Shane McAnally
Shane McAnally
Shane McAnallyis an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Originally a solo artist for Curb Records in 1999, McAnally charted three singles on Hot Country Songs, including the No. 31 "Are Your Eyes Still Blue", before becoming a songwriter and record producer. He has written and produced songs for Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Hunt, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan, The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert. The Academy of Country Music named him Songwriter of the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCountry Singer
Date of Birth12 October 1974
CountryUnited States of America
Nashville is a boys' club of redneck conservative ideas. But they're ready to embrace gay people. I never felt for one second that someone was judging me. Some people are like, 'Oh, I love gay people' in that 'I have lots of black friends' kind of way. It's awkward, but you have to appreciate that they're trying.
The Nashville Network, that's all I would watch as a kid.
I have a hard time being happy, and I think a lot of creative people suffer with that when life gets real happy.
One of the greatest tools you have as a songwriter is anonymity. If someone knows too much about the songwriter, they don't get to insert their own characters. I don't want the audience thinking about the gay guy who wrote the song.
If the right idea comes up, and it feels true to talk about somebody being in a truck, and that's the only way to tell the story, then I will reluctantly tell the story that way.
I'm a creative person who had a lot of dark time in my life. I can still get to it: I can still go to a relationship or a time when things weren't great. But it's getting further and further from me.
When something works on a huge level, everybody does it.
We'll set up a demo session and try to knock out eight or ten songs and make them sound as close as we can to a record with the money and time we have.
West Hollywood blew my mind: gay men walking down the street, kissing and holding hands. I'd never imagined there was a place like that.
Sometimes you just want to write a party song.
It only took me six months to get a record deal, but it took me 20 years to have a hit.