Last month, I received an email from Michael Shoup introducing me to his music. While I receive plenty of band pitches on a daily basis, his words were genuine and his past and current projects peaked my interest. The Nashville based singer-songwriter got his start attending songwriter nights in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, in his teens before moving to Nashville for college. He soon began designing artist Web sites, including A-listers like Lady Antebellum and Kelly Clarkson, when he noticed bands he toured with were in need of a Web site to promote their music.
When not working his 9-5 job, he has spent his time writing, recording and producing his debut solo release, Learning How to Live. An impressive LP, the 10 tracks (which you can download for free this week here) are relatable and emotion fueled with solid music accompanying Shoup’s soulful vocals.
While in Nashville last month I caught up with Shoup at 12South Taproom, his neighborhood cafe/bar that he described to me as “one of the most unpretentious, chill bars around.” Well recommended as a good place for conversation, we even ran into fellow singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. So, on a hot day in June I escaped the craziness that was the CMA Music Festival downtown for a while as we chatted about his career in music, latest album and the stories behind many of the tracks on Learning How to Live.
This is your first album as a solo artist. How was the recording process?
It took just about as long as I expected because I was doing it in pieces and didn’t want to ask fans for funding. I wanted to be able to do it myself and have it as a gift to people. Like, ‘Hey, I know you’ve been waiting to hear some of this, I want you to hear it.’ Not that I have anything against Kickstarter projects. For a debut I didn’t want people to feel like they owed it. And, what if they didn’t like the record? I wanted to do something they would enjoy.
I had a producer that worked with me on it named Paul Shearer. Paul and I took basically eight months to a year and scheduled how we wanted to do every song. We did it very systematically. ‘What parts do we need on this? Let’s plan it out.’ It came out to a really good process and a really good relationship between he and I. We continued that process throughout the last year. Even new stuff we’re writing. I know what I need to do and I know when I need to send it to him.
You’ve been collaborating with fans for Song-A-Week. How did that concept come together? (Watch one of the videos below and for more click here.)
The Song-A-Week I’m doing, Paul and I have co-written two of those together and those are working out really nicely. It was twofold for me. I released the record in November and I’ve had a Tumblr blog for years so I just said I would focus on that to be a way to talk directly talk to people who were into the music. I was trying to find a good way to do that, how to get some consistent content and also motivate me to keep writing. The record’s already out, what are you gonna do now? The thing with music for me, I always want to have something that’s communicating with people. I don’t want to just write a song and say, ‘This is what I was feeling.’ I want it to be what somebody else is feeling so they can feel like it’s their song. I think Tumblr as a format works really nicely.
I just opened it up and said, ‘If you guys want to submit ideas or stories about something big in your life, send them in and I’m going to start writing songs about it.’ For me, it was partially a challenge but it was also a weight lifted off because there was this giant pallet of things I had to choose from. I think the further it’s gone along, I’ve gotten some really in depth stories and some really personal stories that move me. I don’t think you can put a price on that as a writer. It’s like I just opened this great book and found an awesome story that I have to write a song about.
The week timeline was just to make sure I had a challenge. I wanted to put up consistent content. Having worked in the Web world for a long time, I understood that. But I also know myself and if I don’t put a deadline on it so many things could happen. I wanted to see if I could do it. It’s a perfect testing ground for me. I’ll write a song, stick it out there and I’ll see how much of a response it gets. If I hit close to what people had written in about, then they’d probably like it. If they don’t, that’s cool. It’s another song, I got some practice out of it, somebody probably got connected to it. I’m surprised I don’t see more songwriters doing that back and forth because it’s right there. There’s no reason you can’t do it. You’re getting instant feedback from the people that will hopefully be purchasing your stuff down the road.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Dying to Live.” What was the idea behind it?
That was a co-write between Paul and I and I had a basic idea. All my friends are in their late 20s and early 30s. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It happens in New York, it happens in Nashville, it happens everywhere. You get out of college or you get out of high school and you have these giant dreams and all these mountains you’re ready to scale and the world beats you back a little bit. That’s what it’s about. Sometimes it feels like those dreams are unattainable or sometimes it feels like they’re attainable but you don’t know how to get there. I wanted to put all of those stories from my friends around me into a song and say, ‘Hey, we understand you’re trying to get there. Hold out. Everybody else is trying to get there too.’
I was feeling the same thing myself. The whole time we were producing and writing and making this record, I was working 9-5 doing Web design. It was an anthem for myself to keep going to finish the record and to get everything together.
It was a funny turn around for me while we were doing the record. We took enough time to do it that by the time we had written and recorded everything it was sort of like an out of body experience. I didn’t feel like I 100% had written those songs, I could relate to them as a listener instead of a writer, which was the first time I had ever been able to do that. It was a really weird feeling.
Is there a song you’ve written that means more to you now than when you first wrote it?
Sure. There are a couple. I wrote this song called “Last Goodbye” years ago. I think you go through seasons in your life with relationships and a lot of times those seasons return. As I got older, the words that I put into that song made a lot more sense to me. I had written them out of this emotional moment and I never understood why other people related very well to it. As I got older and had other experiences, it made a lot more sense to me than when I first wrote it. There’s a line on “Last Goodbye” that says, “Maybe life’s not right for what this love has got in store.” That made a lot more sense to me as I grew older and realized that even though two people are in love, it can’t be right sometimes.
The other one that was really stuck in my head as we were doing the record and it was why I made it the title of the record, “Learning How to Live.” That’s one for me…I don’t know if it’s ever going to be a single. It’s not your usual pop song. You don’t get to the chorus in 30 seconds. But, for me and I think a lot of people who are in the same life place as me, can really relate to the chorus of it. “All I want to be is right in front of me but all I can see is how to live carelessly.” You understand how to get to where you want to get, but it doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get there.
What keeps you motivated?
Two things. Learning. Honestly, this is something I’ve newly learned about myself. I’m motivated to continue to do stuff when I feel like I’m learning new things from it. For Song-A-Week, when I first took that on I added a video element to it because it’s a totally new field I’ve never tried to do before. I’m going to learn how to shoot and to edit and figure out what 720p is and all that other stuff and it’s going to keep me motivated to want to do it more. The other side of it is the back and forth communication that I can get to people to be able to experience it with me. Whether it’s at a live show that I do or posts on Tumblr, emails that I get. That is the driving force. Anybody that does anything creative has to get that feedback.
What would you be doing if it wasn’t for music?
I really just like doing creative stuff. I think if I wasn’t making money off of music I would be doing something like that. Whether it’s helping other people be creative or doing video work or design. My life goal is to try to communicate to people that way. I just think the way that I’ve been gifted to do that is through songs. If it wasn’t through that, it would be something else.
For more on Michael Shoup, be sure to visit his Web site. You can download his debut album, Learning How to Live for free this week here and watch him live all day until 11PM CDT as he plays some music and gives viewers tutorials on making and editing videos, how to build a Web site and more.