LEAD SINGER FOR SHACKSHAKERS SHOULD MAKE
IT BIG
Jack Philpott - AHN Staff - Ft. St. John, BC
Reprinted from "Alaska Highway News"
September 10, 1993
Not a day goes by without someone you know saying
"oh ya, I knew so & so before they made it big..."
Think about it. How many times have you heard it?
Well it's fun to be able to say that sort of thing. There is a certain
"status" about "discovering"
an artist before the rest of the country realizes how talented, or good looking,
or charming, or intellectual someone is.
Shawn Nagy is someone who is going to eventually become "very well
known" in music circles.
Save this column or at least mark down the date when you read it and start
counting because
if there was a "sure fire inside tip," this is it.
Shawn is the clear voiced singer of The Shackshakers currently playing at The
Roadhouse.
Young and a trifle shy with his audience, he has a voice that simply demands
attention.
A talented songwriter with a keen desire to press forward in the music industry
Shawn considers Brandon, Manitoba his home even though his roots is in the
Southern region
of Saskatchewan. At 23, he is the oldest member of the 4 piece group and
the most polished.
The group includes local bassist Bernadette Braun, with barely a month of
performing with the
electric bass. If you're planning on taking your better half to the club...just
a word of warning,
she's a durned attractive young woman. However, while hubby is staring at her
slender build,
there is a good chance that the fairer sex will be riveted on Shawn Nagy, the
fellow with the Fender
Telecaster and snazzy double necked Carvin. He is a precise guitarist and
showcases his greatest
attribute...his voice.
Nagy gets decent support from the background vocals of acoustic rhythm guitarist
Ray Benjamin,
whose higher vocal range allows the inclusion of some difficult Vince Gill style
material. Benjamin isn't
flashy, but a good picker by the way.
A former radio announcer, Nagy professes a love of '50s & '60s music
suggesting that his musical
Mother's tastes are mirrored in his own preferences. He also has ambitious plans
to enter the studio early
next year to lay down tracks for a self produced CD.
The group is "fresh" and very much worth supporting...applause will be
easy after versions of
Alabama and Dirt Band songs for sure. Shawn Nagy does has an extra special vocal
talent, evident
to all but the seriously hearing impaired and the prediction is that as long as
his enthusiasm doesn't
vanish, we will be seeing his image on places like CMT and TNN in the not too
distant future.
This one is for real folks - here's hoping you agree.