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

In 1961, my family (parents Harvey and Margaret, brother Danny and sister Tyra) and me moved from Norfolk, VA to the small town of Edmonton, KY, close to where my parents were raised, and began farming. In 1964, the radio was usually tuned to pop and rock music. I was most heavily influenced by The Beatles, like my sister. We'd sing Beatles' songs for our grandparents when we'd visit in Park City. I once got a Sears guitar for Christmas, but no one knew how to tune one, so it wound up gathering dust in my parents' attic.

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

Some friends from school and I formed a band, called "The Electronics", and practiced in my dad's barn, but it was mainly for fun. Then, at Western Kentucky University, I 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, I decided to join a local country band called The Kentucky Ridgerunners and played every weekend at The Country Jamboree, which seated 450.

I never lost my passion for pop and rock music, though, as was evident by me later joining a Top 40 Pop band called Chant. I had only been with the band for two weeks when they won first place in a Battle of The Bands. I 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 I started liking the "new" country. I borrowed my 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 me the basics of playing bass guitar. I studied lyric writing through Sheila Davis' "The Craft Of Lyric Writing", and wrote a large catalog of original country material. I recorded two originals in a Bowling Green, KY studio in October 1980. I pitched to Nashville publishers, the first being MCA Music, thanks to an appointment arranged by my friend, Dennis Adkins, who wrote the hit, "Ace In The Hole", recorded by George Strait. Also during this period, I 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.

While I continued drumming, at different occasions, I 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 me and we are currently discussing a collaboration on a gospel song.

In 1983, I 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". I also performed with Elvis impersonator Bill Brooks and Southern Jamm. In 1984, we warmed up two shows for Earl Thomas Conley. That same year, I married Mary Duvall from Bee Springs KY. Our son, Adam, also developed an early interest in music and would later play drums in church with me on guitar. Adam has also done some studio work on drums with me.

In 1990 I secured my first song publishing contract with a Nashville publisher. I began rehearsing with a neighbor, Jeff Cawthorn, who contributed keyboard and bass guitar to my demos and introduced me to Teresa Wilson. She later became a demo singer for me...then, a friend of Teresa's personally handed one of my songs to Reba McEntire. This song, as well as four others, was produced by David Barrick, who has since produced Black Stone Cherry and several of The Kentucky Headhunters' albums. Also during this time, I consulted Karen Taylor-Good about possibly recording my songs. Karen respectfully told me that she was concentrating on her own writing and career, but told me she thought my songs were good. Since then, Karen is Grammy-nominated, with numerous international radio hits; songs recorded by many major artists and has won several Songwriter Of The Year Awards.

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

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

My songs have made the top 20 list several times at Soundclick and independent artists have cut them, including Eileen Balzano, Paul Mateki(who toured Europe performing the song, which was co-written with LeeAnn Lynch), Diane Davis, Steven McLachlin(who recorded one of my collaborations with Marilyn Oakley), and Randolph Michaud(who is planning to record one of my collaborations with Kathy Wedvik.

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

I continued writing, but didn't do many demos in 2003 & 2004. Another song I demoed for Kathy Wedvik, "Bigfoot", made it into an independent documentary named "Squatching"

2005 was the year I decided to hit some karaoke clubs and have some fun by entering some contests. My sister was getting the performing bug again at this time and, after some discussion, we 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, and many others. Songs performed were "Two Empty Rockin' Chairs" (A tribute to our parents) and "Grandma Met The King" (a tribute to our grandmother meeting Elvis Presley). We enjoyed performing there immensely!Also in 2005, I played drums on a gospel recording with Oscar Sullivan ("Lonzo and Oscar").

My New Year's Resolution for 2006 was to perform and record more music. I began with a performance of cover songs at Calvin Ray's Live Music in Leitchfield, KY on January 14th. I sold CDs and cassettes of my 5-original song mini album, then returned to The Bluebird Cafe on January 30th to perform with my sister, Tyra. We performed one of my Contemporary Christian songs named "Rock Me Jesus".

July 24th was the next performance there. The song was "You Didn't Break My Heart" (inspired by a title from my son, Adam), and Tyra sang it, which got an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

Completed a new 10-song country album released in August 2006: Click here to sample/buy!, also some Christian songs, and will continue pitching to publishers and artists, as well as placing my songs on Soundclick for the world to enjoy (See Shayne's Songs link in the left panel).

Performed in some karaoke contests beginning in October.

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