September 24, 2005
Section: Lifestyle
Page: 1C
Their Faith in Song
John Carlson
Staff
The Shannons started their gospel-music career more than 30 years
ago.
By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com
On a small Muncie street inside a
one-car garage that has been converted into a combination practice
room/bedroom, the Shannons sing the Lord's praises the Southern
country gospel way, tuning up for their next inevitable performance.
There's no shortage of them.
The band plays virtually every
weekend.
There's no shortage of potential
numbers to perform, either.
'As of last week, the band had written
over 600 songs," Wilma Shannon said, matter-of-factly, 'but James wrote
two more this week."
Standing beside her, acoustic guitar
at the ready, her silver-haired husband smiled and strummed a quiet
chord.
The two singer-writer-guitarists have
been performing together since they married back in 1968, but it took
some babies to eventually round out the band that bears their name.
Their son Chris, who is 28, plays
electric bass and sings. His wife, Stacey, who is 26, plays keyboards
and sings. Finally, the Shannons' son Shawn, who is 33, plays
keyboards, sings, writes and arranges songs, plus manages the band.
'I'm also the bus driver," he said
with a laugh.
That's no small responsibility,
either, because the Shannons have been known to travel as far as
Tampa and back in a weekend. Employing the tour bus that hauls their
instruments, their two public address systems and themselves, they
perform at far-flung churches, auditoriums or anywhere else an audience
hungers for music that's as thickly rooted as the trees in an
Appalachian forest.
But this day was for practice.
Between housing a bed, a small couch
and a wide-screen television set, the room was already crowded when the
band members squeezed alongside their instruments. Buffy the Vampire
Slayer stared down from a wall poster. Scores of movies on DVD shared
shelf-space with C.S. Lewis's children's books, The Chronicles of
Narnia.
Seated on his brother's bed, Chris
played a bass riff. Barely more than an arm's length away, Shawn and
Stacey warmed up at their keyboards while Wilma and James faced their
microphone stands.
A recent Guide Lamp retiree, James
shares both a passing resemblance to bluegrass legend Del McCoury and a
sound that's pure traditional gospel. So is Wilma's, whose delicate
features belie the earthiness of her alto. Shawn's polished sound,
meanwhile, almost calls to mind a youthful version of country star
George Jones.
As the session progressed, all five
voices were featured or blended, the instrumentals filled out by
recorded guitar, steel guitar and drum tracks. Listening to their voices
soar and dive, you just had to tap your toes or nod your head in time to
this often joyful, sometimes plaintive music.
New opportunities
Besides live, the Shannons can
also be heard on a handful of compact discs, but their latest one,
Renewed, marks an important departure for them.
In February, the band signed with
gospel impresario Eddie Crook's Cedar Hill record label, recording the
new album in Nashville with studio musicians. Since then it has received
wide air-play on the nation's 1,200 gospel music stations and made some
special memories for the Shannons as well.
They were on their way to a show in
Louisville, for example, when a song from the album came over the radio.
'That freaked me out," Wilma recalled.
Since signing with the label, they
also have entertained job offers -- and yes, they call them 'gigs" --
from places as far away as Texas and Canada. They are performing at a
special show in Gatlinburg at Christmas.
Better yet, they have been signed to
perform on a Carnival Cruise Line tour at the first of the year.
'We really hate to have to do that,"
said a smiling Stacey, a freelance journalist and copywriter who met
Chris when they were both members of the Southside High School Spirit of
South marching band. He was a tuba player, she a trombonist.
'When she joined the family," Wilma
joked, 'she had no idea what she was getting into."
For James and Wilma's sons, performing
this music has been a lifetime commitment.
Shawn, who works as a systems
administrator at Ontario Systems, was only 9 years old when he made his
first recording. That sounds pretty impressive until you learn that
Chris, who works as a systems engineer at First Merchants Bank Corp.,
made his recording debut at age 5.
But it's been a lifetime involvement
for James and Wilma, too.
Tennessee natives, they grew up loving
music. The daughter of a woman who sang gospel, Wilma was just 15 when
she lost her mother and tasted firsthand the hard times that so often
flavor country tunes, having to help raise nine siblings.
As for James, he was an early singing
partner, of sorts, with the aforementioned 'Ol' Possum," George Jones.
'I sang a lot with him," he recalled
with a grin, 'on the radio."
`God's been good to us'
In the early days before they bought a
van and then a bus, they traveled hard roads in a Buick wi
th their speakers strapped to the top
of it, some crackers, a loaf of bread and a quart jar of peanut butter
seeing to their physical nourishment.
Why?
'Because we loved the Lord," said
Wilma, who writes cookbooks and food brochures when she's not making
music. 'It was like you just couldn't do enough for God."
That's not to say life has been one
flawless line of harmony for the Shannons.
As a child with hip-joint problems,
Shawn was in a body cast that left his parents wondering if he would
ever walk normally. Seven years ago, James overcame a bout with skin
cancer. And three years ago, Wilma suffered a heart attack, for which
she remains in cardiac rehabilitation under the watchful eye of her
friend Katrina Riggin.
But still, life for the Shannons
has been a joy.
'I feel like God's been good to us,"
Wilma said, noting that the family members' love for each other has
flourished along with the music.
They don't even argue.
'All the years we've traveled," she
said, 'we've never been into it."
'We like each other," Stacey
explained.
James just smiled from behind his
guitar. 'Whatever they say, I just go along with it."
The ride, meanwhile, seems to be
getting more interesting by the day.
Besides signing with the Cedar Hill
record label, they have launched Shannon Star Publishing under the
auspices of BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.), which can earn them royalties
for use of their songs by radio stations and other artists. And with
their new album and those to follow, who knows what's ahead?
'There may be a real hit there," Shawn
said. 'I don't know where we'll be in two years."
What Wilma does know, is how much the
Shannons will rely on their Christian faith to direct their
musical journey.
In a word, she said, 'Totally."
Contact John Carlson at 213-5824.
Copyright (c) The Star Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the
permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
