| Shawn Gallaway's mission is empowering people to take caring, positive action in their lives and
in the world right now. As a multi-talented guitarist, singer-songwriter and visual
artist, Shawn weaves music, song and painting, into a richly textured experience that
calls for enlightened activism. During high school he was given a guitar for Christmas
… [and] discovered his love of writing songs. He formed a band in college, then moved
to New York to learn the music business and become a songwriter, before moving to
Nashville for the next twenty years of writing, recording and performing across the
nation, in venues like Seattle's Broadway Music Hall, Portland, Oregon’s Living
Enrichment Center, the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, NC and Nashville’s
Belcourt Theatre. He also became a successful composer, with E.M.I. and Sony Tree
publishing credits. During his Nashville tenure, Shawn began painting
for healing and self-expression, which carried over into more songs, each medium
complementing and empowering the other. "I started painting and drawing while
recovering from a bout with depression," he says, "and eventually turned to
visual art as the means to restore my sanity and to deepen the exploration of my Spirit.
... As I began to heal, words and music began to flow freely…at first a trickle, then
a stream, then a waterfall of song."
In 2005, Shawn relocated to Asheville, NC. He continues to perform
nationally, while presenting workshops and inspiring audiences as a motivational speaker. I
Choose Love: The Experience is a multimedia production that follows the
soul’s healing journey through pain, confusion and struggle to emerge into the
freedom of self-awareness, purpose, compassion and joy. It includes songs, stories, dance,
drama, photography, computer animation and film, as well as a series of original
paintings. This theatrical piece is currently in pre-production.
In his latest release, Love Will Overcome, Shawn moves from
the individual healing focus of I Choose Love, to address global
healing and restoration. As Shawn says, "It's about raising awareness and empowering
people to take action." The recording features theme songs written for organizations
including the Peace Alliance, New Energy Movement, Go
Gratitude and the Satyana Institute. |
Four
months after arriving in Nashville, it was apparent that Louisiana native Brent Rodgers had made at least one right
decision in his life: to pack up everything and set out to take his talents to Music City.
Invited to play one song during an otherwise normal Nashville writer night, Brent turned
more than a few heads. Not long after, he secured a publishing
deal with Carnival Music. He’s since performed at over 175 gigs
singing the tunes, either written by himself or collaborated on with the likes of Craig
Wiseman, Lisa Carver or Sharon Vaughn (to name
just a few). Although he's still a greenhorn by typical Nashville standards, Brent has
already begun to make an indelible mark in Music Row, and his hard-edged style is becoming
well-known to his growing fandom.
On the next horizon, Brent is in the process of fulfilling his real
purpose in coming to Music City. "I always hoped I could find someone
willing to pay the costs of cutting an album," he says. Thanks to Carnival Music
owner Frank Lidell, that dream is about to become reality, as Lidell is not only funding
the project but producing it as well, using a number of top Nashville musicians.The album
is reportedly more rock-tinged than some of Brent's current favorites, with touches of
bluegrass as well
Brent's next step will be to hit the touring road in
2007 to promote the project, while he continues to write the songs that have built his
name on the Nashville scene. |
(adapted from a
prior website): "Lisa Carver may be one of the most unique talents to
come out of Nashville in a long time. To say she is a songwriter would only scratch that
definition's surface. Her writing is a lyrical painting in three dimensional space. The
listener not only hears the song but is able to step inside and become a part of its
journey. "Lisa is all about lyric. Although she is capable of
"crafting" love ditties as skillfully as other Nashville Renaissance fluff
writers, her true strength lies in her amazing originality of thought. Whether she's
showing the gritty view in a basement diner (Pretty People's Feet), the joy of
watching a baby's smile in a grocery store (Slice of Life), a blissful momenet of
Waffle House lust (Dreamin' Big Screen), a young widow's take on the War Between
the States (Georgia 1864) or murder in Louisiana (Thibodeaux), you can
always count on Carver's songs to be shot from the heart, and vivid as hell..
"To add a fourth dimension, you have to hear her deliver the song. When this
sultry Charleston, South Carolina native sings her stories, your emotions
may feel as if they have been joined by hers. It is always one on one.
"Lisa Carver Onstage. You'll relate to her and feel with her. But
hearing her sing her songs is only half the experience. Watching the rhythmic movement of
this five foot, ten inch beauty adds the fifth dimension. Whether she is mildly swaying or
stomping out one of her dangerous grooves, Lisa Carver emanates music ... Lisa Carver
Music."
* * *
Update: In a nutshell, Lisa Carver is a songwriter with cuts by Tim
McGraw, Reba McEntyre and Julie Roberts, as
well as FOUR cuts on the new Sugarland album, and (as she puts it) she's
"lucky as hell not to have to be working for the dick doctors anymore." She
prefers animals to people, democrats to republicans (and most libertarians to both ...
whoops did I say that out loud?). Look for her at a stage nearby ... still playing for
free after all these years.
Or come out and see her at KNO with the rest of us! |
