Biography
Texas-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist Shawn Pittman absorbed the blues guitar approach modeled by Albert King and Jimmie Vaughan. He steers clear of flashy displays and understands that the pauses between notes carry equal weight to the notes themselves. In Pittman's view, tone and melody matter just as much as speedy, showy runs across the fretboard.
By age 28 he had already recorded and issued three albums built primarily around his own songs, though he occasionally revived outside material, as with his version of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" on the 2001 album Full Circle.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Pittman first encountered music through his father and grandfather's record collections, which featured Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. His grandmother played boogie-woogie piano while his grandfather played country guitar. Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins ranked among his earliest blues heroes; discovering both proved revelatory for the young Pittman. He started piano lessons at age eight and continued until fifteen, briefly experimenting with saxophone and drums before committing to guitar. Pittman reached Dallas in 1992 for his final high-school year and enrolled at the Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts. He soon entered the city's active blues club circuit, sitting in with and forming friendships alongside Anson Funderburgh, Hash Brown, Mike Morgan, Tutu Jones, Mark Pollock, and Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones. Lessons from leading players in Dallas and Fort Worth shaped him into a versatile guitarist who still enjoys handling both rhythm and lead parts.
Among his influences Pittman includes Lightnin' Hopkins, Hound Dog Taylor, Mike Morgan, and Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the latter pair having emerged from the Dallas club scene before relocating one by one to Austin in the late '70s. He cut two albums for the since-defunct Cannonball Records label: Burnin' Up in 1997 and the Jim Gaines-produced Something's Gotta Give in 1998.
Following two years spent confronting personal and professional setbacks, among them the sudden shutdown of Minneapolis-based Cannonball Records, Pittman relocated to Austin. With support from bassists Tommy Shannon and Preston Hubbard he regrouped and issued the partly autobiographical Full Circle in 2001 on his own Shawn Pittman Music imprint in Austin; Jim Gaines again served as producer.
Of his three albums, Something's Gotta Give and Full Circle reveal a seasoned songwriter with something to express, along with deep, tone-conscious guitar work and a strong voice. On Full Circle, Pittman is supported by a compact roster of Austin-area players that includes Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton from Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble on bass and drums, plus Riley Osborne on Hammond B-3 and keyboards.
By age 28 he had already recorded and issued three albums built primarily around his own songs, though he occasionally revived outside material, as with his version of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" on the 2001 album Full Circle.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Pittman first encountered music through his father and grandfather's record collections, which featured Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. His grandmother played boogie-woogie piano while his grandfather played country guitar. Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins ranked among his earliest blues heroes; discovering both proved revelatory for the young Pittman. He started piano lessons at age eight and continued until fifteen, briefly experimenting with saxophone and drums before committing to guitar. Pittman reached Dallas in 1992 for his final high-school year and enrolled at the Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts. He soon entered the city's active blues club circuit, sitting in with and forming friendships alongside Anson Funderburgh, Hash Brown, Mike Morgan, Tutu Jones, Mark Pollock, and Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones. Lessons from leading players in Dallas and Fort Worth shaped him into a versatile guitarist who still enjoys handling both rhythm and lead parts.
Among his influences Pittman includes Lightnin' Hopkins, Hound Dog Taylor, Mike Morgan, and Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the latter pair having emerged from the Dallas club scene before relocating one by one to Austin in the late '70s. He cut two albums for the since-defunct Cannonball Records label: Burnin' Up in 1997 and the Jim Gaines-produced Something's Gotta Give in 1998.
Following two years spent confronting personal and professional setbacks, among them the sudden shutdown of Minneapolis-based Cannonball Records, Pittman relocated to Austin. With support from bassists Tommy Shannon and Preston Hubbard he regrouped and issued the partly autobiographical Full Circle in 2001 on his own Shawn Pittman Music imprint in Austin; Jim Gaines again served as producer.
Of his three albums, Something's Gotta Give and Full Circle reveal a seasoned songwriter with something to express, along with deep, tone-conscious guitar work and a strong voice. On Full Circle, Pittman is supported by a compact roster of Austin-area players that includes Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton from Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble on bass and drums, plus Riley Osborne on Hammond B-3 and keyboards.
Albums
