Category Archives: Shane McAnally

Country performer, songwriter, and producer Shane McAnally started writing songs when he was six and performing at the age of 12, in his hometown of Mineral Wells, Texas. By age 15, he was a featured performer at the Texans Theater in Branson, Missouri. After his run at the theater, he went back to Texas where he performed at the Johnny High Music Review, as well as at various festivals. He realized, while studying accounting at the University of Texas at Austin, that music was his passion, and he relocated to Tennessee.

Soon after his arrival in Nashville and an appearance on the famed Bluebird stage, McAnally signed with Curb Music Publishing. There, he continued to work on his songwriting and was introduced to producer Rich Herring. The two collaborated on the demo of McAnally‘s song ”Just One Touch,” which eventually earned him a publishing deal and a recording contract. Along with Rich Herring, famed producer Brian Ahern (Emmylou Harris, Anne Murray) and Mark Bright were also part of McAnally‘s musical team for the recording of his 2000 self-titled debut. Three singles reached the country charts; “Are Your Eyes Still Blue” hit the Top 40, but McAnally soon began to focus more on songwriting than performance.

Call Me Crazy

His first major success was “Last Call,” the opening track and one of the highlights of Lee Ann Womack‘s 2008 album Call Me Crazy. By 2010, he had also placed songs with Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, and Luke Bryan. The following year was a bonanza for McAnally. Among the many songs he featured on were hits by Miranda Lambert (“Mama’s Broken Heart”), Jake Owen (“Alone with You”), and Chris Young (“Neon”). He also began working more closely with one of his co-writers, Kacey Musgraves, and ended up co-writing most of the songs and co-producing her 2013 album Same Trailer Different Park. It became a big hit, and McAnally collected Grammy Awards for Best Country Song (“Merry Go Round”) and Best Country Album, as well as ACM Awards for Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

Artist Biography by Zac Johnson

Mighty Is The Pen: Shane McAnally

Posted on by
Shane MacAnally on Country Music News

These days you can’t highlight one country music artist over another on social media without the inevitable “That’s not country music” comment getting spat back out at you from the readers, and to be honest, a lot of times us journalists tend to agree. For the fans, you listen to an hour or two (some quite a bit more) of country radio a day on your commute to work or as background music to get you through the things that need done. Meanwhile we get both the pleasure AND torture of listening to the flood of sounds coming out of Nashville and beyond nearly all day every day with the specific task of analyzing and tearing it apart to see what it’s made of. It’s a labor of love and sometimes we stumble across patterns long before the fans figure them out. For example, those artists that you love so much… that your soul finds shelter in the songs they sing… well, they’re getting by with the help of a particular friend and a mighty powerful pen! Enter Shane McAnally. He’s the guy that writes the songs that make the young girls cry. Or dance. Or laugh. Or raise a glass. While looking for the writing credits on a particular playlist we noticed that his name kept popping up on almost EVERY hit being played on Nash.FM. For example, here’s a list of songs Shane has written or co-written that you might not have realized were his: Body Like a Backroad – Performed by Sam Hunt Fingerprints – Performed by Eli Young Band Something’s Going On – Performed by Trace Adkins Black – Performed by Dierks Bentley Cosmic Hallelujah – Performed by Kenny Chesney Girl Problems – Performed by Chris Lane Hero – Performed by Maren Morris If I Told You – Performed by Darius Rucker Ripcord – Performed by Keith Urban Vice – Performed by Miranda Lambert 35 MPH Town – Performed by Toby Keith Kill The Lights – Performed by Luke Bryan Love Somebody – Performed by Reba McEntire Cold Beer Conversation – Performed by George Strait Tangled Up – Performed by Thomas Rhett 747 – Performed by Lady Antebellum For a complete list visit AllMusic.com The list goes on and on, and he markedly managed to manifest what seems like the entire soundtrack of the hit TV show Nashville, as well as held the pen behind literally HUNDREDS of chart-topping hits over the last decade. Next time you want to celebrate the song that soothed your soul, or curse the fact that so many these days sound the same, take a look at who’s behind the curtain… I’m pretty sure Shane McAnally will be there.