Biography
Shane Jackman, a guitarist and songwriter whose work has drawn widespread critical praise, departed his birthplace of Salt Lake City while still young, intent on building a career as a singer and composer along the East Coast. Relocating with his wife and infant child, he supported the household by tending polo horses and living in a hay loft, all while introducing his material to selective coffeehouse listeners throughout the region. Recognition of his incisive songcraft and compelling stage presence soon produced joint appearances alongside Michael Martin Murphy, Peter, Paul and Mary, Shawn Colvin, Marty Stewart, the Mavericks, Pete Seeger, and Howard Jones. After covering more than half a million miles and delivering over one thousand concerts, Jackman stepped away from his relentless touring pace and moved his family to Springville, UT. In the late ’90s, Salt Lake City-based Highway Records signed the performer to a deal that let him remain at home while still capturing and presenting the music he values. Firmly rooted in the national folk singer/songwriter community, he continues to be tapped as a representative for Utah and the West at major events. In 1999 he was asked, together with three other Utah songwriters, to appear on a dedicated stage at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, TX. The next year he brought nationally recognized folk artists Kristen DeWitt and Michael Lille into the studio for Equilibrium, his first album on the Highway label. Michael Martin Murphy said “As Americans, we all want to understand who we are now, and we have some important choices...We can listen to the empty, hollow voice offered by Wall Street controlled media barons, which come to us disguised as ‘alternative,’ or we can discover that there are song-poets like Shane Jackman who struggle to find the real soul of America as life is really lived...and his music will haunt you because it is poetry...and his image is shaped by that poetry. Poetry shaped by image is useless, but image shaped by poetry is priceless.” The Gavin Report reviewed him as “A pure delight...Jackman has no problem distinguishing himself as one of the better entities of the singer/songwriter world.” And Acoustic Guitar Magazine said “Jackman presents material that is substantive, soulful and artfully phrased...He has the ability to shift from songs of grim import to a jazzy fishin' tune, from vulnerability to a gutsy rendition of the outlaw on the run.” ~ Jared Johnson
Albums