According to her bio, “Shanna in a Dress is your quirky best friend who refuses to wear pants. She says what everyone has felt but no one else will say and you’ll get an uncensored journey of clever humor and heartbreak, extreme candor, and a hefty side of entertainment at her shows.”
That would seem to say it all, but it still leaves some ambiguity. And that means she ought to be seen in order to be fully appreciated. She’s an animated and energetic performer, an artist with personality-plus who not only entertains her audiences, but connects with them as well.
“I’m an entertainer, wearing my heartbreak and fart jokes on my sleeve,” Shanna insists. “It’s important to me that audiences have fun while also giving them permission to feel and think about their lives and memories in a more profound, deep way.”
She’ll prove that point when she performs at an upcoming installment of the popular “Songs and Stories” series with Lee Zimmerman and Scott Shankland, hosts of “Blount County Live.” The show takes place at 7 pm on Wednesday, June 24 at The Station in Louisville, Tennessee.
“I’m a huge Swiftie, but besides her, I was initially influenced by Kipyn (Kai) Martin. In addition, a show I saw with Ingrid Michaelson massively impacted the design of my own show,” she explains. “Ingrid was so personable between songs, and I had no idea a show could feel so intimate. I definitely was inspired by that. And then it was all about going to Rocky Mountain Song School and meeting teachers like Vance Gilbert and Ellis Delaney, who were the most talented people I’d ever seen and never heard of before, and learning they were making a living off of original music! I had no idea you could do it without being famous before I attended that event.”
In fact, she’s followed that formula over the course of the past few years. She started her career at the University of Virginia before moving to Boulder, Colorado. She’s now based in Nashville, but she tours consistently throughout the U.S. and Europe.
“I’m happy to travel for the rest of my life,” Shanna says. “I’m just a glutton for novelty and new experiences.”
As if to prove the point, during the summer of 2021, Shanna bicycled from Seattle to Boston as part of her epic “Tour de Dress,” performing over 60 shows from coast to coast, while partnering with the global non-profit Pangaea World Foundation.
In addition, she’s appeared on several high-profile stages, among them the Kerrville Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Black Bear Americana Fest, Great River Folk Fest, and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
In May 2022, her debut album, Robot, was released after a highly successful crowdfunding campaign begun several years before. Her new album, Sweet Spot, was released on June 11 and is now available on Bandcamp and at her show.
Notably, Shanna has gained any number of accolades over the past few years. In 2020 alone, she was named a winner of the Kerrville New Folk competition and the Great River Folk Fest Song Competition, in addition to becoming a finalist at Songwriter Serenade, and being pronounced a Grassy Hill Emerging Artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. She received further honors in 2022 when she won the prestigious Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting Contest, subsequently capping that achievement by performing the following year with a full band in tow.
“It was definitely validating to win Kerrville and Folks Fest and the Great River song competition,” Shanna recalls. “I always hoped I was a good songwriter, but to have these organizations I deeply respected say so definitely motivated me to keep live streaming, keep playing listening rooms, keep writing music. That’s because the part of me that was like, ‘Am I kidding myself? Am I even good???’ got quieted.”
At the same time, Shanna gained a witty reputation due to her pithy lyrics and her ability to express a veritable rollercoaster of emotion. Accompanying herself on guitar, piano and ukulele, she never fails to convey honesty and humanity in equal proportions. Like Phoebe, the character from “Friends,” her innocence and enthusiasm are always at center stage. Her unabashed passion and playful personality become major components in the process. Ultimately, her charisma is the key to it all.
Asked about the reaction she receives, she replied with her usual off-the-cuff humor. “They hate me,” she joked, before adding, “Usually people come up to me and say they laughed and cried, and that I’m a ‘breath of fresh air.’ They say that they have no idea what genre to put me in. Ha!”
As for her unusual handle, Shanna offers this partial explanation:
“I’ll explain it at the show,” she promised. “Let’s just say my original stage name was not driving people to come see my show. Dresses are the laziest way to look good, and I’m quite lazy.”
