ROCK MADE FOR TEXAS Texas-born singer/songwriter and guitarist Shawn Fussell isn’t afraid of hard work. He proved it in his previous career as a tilesmith, a joint-cracking, back-aching occupation where meticulous craftsmanship is the only acceptable standard.
And he has proved it in his musical career, honing his skills and his art over a series of years and self-released albums until he was ready to release a full-fledged debut, Shawn Fussell (Casarado Records) that is up to his exacting standards.
Working with producer/engineer and musician Eric McKinney (Mark McKinney, the Weary Boys, Colin Gilmore) and the boys in the band (bassist Tim Casterline and drummer Keith Hernandez), Shawn produced a handful of robust new songs which he paired with re-recorded and re-imagined songs from his previous independent releases to produce a cohesive new sound that fits organically into the Texas Music/Red Dirt country-rock sound of Texas and the Southwest while still keeping its roots in the innovative, genre-crossing tradition of Shawn’s musical idols.
Heartfelt, lived-in originals like “Why’d You Lie” and “Serenity Song” juxtapose naturally with open-ended rockers such as “Ride” and “Days and Daze.” And, as something of a counterpoint to Shawn’s first-person approach to songwriting, “Tulia, TX” is a searing account of real-life racial injustice in West Texas. As such, it takes Shawn’s songwriting to a new level.
“I’m attracted to a good song,” he explains. “And, just like a woman, there’s no particular type that ‘does it for me.’ Just like a good song, a good woman can come in any shape, size or form. Wisdom has taught me to look behind just what’s on the surface.”
Born in the north Texas town of Sherman, halfway between Dallas and the Oklahoma line, Shawn began playing guitar as a boy (“My mom told me the pictures and the clock would rattle on the walls,” he recalls. “I liked it all. My dad’s a huge classic country fan and my mom’s a huge classic rock and disco fan. I think the first songs that caught my interest were ‘Purple People Eater’ and Tom Jones’ What’s New Pussycat album."
But in 2008, his ingrown sense of craft led him to re-invent himself as a musician. “I spent the past year going back and learning what I had never learned on guitar,” he said. “I’d been playing guitar since I was 11 or 12 years old. I knew how to play but I didn’t know what I was playing -- Understanding what it was my hands were doing. It was all about re-defining myself last year.”
Shawn’s roots are in the Lone Star musical tradition, but the last thing he wants to do is piggyback on any one genre. “The last thing Texas or the world needs is another fly-by-night Texas Red Dirt Band that’s in it for the money and the free ride,” he says vehemently.
“I loved Stevie Ray Vaughan, of course,” he added. “You can’t grow up in Texas and not love Stevie. But I am also a huge Ian Moore fan, and I loved the passion he puts into his music. Right now, I'm really into Randy Rogers, Mike McClure, and John Hiatt." Like Shawn himself, the musicians he cites are virtuosos without being tied to any restrictive sound.
That being said, Shawn is quick to affirm that he’s no prima donna. He came up doing the equivalent of blue-collar work in music; playing cover songs with his band, Channel One, in the no-name watering holes in roadside north Texas strip centers. He made the most of the grind, however, learning to gauge what moved an audience. “We did four hour shows, playing all the stuff that people wanted to hear. It was easy to do, because there were all these little venues that all paid a $300 guarantee. You could go out there and get paid to have fun.” But fun only takes you so far.
“I began looking to set little goals for myself as I got older. People were telling me I ought to look beyond Sherman and my little pond.” Shawn put down the Top 40 set list and began putting pen to paper. “I think I wrote and completed my first song in 2001 or ’02.”
“It’s been a test of patience, that’s for sure. But it seems like every time I have that feeling like it’s time to step down, then along comes blessing after blessing after blessing.”
Sometimes the blessings took curious forms. In one case a serious girlfriend initiated a breakup just by way of giving him his wings. “The first time I played her a song that I wrote, she literally got tears in her eyes, and said, ‘Oh, my God, I can‘t keep you here…I have to go and let you follow your dream’.” She gave him the push, but his own faith and courage sent him out of the nest and down the path.
Not long thereafter, a chance encounter at an open mic night with a man who was an usher at Shawn’s church led to an extraordinary meeting.
“I was trying to get out of Sherman. And I said, ‘God, you’ll have to provide a way.’ Then this guy asked me to come see him in his office. I walked in, and he told me that when he was younger he got the money for the tools to do his first job by writing a hot check. Then he used the money from the job to pay it off and start his own company. “He said because he’s been blessed, his job was to bless other people.”
The philanthropist staked Shawn to a year in Austin to work on his songwriting and make connections in that city’s celebrated music scene. “So now I have no excuse,” concludes Shawn with a grin.
He’s under no illusions about what it’s taken to get this far - hard work, an abiding faith, a support system of friends and strangers-turned-friends, and the kind of selfless sacrifice that enabled him to walk away from love and security in search of his musical vision. It can be a solitary and uncertain process. But Shawn Fussell has come out the other side as a maturing songwriter, an increasingly accomplished musician and an artist who is ready to take his place in the larger arena. Now the album is in the can, the road is beckoning, and he’s ready to take the next step on a lifelong journey. DISCOGRAPHY: 2004 - Back To Zero EP 2004 - Shawn Fussell Live & Acoustic DVD 2005 - Shawn Fussell Live at The Texas Music Café CD/DVD 2007 – Made in Texas WEBSITES: http://www.shawnfussell.com/ http://www.myspace.com/shawnfussell
Please request our music at:
