About Ben

My name is Ben Shannon. I am here to write songs, record them, and perform them.  Thank you for being here and sharing my passion. I am always writing a song.  I perform all originals with a few covers that I’ve made my own.  I gig solo as a singer and accompany myself on guitar, piano, and harmonica.  I also do gigs with a full backing band of awesome musicians. I was born in Nashville, Tennessee and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA.  My father gave me my first acoustic guitar and shortly thereafter, my mother gave me an electric. My first song was “Hey Mr.Tambourine Man.”  Once I learned the chords, I started making my own songs with them.  It wasn’t until I returned from a youth-mission trip to Russia during the summer of my 9th grade year, that I began writing in earnest.  I think it was because writing was the only way I could express the scope of what I was going through.  Ten years later I was riding shotgun with the bass player, Brian Richmond, to meet up with the rest of our band, Pledge Drive, and the song “Great Day To Be Alive” written by Darrel Scott came on the radio.  Listening then I knew I wanted to write plain spoken songs that talked sense and had something to say. More and more my answer to the question, “What do you want to do in music?” was, “I want to write a song that everyone wants to sing.” So I set to work on the best damn record I’ve always wanted to hear.  After years of fooling with recording equipment, bouncing around basements doing this and that piece by piece, I found myself a studio with some time, taste, talent, and top-notch gear on hand.  Next thing I know money started flying through my hands and into the hands of very capable professionals. 16 songs tracked, 11 on the album and I am officially a recording artist. MOVE ON… Shared the stage with: The Chapin Sisters Paul Thorn The Neville Brothers Rusted Root Career highlights: NYC Song Circle Finalist 2010 WYEP Year in Review 2010 Song licensed by Trailer Park Avenue 2009 Tour resume: House of Blues – Chicago World Café Live – Philly The City Winery – NYC Bluebird Café – Nashville Fun facts about Ben: Went to 11 different schools from kindergarten to 12th grade Spent a day in jail at age 10 for throwing water balloons at the Pittsburgh Zoo Train Was a sponsored amateur skateboarder during high school Ancestor was a General in the Revolutionary War Influences: Bob Dylan Leonard Cohen Tracy Chapman Bill Withers Mary Chapin Carpenter www.benshannonmusic.com