It was actually chosen by my brother, who named me while I was still in my mother's womb as they watched the famous western, "Shane".

I love playing at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN. and Calvin Ray's Live Music in Leitchfield, KY.

I believe the Internet will continue to change the music industry in many ways. hopefully, it will encourage record companies and artists to select better material for albums, instead of the typical 2 or 3 good songs and the rest filler

Absolutely!

He was less than 1 year old when his grandmother, a waitress in Park City KY, served breakfast to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, in 1956. Shayne was born in Portsmouth, VA. The first song he can remember liking was Brenda Lee's "Sweet Nothin's".

In 1961, Shayne and his family (parents Harvey and Margaret, brother Danny and sister Tyra) moved from Norfolk, VA to the small town of Edmonton, KY, close to where his parents were raised, and began farming. The radio was usually tuned to pop and rock music. Shayne was most heavily influenced by The Beatles, like his sister. They'd sing Beatles' songs for their grandparents when they'd visit in Park City. He once got a Sears guitar for Christmas, but no one knew how to tune one, so it wound up gathering dust in his parents' attic.

Shayne began his musical journey by teaching himself to play drums in 1971, after listening to "Sooner Or Later" by The Grassroots. His mom and dad decided to buy him a red sparkle Audition brand three-piece drum set for $69 from Woolco. He would listen through headphones and try to play whatever songs came on the radio. Shayne later got a better 5-piece set of blue sparkle Sears drums for his 18th birthday.

He and some friends from school formed a band, called "The Electronics", and practiced in his dad's barn, but it was mainly for fun. Then at Western Kentucky University, Shayne joined a rock band named "1257" and met Bill Lloyd, a friend of the lead guitarist, who would enjoy major success in the early '80s as half of the country duo, Foster and Lloyd. Unfortunately, "1257" was short-lived, so in 1975, Shayne decided to join a local country band called The Kentucky Ridgerunners and played every weekend at The Country Jamboree, which seated 450.

He never lost his passion for pop and rock music, though, as was evident by him later joining a Top 40 Pop band called Chant. Shayne had only been with the band for two weeks when they won first place in a Battle of The Bands. He finally moved up to the "big time" with a new white Ludwig professional drum set.

Country music was beginning to change in the later half of the 1970's and Shayne started liking the "new" country. He borrowed his sister's classical guitar, took lessons, then bought a used Yamaha 6-string and learned through Mel Bay chord books. A friend, Gary Puckett, showed him the basics of playing bass guitar. He studied lyric writing through Sheila Davis' "The Craft Of Lyric Writing", wrote a large catalog of original country material, and pitched to Nashville publishers, the first being MCA Music. He recorded two originals in a Bowling Green studio in October 1980. Also during this period, Shayne bought an Akai reel-to-reel recorder and learned multi-track recording, to become a "one-man band" on tape, after reading that Paul McCartney used this method to record his first solo project when he left The Beatles.

While he continued drumming, at different occasions, Shayne played onstage with musicians Richard Young, Anthony Kenney, and Greg Martin, who later became famous as members of The Kentucky Headhunters. Greg Martin has since played on three recording sessions with Shayne and they are currently discussing a collaboration on a gospel song.

In 1983, he sang and played drums with Shari Scott's touring Rebel Band, and backed up comedian/actor Sheb Wooley, who recorded the popular novelty song, "Purple People Eater" and starred as Pete Nolan in the popular TV western, "Rawhide". Shayne also performed with Elvis impersonator Bill Brooks and Southern Jamm. In 1984 they warmed up two shows for Earl Thomas Conley. That same year, Shayne married Mary Duvall from Bee Springs KY. They had one son, Adam, who also developed an early interest in music and would later play drums in church with Shayne on guitar. Adam has also done some studio work on drums with his dad.

