Texas-born singer/songwriter and guitarist Shawn Fussell isn’t afraid of hard work. He proved it in his previous career as a tilesmith, a joint-cracking, back-aching occupation where meticulous craftsmanship is the only acceptable standard. And he has proved it in his musical career, honing his skills and his art over a series of years and self-released albums until he was ready to release a full-fledged debut, Shawn Fussell (Fucam Records) that is up to his exacting standards.
Working with producer/engineer and musician Eric McKinney (Mark McKinney, the Weary Boys, Colin Gilmore) Shawn produced a handful of robust new songs which he paired with re-recorded and re-imagined songs from his previous independent releases to produce a cohesive new sound that fits organically into the Texas Music/Red Dirt country-rock sound of Texas and the Southwest while still keeping its roots in the innovative, genre-crossing tradition of Shawn’s musical idols.
Shawn’s debut single “Ride”, released Feb. ‘09, quickly climbed the Texas Music Charts earning a top 30 position. His new single “Tulia, TX”, is a song based on the true events of the racially induced ‘drug bust’ in the small Texas town of Tulia that made national headlines in 1999. Shawn tells this ’tempting’ story using the background of swampy and dirty Texas rhythms combined with an interesting lyrical approach to this compelling tale.