http://shawnmullins.com/ (http://shawnmullins.com/)
Local musician to North Georgia Shawn Mullins has come back to the southeast after touring for almost 10 years. He had 1 number 1 hit "Lullaby". He played some of the small bars and restaurants in the area in the early 90's after graduating from North Georgia College here in Dahlonega where I live now. So, he's got a good following locally. He sold out the coffee house (70 person capacity) both friday and saturday nights where I hold jams on saturday afternoon, so when a third show was added for sunday night I decided to get a seat.
Lots of energy in his playing which I would describe as energetic strumming using a fast bass note stroke followed by 2-3 alternating strokes on the high notes of chords. A few riffs up and down the neck, but mostly just judicious use of standard chords, drop-D, and open tunings. A few tunes he would use jazz or blues chords up the neck.
Apparently he has deal with Gibson and he played 2 Gibsons most of the night, but... Shawn had a nice looking Larrivee D-09Braz with small eagle headstock, of the same type I have. He only used it for one tune, Lullaby, in an open tuning, but that guitar had great projection and tone in his hands. I'll admit to being partial to it. I was wearing my blue Larrivee baseball cap and tried to give it to Shawn, but he said he has some kind of deal with Gibson?
Apparently he had 2 of the D-09 Brazilians at one point in time, but one of them was stolen from him.
Saw Shawn a few years back when "Lullabye" was on the charts. Believe he opened for Hootie and the Blowfish. For only being familiar with one song was impressed had a very melodic hooky type sound. Was looking at our local library recently and picked up the Essential Shawn Mullins CD. Didnt know he had enough material for that. Had a number of songs on it the impressed me. Believe I have even heard "Everywhere I Go" on local radio. Would defintelyhave enjoyed seeing him in such a small setting.
very, very soulful voice imo. i have his first cd.....somewhere. there was one tune that i really liked from it. it had a line that said, "im gonna sit right here and watch the sun..disappear into the ocean....cuz, its been years since i smelled the salty sea". i love that line and he really sings it with soul.
i lost track of him over the years, but i thought he was in a band called the thorns now? glad to hear hes still playing.
Saw The Thorns last year, the band Mullins is (was?) in with Pete Droge and Matthew Sweet. Great band, huge vocals. They always get a lot of comparisons to CSNY, but I actually thought in some way Bread was more apt (only they can rock!). The show was a big guitar fest, with many cool acoustics (I do seem to recall them being mostly Gibsons) and electrics. They were on tour with The Jayhawks.
If you go to www.mlive.com they have a shawn mullins session in the acoustic cafe archives, as well as richard thompson, paul brady etc ,all good stuff :D