Looking Ahead to next year!

I am looking forward to booking appearances into 2023. I already have several on the books, and welcome any inquiries as to my availability.

I am a three-time National Flatpicking
champion, as well as a past winner of the Merlefest
guitar competition, Rocky Grass, the Wayne Henderson
guitar competition, and many more. I have taught at a
number of prestigious music camps including Steve
Kaufman’s Kamps, The Alabama Folk School, and the
Swannanoa Gathering.

I have performed or recorded with
artists that has included Tom T. Hall, Claire Lynch,
Jimmy Fortune, Norman Blake, Mark Johnson, Darin and
Brooke Aldridge, John Cowan, and many more.I also
performed as a member of the Charlotte based WBT
Briarhoppers from 2019- 2021 including their induction
ceremony into the NC Music Hall of Fame in 2020.In
2021-2022 I performed as a duo with Kristen Holloway. My
latest album is “Miles From the Hard Road”, it includes original tunes as well as contest favorites.

I grew up in Florida and lived there for over 40
years before moving to the Carolinas where I have resided
since 2005.

Photo by Daniel Coston

Allen Shadd and Kristen Holloway Duo

I’m excited to tell everyone about my latest musical endeavor. As a musician the year 2020 was such a big disappointment for me, and to so many others. And there were also many personal setbacks. And yet, at the end of the year I have had the fortune to become involved with the most satisfying musical collaboration that I can remember being a part of. I’ve known Kristen for nearly 30 years and admired her musical contributions to the local Tampa area group Gypsy Wind for nearly as long. In the fall she and I began discussions about playing a tribute together for our mutual friend Billy Sandlin, who passed on in October of 2020. Once we sat down together and recorded late in the year, we both felt that we shared so many ideas, and that we should continue with our new musical creation. So in the past 6 months we have recorded several videos together that range from the classic “What a Wonderful World”, to one of my own original songs “Miles From the Hard Road”. We have also recorded music together with John Cowan, and have talked about more with John in the future. Our music spans different genres, and personally for me, playing behind such a gifted flutist has allowed me to concentrate on styles that I haven’t really had the opportunity to delve into in the past. The material we are currently working on continues to push me outside my usual boundaries. I am excited to bring this duo to the stage, and hope you will join us at one of our shows soon! We have already performed a couple of shows, and have several booked ahead throughout this year. And you can find some of our videos on my YouTube channel of course, https://www.youtube.com/c/AllenShadd . So please, be looking for our music, come see us at a show, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy performing it together!

Latest happenings!

What a strange ride 2020 has been so far, at only halfway through! Like pretty much everyone else I know, live shows have been temporarily abandoned. I occasionally perform a live stream from my Facebook page, and have done a few recently for sponsors as well. Since most of these are pretty spontaneous or at least short in planning, following me on Facebook would be the best way to stay informed of those events.

 

 

A recent photo of my three national championship trophies, the latest being quite different from the first two. Wow, so many years between that first win in 1997 and the latest in 2019!

A Bill Collings Tribute show coming!

It has been an honor and privilege to be associated with Collings Guitars over the years, as I have traveled periodically performing workshops at some of their dealers as well as playing a Collings guitar frequently in my live performances. It started about 20 years ago, and with shows with Mark Cosgrove and Cody Kilby, we were referred to as “The Collings Trio”. Bill liked that, and told us to roll with it, and so we did. For a couple of years we performed as the trio, between our gigs with our own bands at the time. So, when Bill passed away earlier this year, Mark and I talked of a reunion. As we began planning, it became evident that our schedules would not allow the three of us to be available simultaneously, so sadly Cody will not be with us this time. But instead, joining us will be three-time National Flatpicking champion Roy Curry, and bass man Billy Gee. Here are the dates and places of our 3 shows, with more details to come, including various guest artists.

12/05/17     Jacksonville, Fl         The Mudville Grill, 3105 Beach Blvd, Jax Fl

12/06/17     Charlotte, NC             Midwood Guitar Studios, 1517 Central Ave, Charlotte NC

12/07/17       Asheville, NC            Isis Music Hall, 743 Haywood Rd, Asheville NC

 Well, after nearly 19 years between releases, it’s time for a new cd. I just finished up recording the newest project, “Miles From the Hard Road”. It is a mix of original music, some standard tunes with my own twist on them, and a couple of contest tunes as well but with a full ensemble. It is mostly instrumental, though a couple of vocal tracks are included. There is also one very special song on the album, “Three Rusty Nails” that I recorded in 1995 while I was recording “A Cut Above”. It includes the musicians from that project and is the last song I recorded with Randy Howard and Mike Auldridge, both gone from us now. I couldn’t release it at the time due to it having never been previously released. I recorded the new project in Nashville at Scott Vestal’s studio, Digital Underground and included musicians Aubrey Haynie, Rob Ickes, Bryan McDowell, Randy Lucas and Wayne Taylor. It is headed to the duplication plant next week and is scheduled for release on July 1st. More information will be available soon for pre-ordering.

Welcome to the new website!

I would like to welcome everyone to the new website. It is a work in progress and will be continually updated as things happen, so check back often to see what is new. Meanwhile, look around and see what I have going on at this time. Look for me out on the road, I’ll be performing a number of shows and workshops this year and look forward  to meeting  many of you. Also, look me up on youtube, I frequently post videos to my channel,  http://www.youtube.com/AllenShadd .