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Shane Decker
To survive in the music business as an artist or writer it’s almost mandatory that you develop a thick skin, and maybe even a hard heart. It’s a wonder then that Shane Decker, quite possibly the most sensitive man on Music Row, has not only survived, but thrived. “Oh, every time I go on a date to the movies, if it’s a sad one, I cry way before the girl does,” Decker admits with a laugh. “It’s embarrassing, but I can’t help it. I think it comes from being raised by a woman. Sometimes, though, it’s sort of worked in my favor, if you know what I mean…”
That tender heart is one of the legacies of Decker’s beloved mother, who raised her three children by herself. “I have a lot of respect for women,” says the good son. “And obviously, women have softer hearts than men. I don’t think that makes them any weaker—in fact, most of the women I’ve been around have been stronger than the men I’ve been around. My mother was extremely strong and taught me to go out and live my life and pursue my dreams and stand up for myself and be strong, but she also gave me that real soft side, and I appreciate that. Some people say you’re not a man if you cry; I say you’re not a man if you don’t.”
That combination of strength and tenderness, along with the permission to express himself, is perhaps is the very secret to Shane Decker’s growing success. Honest emotion, after all, is what a great song is all about. Add to that an innate fearlessness, and you have a songwriter with few musical boundaries. “There’s not a subject I won’t touch, really,” says Decker. “I find it interesting; I find it enlightens me sometimes.” His first song, in fact—at age 14—was about actor Henry Fonda and titled “Hollywood’s Cornerstone.” Full of admiration for the respected actor, the little boy/budding songwriter was also expressing, perhaps, his own desire for a father figure like Fonda.
Though he’s certainly since learned the craft and that maybe there are a few rules in songwriting, he continues to tackle subjects that span the breadth of human experience. In “Done It Right,” for instance, he praises those who dare to challenge the status quo, citing world-changing people like Elvis and Rosa Parks. His cuts include—of course—an exquisite love song called “If the World Was Mine.” “She Doesn’t Dance” is a true-tale, perfect heartbreaker about a man who sees his wife slow dancing with someone else. And then there’s a little story-song about a young man’s infatuation with an older woman, “Mrs. Steven Rudy,” which was the breakout hit for his artist pal and co-writer Mark McGuinn. It went to No. 2 on the Billboard and R&R country charts and broke numerous industry records in the process. It achieved the highest chart position in 20 years (No. 6) on the Billboard 200 for a song by a new artist on an independent label. The album became the first release by an independent country artist to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart in Soundscan history. And when the album appeared at No. 18 on the sales chart, it became the first indie album in Soundscan history to debut in the top 20.
Those honors were particularly sweet for Decker, who also served as the album’s producer. That wasn’t a new hat for Decker though, as he also co-produced Deryl Dodd’s critically acclaimed Pearl Snaps with Sony’s Blake Chancey, with whom he’ll team up again to produce forthcoming Sony artist Colt Prather. Decker co-wrote several songs with Dodd including his single “Time On My Hands,” “The Copenhagen Crowd,” and the rowdy “Honky Tonk Champagne,” the current single from Pearl Snaps.
Shane Decker got his songwriting and performing chops in the musical mecca of Austin, Texas, probably the world’s greatest unique-artist petrie dish. While playing the same honky tonk circuit as the great Texas Troubadours, Decker was “discovered” by revered Dirt Band impresario John McEuen, who, impressed with Decker’s songwriting, encouraged him to move to Nashville.
With an endorsement like that, Decker made his way to Music Row in late 1989. McEuen made some introductions and Decker’s own networking skills kicked in—“I’m a real people-person,” he says—and his amiable ways and obvious talent endeared him to his peers. One of those was Tim McGraw, who became his roommate and remains one of his best friends and the Godfather to Decker’s son Dylan.
By 1991, Decker had a writing deal with EMI and an artist development deal with a major label. Known as an edgy writer and artist, Decker’s muse ran more toward the progressive than the traditional, just as the tide was turning towards neo-traditionalism. Label “packagers” tried to put a cowboy hat on him and urged him to change his style to fit the mold. Decker, however, just won’t fit in one.
“They told me my stuff was way too hip for the radio. They said, ‘Oh, Shane, it’s really cool, we really love it, but…’ I’m like, why would you want me to be like everybody else?” Decker’s toe-in-the-water deal felt a little too much like hot water, so he respectfully bowed out. “That was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” he says. “Though I still miss the artist thing from time to time, it made me become a lot better songwriter because I just really focused on that, and it led me to do something else I know I’m supposed to do, which is producing.”
Decker grew up in the tiny town of Indianford, Wisconsin, population 75, in a real “Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer environment.” His love of music apparently is not genetic or environmental, but comes from a much older, deeper place. “No one in my whole family has ever been in the music business, so it didn’t come from that,” he says. “There were no guitars or pianos or anything like that around the house. I’ve always just loved music, and knew from a young age, about nine, what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a singer and a songwriter. I wanted to be in the music business.”
His influences are much like the melting pot Midwest, so it’s little wonder that Decker’s songs are not your normal country three-chords. The first person to teach him guitar favored the era’s great singers, so Decker cut his teeth on the soul music of Percy Sledge, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. His country influences extended to the likes of Stonewall Jackson and Ray Price along with “early Vince Gill and Dwight Yoakam.” He names Tom Petty, Merle Haggard and Don Henley as the songwriters who served as his beacons—those writers who are identifiable and authentic. Unique, in other words.
In both his influences and his professional associations, Decker’s circle includes only those who dare to be themselves. “If I have a philosophy,” he says, “it’s that I just wake up every day and dare life to take a piece out of me.” Though he admits he often pushes the envelope, it’s less a daredevil attitude than one that demands that life be lived to its fullest. “I wake up every day and the glass is always half full,” he says. “Life is a fabulous adventure and this is the best job in the world.
“And you know,” he muses, “you can just touch people’s lives in this business, with songs. Make ’em laugh or make ’em cry; make ’em feel something.”
Emotion, in other words. God bless mamas who let their babies grow up to be sensitive men. They make great songwriters.
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