Tucson native Billy Shaw Jr. has been playing music “forever,” but now he’s ready to release his debut record.
“It’s so weird,” said Shaw, donning his trademark black framed glasses.
“I’ve recorded a couple demo songs, never a full album. We — my wife and I — had kicked it around the past several years. I had just come to the conclusion that an album wasn’t going to happen.”
Until his wife, Jessica Northey, surprised him with a recording session in Nashville. Initially, he thought she was messing with him and recalled saying, “Please don’t mess with me. Tell me this is not a joke.”
He was so shocked that he momentarily went silent.
“My wife used to work with country music artists, big names in the industry,” he recalled. “She worked with Jamie O’Neal at one point. Unbeknownst to me, she sent stuff to Jamie and said, ‘We’re interested in making an album. What do you think?’ She liked it. Her husband, Rodney Good, liked it. They said they would produce me and said, ‘Let’s get this done.’”
Shaw will celebrate the release of his self-titled debut with a song at The Maverick on Tuesday, March 14. The party will be emceed by DJ Brett “PorkChop” Miller from KIIM-FM.
O’Neal and Good will open the evening with an acoustic set. Members of the Billy Shaw Jr, Band include drummer Bobby Soto Jr.; bassist Amy Munoz and lead guitarist Johnny Pesqueira.
“The Maverick is my home base,” he said. “That’s where I started playing regular gigs. That’s also where I met my wife. She came into The Maverick one night and I was performing. She was into the social media and promotion side of music. We became friends and that was it. We met at The Maverick and we married there, too.”
Produced in Nashville by O’Neal — known for her hits “There is No Arizona,” “When I Think About Angels” and “Somebody’s Hero” — and backed by a group of top country musicians, “Billy Shaw Jr.” celebrates life, love, laughter and loss.
“It was surreal,” he said about the company he kept. “I had to stay on my game. They’re all cranking it out and it was a blur almost. I didn’t have time to think about it too much until after it was all done. It didn’t seem real.”
Longtime musician
Shaw fell in love with music in the fourth grade, when he picked up a violin. His early talent was noticed by a member of the Tucson Symphony, who worked with him to develop his skills.
Singing came second nature to Shaw.
“As far as I can remember, I have been singing,” he said.
“My earliest childhood memories are of me running around the house singing Kenny Rogers’ ‘The Gambler.’ It was just burned into my head when I was a little kid. When I was 8 or 9, this lady came into our classroom and played the theme to ‘Star Wars’ on the violin. I ran home and told my mom, ‘I’m playing in the orchestra, mom.’”
The family didn’t have a violin, attempted to rent one, but couldn’t afford it. However, his grandmother found one in storage. It didn’t have a case, so Shaw brought it to school in a paper bag.
Shaw was drawn into country music by its storytelling, inspired by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, as much as The Beatles and Barbra Streisand.
“We watched ‘Hee Haw’ and the ‘Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters,’” he recalled.
“My mom said, ‘That’ll be you one day.’ Later in life, I didn’t think that was going to happen. I gave up on the dream. I had this weird journey to get to where my mom always said I would be. I took the long road.”
At Pima Community College, he was gifted a track and cross-country scholarship. Injuries forced him to quit, transfer to UA and he considered pursuing music again.
While studying at UA, he expanded his musical repertoire to include guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, harmonica and a tambourine.
“I owe my grandma and my mom for giving me that gift of music and making sure I was able to play,” he said. “I played all the way up through high school. I was classically trained and picked up other instruments along the way. I always came back to the violin, though.”
At university, Shaw also explored new genres, ranging from alt rock to hip-hop. But as he made his way through UA, he drifted back into country.
Through church, Shaw realized he enjoyed singing and found his true calling when he took the stage at a karaoke contest. A few contest wins later, he joined a band.
In 2016, after winning Cumulus Radio’s Nash Next Country Star locally, he placed Top 5 in the nation and then started his namesake band. The Billy Shaw Jr. Band won Arizona’s 2017 Nash Next Winner as well as other awards, including a spot at the Nova Arizona Bowl.
“We do play a lot of covers, but we sneak in originals,” Shaw said with a laugh about his regular gigs. “When we open for acts or play festival shows, that’s when it’s heavily originals.
“But we do this little countrified ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard, or ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia.’ We add a little ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne. We like to do things like that and make them our own.”
Billy Shaw Jr. Album Release Party
WHEN: 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 14
WHERE: The Maverick, 6622 E. Tanque Verde Road, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $10
INFO: 520-298-0430, tucsonmaverick.com
