NEW UPDATE ON JOHN SHANAHAN ADDED MAY 10th - at bottom of page.
John Shanahan was an outstanding guitar player songwriter / stylist in the John Martyn
style in the years while I was running Hobo Magazine in the early / mid 70's. I used to look forward to his floor spots at the Hand in Heart (Rod Felton and Dave Coburn's folk club) and many other venues. Later in the 70's Pete Willow and his co-editors interviewed John (who was then living in Berlin) for Folks magazine and which is featured below.
JOHN SHANAHAN
Spotlight on Shanners
John Shanahan, much respected guitarist and songwriter by anyone who's seen him
perform, paid a visit to his home town for a couple of weeks over Christmas.
Before returning to his new found life in Berlin, he called round to the Folk's HQ
to tellus a little of what he's up to these days.
I sometimes feel
That the Berlin Wheel
Swings between the angels
and the Devil's heel..
Thus runs the chorus of the only song that John has completed since first moving
to Berlin over a year ago. Entitled BERLIN WHEEL, it records his impressions of
the city, setting the lyrics to typical Shanahan chord sequences, catchy, unusual
and seemingly impossible for most other guitarist to play.
Although John still plays a lot of his own material, he confesses to being fed up
with some of the earlier numbers. He demonstrated what was for him a departure in
guitar style by using a flat pick and drop-D tuning and running off a medley of
jigs and reels and Lennon / McCartney compositions, mainly by picking out the
melody and harmony simultaneously on adjacent strings and throwing in the
occasional standard (and instantly identifiable!) B Minor or G chord. The guitar
work on some of his own material may have been more complex but he showed his
expertise as a guitarist with these realtively simpler pieces by making them sound
neat and professional: each string fully stopped or pulled where required, no
hestitation and no hint of a duff note.
John is undoubtedly one of the finest guitarists to emerge from the Coventry folk
scene and puts many professional folk guitarists in this country to shame. How
come then, he has to go abroad to find regular work.
Actually, it was partly chance that John visited Berlin in the first place. The
opportunity arose when Alan McBride, fiddle player for that well travelled fok
band Tara, and Dyers Arms drinking colleague, was going and there was some room in
the van. This was September 1977. Alan only stayed in Berlin for a week, but John
met up with some people who introduced him to the local music clubs, so he stayed
on.
Up until this time, although much aclaimed as a folk artist in Coventry (and
Manchester where he lived for a while), John was getting few bookings elsewhere.
His first club appearence had been at the Three Tuns in Coventry, over six years
ago, and his only real break ocurred in 1976 when he was given theopportunity to
record an album. Perhaps 'given' isn't the right word, but anyway the chance arose
from a meeting with Stead, driving force behind the Sweet Folk All Organisation,
and guest one Friday evening at the Magic Lamp folk club where John had turned up
to do one of his frequent floor spots.
The Album, Dance of Flies, was recorded in November that year and consisted of 10
Shanahan classics, including Every man Jack, Full Circle Round, All on a Windy
Night,. He was accompanied by classical guitarist Steve Gordon, whom he'd met in
Manchester.
Many copies of the album were sold though it came under critism from people who
had seen John perform live. Some said the mix was poor in that John's
characteristic guitar style did not really come over at all; others said said that
rich quality of his voice was lost in the recording. However it contained a good
selection of songs (even if it didn't include My Garden Swing) and a worthwhile
record to have particularly as John is rarely seen around these days.
Copies of the record were sent to local radio stations, newspapers and music
magazines, mostly at John's own expense, but apart from a good review in the
Evening Jellymould by their enlightened reporter John Palmer, a dedicated
Shananahan fan, the record did little to further John's career as a full time
musician.
The format of English folk clubs is such that it is virtually impossible for an
artist to get regular work int he area unless he resorts to Pub Singing which at
best can be a thankless task. Venues in Berlin are different; folk clubs as we
know them don't exist and singers like John, usually play in bars or music clubs
who generally pay about five to eight pounds for a resonable half hour set.
English and Irish folk music is very popular at these places.
John averages abut four gigs a week. He obtains them by simply doing the rounds of
the Berlin club circuit and asking for them. Once established he's virtually
assured of regular work in this way. The proprietor or organiser pays him as soon
as he's finished the set and walked offstage. Usually John works as a soloist but
he occasionally accompanies others such as Northumbrian singer Ken Davidson with
whom he worked for a short while.
One disadvantage of working in Berlin is the high cost of living compared with
here, but as long as John continues to make his Mark (perpertrators of any more
puns like that will be severly pun-ished - Ed) he finds one consolatory factor;
the bars don't close till the last customer goes home.
H.L. / B.U / Pete Willow.
.................
I Googled John Shanahan after uploading this page, to see if there was any info on things he's done since. I found this
site - In 2004 he was playing in Euro Camp with the Max McColgan Trio (pictured here with John on guitar) The third member was Jimmy Dee from Glasgow.
The page (in German) says - John Shanahan is of Irish-English descent born in Coventry/England .
Since he was 18, was a singer/songwriter with
an unusual style of guitar playing. He played in the clubs, on the stages
and festivals of the British islands at home. When it visited the western part of Berlin in 1977, he decided to remain in the city. Meeting and joining in sessions with friendly Irish and English
musicians he discovered his love for Irish-English folklore, to which he finally
dedicated himself from now on. From his original style
of the Fingerpicking he turned to the interpretation of the fast dance melodies
to the Flatpicking, in which he is a master of its subject.
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