night @ Claremont's Friday Nights Live. 6-9 pm. FREE. At the Village Plaza courtyard outside the Laemmle Theater - dead center beteen Indian Hill Bl. and Oberlin Ave., north of 1st Street. Free parking. Bring your friends!
good to see you when you were in town with Tremoloco! looking forward to our gigs in early august, GOE on the 10th, and it looks like the aug 9th thing is gonna work out too! see ya soon, cheers, dave
Hi there! It was great seeing you saturday. It made me remember when we all took the kids camping at El Capitan...us girls had sooo much fun!That was 7 or 8 years ago! yikes. Please say hi to Suzie for me? Hope to see you again soon!
That is a really sweet photo of you and Gaff. God bless his soul. Just stoppin in to let you know I'll be at the Cat Club on Monday, May 19th. Please stop by if you can and say hello. Best, Mobetta Loretta
Dear friends – I will be holding a fundraiser for the family of Chris Gaffney on Saturday May 24th at the Puka Bar in Long Beach. There are still a lot of medical expenses to be paid and we – the local musicians - must help our brother’s family who is now in need. If you are a musician and want to play and donate your time please contact me. If you are a fan who just wants to help please contact me here at MySpace. Even just your physical presence will be wonderful. You can drop a few bucks in the jar and help our community by looking after one another. If you cannot participate or be there in the flesh- you can still help by spreading the word. Thanks again for all the kind words and help so far. – Dale Peterson
