Atlanta Singer-Songwriter Shawn Mullins takes the Stage at Stone Church

Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins stops in Brattleboro to play at Stone Church on Wednesday, October 8. This is his first appearance at Stone Church and he says he's really looking forward to it. Best known for his 1998 Billboard Top 10 hit "Lullaby" which reached Number 1 in 1989, and catapulted him to fame, Mullins has been cranking out songs and 17 albums ever since. His commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with his album "Soul's Core." The Keene Sentinel spoke with Mullins at home in Atlanta, Georgia recently to find out about his upcoming tour, the 25th anniversary of "Soul's Core" and his upcoming Brattleboro show. Here's an excerpt of the conversation: V.C.: Hi Shawn, its great talking to you. Are you located in Georgia and where did you grow up? S.M.: Yes, I live in Atlanta and I was born on Peachtree Street. V.C.: Are you embarking on a new tour this fall? S.M.: I kind of never stopped… since the ease up of Covid and us all getting back to work. Around the same time, the guys I traveled with decided their day jobs were good and they could work from home. Since then, I've been traveling solo, which is really fun and also challenging. I love it! I just played a festival with David Wilcox and that's David. He's still doing the same thing he was doing in the late 1980s. V.C.: Amazing! S.M.: And that's what I love. We do it for the music, that's for sure. And luckily, we can make a living. V.C.: On this run, you play mainly originals with some covers? S.M.: I play a few covers. I'm probably not gonna do what they would expect if they were expecting cover songs. I'll play McMurtry and Kristopherson. V.C.: For the 25th anniversary of your album "Soul Core" you revisited the music and put out two brand new recordings with new arrangements. S.M.: Yeah, I gathered of all the musicians that were in my life at that point and we redid the album. It was really fun to do. It was a fan-funded project and there was no label involved. V.C.: That must have been fun. Where did you record the 25th anniversary album? S.M.: With John Keane in Athens, Ga. who is just retiring now. He's worked with REM and Widespread Panic and many Athens, Ga. bands. V.C.: Let's go back to the early years. Were your family music lovers? S.M.: Yes, my grandfather Pap (Tom Brown), played big band music all through that era. He played all the bass instruments, horns, upright bass and electric bass guitar. V.C.: Did you see him perform and think you might want to do that someday? S.M.: Absolutely! I looked at the drummer a lot who was right next to Pap. His name was Bill Fry and Bill was an amazing drummer. Bill got me my first drum set when I was four. V.C.: You said that was the beginning of your musical exploration and expression. S.M.: That and the piano. And then my brother taught me some guitar… He learned Southern rock songs that were famous at the time in the mid-70s. My mom was musical. Everyone could sing. There were a lot of people that were musical in the family. V.C.: Were you in the school band or orchestra? S.M.: I was in orchestra in elementary school and then moved into playing percussion and drums in middle school and all of the time I would be singing. Singing was always the driving force and trying to figure out what music, or what instrument could be behind it, like an accompaniment of some sort. V.C.: What did you choose? S.M.: Eventually the guitar became that. V.C.: Who were some early music influences? S.M.: Kristopherson, Judy Collins, Joan Baez and Ray Charles; and then James Taylor, Billy Joel and Elton John. And I love Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt. Of course, Ricky Lee Jones came in, and I thought "Oh, God. I'll never be the same!" after I heard her song, "The Last Chance Texaco" when I was 11. That really affected me. V.C.: What happened next? College? S.M.: The Indigo Girls were the biggest influence for me when I was heading off to college. I knew them from when I was in my teens and Amy (Ray) kind of helped me get my head on straight. I was 15 when I met her. She was probably 19, so Amy really had a lot to do with me continuing to hang in there with school. V.C.: You ended up doing ROTC at University of North Georgia and majored in music education. What was your experience like? S.M.: That's where the music really blew up for me. In the midst of that atmosphere, it did give me some things that I probably needed: leadership and focus. What I really wanted to do was music. The Army helped pay for college. So, I did some reserve time. I was very fortunate, because I am more of a peaceful warrior, like Woody Guthrie. V.C.: Interesting! How has growing up in Georgia informed your music and your songwriting? S.M.: Growing up in Atlanta there was definitely an influence from black culture so one of the first things I remember hearing was "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips. It's a mixture of the hippie culture and southern Black gospel culture. V.C.: I see. What kind of guitar do you tour with? S.M.: I play an old 1955 Gibson J 50. It was called the J 50 because the J stand stood for jumbo and the 50 stood for $50. V.C.: Wow! Another singer-songwriter I recently interviewed was Martin Sexton. Did you ever play with him? S.M.: Oh, I love Marty; he and I are definitely (of) similar schools. But I don't have a tenor voice, I'm a baritone. We played together in 1994 in Los Angeles. We were opening for Vonda Shepherd. I still remember everything about it. I was on the bill as a favor. He'd won some kind of contest. So, he was getting to really open the show, and then they stuck me on before him. V.C.: Very cool! What do you hope the fans will take away from your show at the Church? S.M.: I want them to leave feeling good. I want them to feel entertained and to feel better than they did when they came in. I can't wait to get back up to New England. I love the audiences up there. I can't wait to be there this time of year with the leaves changing. I'm just excited about playing at Stone Church. IF YOU GO: WHAT: Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins WHEN: Wednesday, Oct, 8 at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.) WHERE: Stone Church, 210 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt. TICKETS: www.stonechurchvt.com/events#/events/143698 MORE INFO: www.shawnmullins.com/