Bio

Shawn Lane is three-time GRAMMY Nominee and 28-time IBMA Award winner with Blue Highway.

He has toured or recorded with Ricky Skaggs, Lee Ann Womack, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Doyle Lawson, Larry Sparks, Kenny Chesney, Jerry Douglas, and Willie Nelson, among others. 

Shawn is an explosive vocalist and instrumentalist, as well as a respected songwriter.  Shawn was nominated as 2015 IBMA Songwriter of the Year, and has penned such iconic songs as The Game, Sycamore Hollow, and Tears Fell on Missouri.

Lane played in the bands of both Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver prior to becoming a founding member of Blue Highway in 1994. 

As a solo artist, Shawn has charted two Number 1 songs  ~ “I Met the Man” and “One More” ~ on the Bluegrass charts in 2019, 2020, and 2021. 

At Clemson University, Shawn founded and served as director of the Bluegrass Music Program, head of the Bluegrass Ensemble, and taught Commercial Songwriting from 2019 to 2022.

 

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Shawn is a heralded vocalist and instrumentalist, as explosive on fiddle as he is on mandolin, who often shared his talents in appearances with the GRAMMY-winning Earls of Leicester when not on the road with Blue Highway. 

Shawn is also a respected songwriter, was nominated as 2015 IBMA Songwriter of the Year, and has penned iconic songs such as the high octane title track of Blue Highway’s heralded 2014 album, “The Game,” a song co-written with Barry Bales which sent Blue Highway soaring to #1 atop multiple Bluegrass charts, including 7 consecutive months at #1 on the national Bluegrass Unlimited Album Chart and 3 consecutive months at #1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Song Chart.

Shawn wrote such perennial Blue Highway favorites as Tears Fell On Missouri, The Seventh Angel, V-Bottom Boat, Sycamore Hollow, and Sounds of Home, which was nominated as 2012 IBMA Song of the Year.   Lane also wrote four tracks on Blue Highway's GRAMMY-nominated 2016 album, "Original Traditional," including the #1 song Don't Weep for Me.    Lane co-wrote Still Climbing Mountains and Born with a Hammer in My Hand  (nominated as 2000 IBMA Song of the Year) with Tim Stafford, as well as the beloved A Mother's Prayer  with Ronnie Bowman, which was recorded by GRAMMY-winning Hall of Fame legend Ralph Stanley. 

Shawn penned 10  tracks on his second solo album “Mountain Songs,” which was named the #19 Bluegrass Album of the Year by critic Daniel Mullins in his Top 20 Albums of 2014  List published in Bluegrass Today.

Lane has three solo albums to date:  "Shawn Lane: Family & Friends," newly released on October 8, 2021;  "Mountain Songs," released on August 20, 2014; and "All For Today," which was named one of the Top Ten Bluegrass Albums of the Year  in 2003 by CMT

Lane played in the bands of both 15-time GRAMMY-winner Ricky Skaggs and legendary Hall of Fame legend Doyle Lawson prior to becoming a founding member of supergroup Blue Highway in 1994.

In answer to audience demand, Shawn Lane and his family have performed a limited number of concerts each year since 2017.  They co-headlined with Larry Sparks at their first official appearance at the 21st Annual Stringbean Memorial Bluegrass Festival in June 2017 in Kentucky,  with their first headlining appearance at the 44th Annual Southwest Pickers Festival in September 2018 in beautiful Red River, NM.     

Shawn also does a handful of shows annually as a duo with Richard Bennett, formerly of JD Crowe & the New South.  Lane & Bennett debuted at the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival outside Boston in February 2019. 

Shawn released his first solo single in May 2018,  I MET THE MAN, the powerful true story of his dad coming back after 17 days in a coma with a special story to tell.  The song topped the Bluegrass Today Gospel Chart  at #1 for 7 weeks, and soared for 28 weeks in the Top 10.   The single was released ahead of Shawn's third solo album, Shawn Lane:  Family & Friends.   The second single released ahead of Family & Friends album was "One More," which also topped the charts at # 1 in November 2020.

Shawn launched the space-age I-Tone Picks with friend and engineer Brad Poore to rave reviews in 2016.  Made from the same material as the Space Shuttle, I-Tone Picks dramatically increase an instrument's Tone, Clarity, and Volume, with the greatest overall durability and wear resistance ever produced in a flat pick.

Shawn has also been honored with a signature instrument, the Dearstone Shawn Lane Mandolin, which is handcrafted in Blountville, Tennessee, and available on the Dearstone website.

 

 

 

Shawn Lane is unbelievable! You think you know how good it's gonna be, and then he comes in and blows your mind.”

— BOBBY STARNES, Owner of Hat Creek Recording Company, Johnson City, TN.

Shawn is an incredible talent ... a powerhouse at the top of his game.”

— Tony Mora, President of the Southwest Traditional & Bluegrass Music Association

Shawn Lane is the epitome of a triple threat ~ one of the greatest singers, songwriters, and musicians to ever live. Shawn is one of those artists who always delivers quality music. I love his new song, I Met the Man, and can’t wait to hear the whole album! I’m such a fan! ”

— SIERRA HULL, GRAMMY Nominee and IBMA Award Winner

Shawn Lane is one of my favorite musicians ~ and people ~ in the world. He's a world-class instrumentalist on the mandolin, guitar, and fiddle. But it's his singing and songwriting that sets him far above most others in the field. He has one of the most honest and soulful voices in acoustic music today, and the depth of his songwriting skills would be astonishing for someone twice his age. I rarely hear one of his songs that it doesn't bring a tear to my eye. And he continues to get better and better. I'm a fan! ”

— BARRY BALES, GRAMMY Winner with Alison Krauss & Union Station