In 1990 Shayne secured his first song publishing contract with a Nashville publisher. He began rehearsing with a neighbor, Jeff Cawthorn, who contributed keyboard and bass guitar to Shayne's demos and introduced him to Teresa Wilson. She later became a demo singer for Shayne...then, a friend of Teresa's personally handed one of Shayne's songs to Reba McEntire. This song as well as four others were recorded produced by David Barrick, most famous for producing Blackstone Cherry and several of The Kentucky Headhunters' albums.

He has since signed several publishing contracts, and written many songs; some locally with Junior Anderson, Chris Martin, Todd Strange and Marris Taylor in KY and others via the Internet with writers from Arizona (Robert George, Curt Haptonstal); California (Cathy Anaya, Jim DeLeo, Marvin Perkins, Robert H. Robinson); Canada (Freddy & Les Bolen, Dominique Millette); Colorado (LeeAnn Lynch); Florida (Clark Dickinson, Stan Good, Emanuel Vaughn); Indiana (Glenn Smith, Dennis Ellison); Louisianna(Tricia Baker); Michigan (Leslie McDonnell), Missouri (Don Rowe); New York (Joseph Morales); Ohio (Lloyd Kyrk); Oregon (David Harris); Pennsylvania (Tim Rose, Karen Streich); Tennessee (Diane Davis, Teresa Wilson); Texas (Scott Honea, Stuart Williamson); Washington (Kathy Wedvik); and Wisconsin (Marilyn Oakley).

Tragedy struck in 1998, as twin tornadoes destroyed Shayne's home and most of his family's belongings...fortunately no one was home. It took roughly two years for them to get back on their feet.

In 1999, Shayne started making demos for songwriters who didn't sing or play an instrument. From this venture online, he met Kathy Wedvik, who wanted Shayne to demo her song, "Hi-Yo Silver", a tribute to Clayton Moore, TV's "The Lone Ranger". Her publisher eventually released his demo as an independent single, which was Shayne's first recording as an artist. The next year, Shayne recorded a 12-song country album entitled "Songs From Cedar Hill Rd.". In 2001, he wrote and recorded a 9-11 tribute single called "National Day Of Prayer" which received local airplay and proceeds went to The Red Cross. He also began writing more Christian songs at this time, and recorded his first Christian album entitled, "The Power Of Prayer".

Shayne had cuts of his country songs by several independent artists, including Eileen Balzano, Paul Mateki(who toured Europe performing the song, which was co-written with LeeAnn Lynch), Diane Davis and Steven McLachlin(who recorded Shayne's collaboration with Marilyn Oakley).

2002 brought another Christian album to the surface, this time recorded with the help of David Birge, who owns a music park nearby and has a studio in his basement. Shayne's son Adam played drums and Shayne played acoustic rhythm and sang lead and harmony. This album was called "For Heaven's Sake".

Shayne continued writing, but didn't do many demos in 2003 & 2004.

2005 was the year Shayne decided to hit some karaoke clubs and have some fun by entering some contests. Shayne's sister was getting the performing bug again at this time and, after some discussion with Shayne, decided to perform onstage at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN, which has been a springboard for Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Kathy Mattea, Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Foster and Lloyd and many others. They enjoyed performing there immensely! Also in 2005, Shayne played drums on a gospel recording with Oscar Sullivan ("Lonzo and Oscar").

Shayne began 2006 with a performance at Calvin Ray's Live Music in Leitchfield, KY on January 14th. He returned to The Bluebird Cafe January 30th to perform with his sister.

June will be the next performance there.

Shayne is working on a new country album to be released in 2006, also some Christian songs, and will continue pitching to publishers and artists, as well as placing his songs on Soundclick for the world to enjoy.

Shayne has just entered the Colgate Country Showdown in his area. If selected as a finalist, he will perform two songs on June 24th.

Beatles, Eagles, Big Tent Revival, Small Town Poets

Nashville

Home studio and friend's studio

I hope that my Christian songs will help Christians to resist temptation and help the lost ones to see the light.