Shawn Lane (Black Oak Arkansas)

Name: Shawn Lane
Born/Died: 21st March, 1963 (Memphis, Tennessee, USA) - 26th September, 2003

Profile: He was an American musician. Best known for his solo album 'Powers of Ten' and his long stint with former John McLaughlin bassist Jonas Hellborg. Lane is also well known for his ability to play very fast.

History: At the age of 8, he accompanied his sisters on the piano, but did not play guitar seriously until he was 10. Lane progressed very rapidly on the guitar and he found it to be his natural instrument. At 13, he began to practice heavily, developing his technical abilities. Word began to spread around Memphis about a talented young guitar player, and at 14 he auditioned for the lead guitar spot in "Black Oak Arkansas (BOA)".

"BOA" had been a popular Southern rock band but at the time when Lane joined the band's popularity was declining. At age 15, Lane saw Allan Holdsworth perform at a UK concert and was inspired to develop his own method of playing guitar. Shawn toured with "BOA" for the next four years. As the original band members dropped out, Lane began recruiting players from his high school days and began to play a style closer to fusion than the country rock style for which the band was known.

At 18, Lane was married and burnt out from touring with "BOA" so he decided to take a break and learn more about music. Over the next 8 years he studied music and composing on his own and mainly worked on playing piano. Much of the material on 'Powers of Ten' was written on his piano as Lane considered it his main writing instrument. He quickly developed his technique on keyboards as well, he began to create demo tapes which garnered interest from 'Warner Brothers Music' and Lane was offered a recording contract. Except for one cover song, Lane wrote all the material and played all the instruments on his debut album.

The album did well and earned several magazine awards. During the production of the album Lane continued to play live shows and did session work. He also performed on the Mark Varney Project's 'Centrifugal Funk' album. Lane released two more solo albums following his debut.

When Lane met Jonas Hellborg a musical relationship was formed. They both enjoyed classical, rock, Pakistani and Indian music. Lane and Hellborg played with drummer Jeff Sipe in a jam band commonly referred to as "HLS" (Hellborg, Lane, Sipe). Sipe was already well known in the jam band scene as the original drummer for "Aquarium Rescue Unit", and helped "HLS" get exposure all over the world.

In February 2003, Lane and Hellborg toured India with drummer Andrea Marchesini. Lane's last concert performance was at Smilefest in North Carolina with Hellborg and Jim Britt.

Influences: Liszt, Tatum and Cziffra.

Axology: Vigier's guitars and Charvel guitars

Signature song(s): Gray Pianos Flying - Shawn Lane (Powers of Ten, 1992) and Art Tatum - Shawn Lane (The Tri-Tone Fascination, 1999)

Link(s):

http://www.shawnlane.com (Official website)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbPTeFta4lw

"Few, if any, guitarists can play faster than Lane could, and his arpeggio sweeps and precision-picked lines blasted more rapid-fire notes than the average human mind could comprehend" - Guitar World magazine