MUSIC

Blanco's Bar & Grill presents Shawn Nelson. 

Texas singer-songwriter Shawn Nelson takes the music he creates beyond its honky-tonk core to offer songs you can dance to that also prompt the listener to think and feel. It’s the natural result of being inspired by as well as meeting and spending time with such Lone Star State songwriting legends as Robert Earl Keen and Guy Clark as well as elements from his life, unique background and musical journey.

On SAN JUAN STREET, Nelson’s fourth album, his many musical and lyrical influences find full fruition as he blends his deep Texan roots with everything from jazz to Tex-Mex to reggae to bluegrass. SAN JUAN STREET is the culmination of a musical career that began in a genuine good ole honky-tonk, The Back Forty, in downtown Austin when Nelson was a student at the University of Texas. A budding singer, songwriter and guitar player at the time, he summoned up the pluck to audition for its owner and won a regular gig at the joint, where he got an education in entertaining hard-drinking barflies for the rest of his college years.

Not long after, Nelson also landed an internship at the Arista Austin record label, and got to meet the artist who prompted him to start playing guitar and writing songs, Robert Earl Keen. “I was inspired by Robert Earl because he seemed like a normal guy,” Nelson explains. “He grew up in Houston as I did, and then went to Texas A&M and started playing in college. It kind of opened my eyes and I thought, wow, maybe I can do that.”

After graduation, he moved to Nashville to work as a song plugger for the publishing company of songwriter Liz Rose, known for co-writing hits for Taylor Swift. His time in Music City was an important learning experience for Nelson, but eventually the siren’s call of the Lone Star State beckoned him home.

“I try to write songs that tell the human story, whether it’s war, economics, social struggles, bad weather, the alien question, ancient mysteries or love. And I try to stick with characters that have a choice to make, a hill to climb or a obstacle to overcome. I feel like I’m a character in this human story as well,” he says. “I just write songs all the time, I never stop, I can’t, they just come to me when I am picking on my guitar. And I feel like I have to write them down and play them for people to possibly brighten their day or let them know that they are not alone in this world of good and evil.

“It’s all about people and how things affect them,” he concludes. “I’ve never known anything in my life that gives me as much joy as playing music. I feel at this point that I am so deep into it that I can’t turn back now. Perseverance is a big theme for me, and my musical career is focused on building a body of work. I can’t do anything else but keep on doing my thing and staying true to myself, and writing songs and making records that I think are good.”