D.C. - Shane Cooley, the man with a smooth name and a sound to match, brought something special to the stage at Ebenezers Coffeehouse in Washington D.C.  With his harmonica blowing, feet stomping, and guitar shredding, Shane Cooley lit the night up and gave the audience all that they could ever ask for - short of setting his guitar on fire.  Singer, songwriter, and veritable one-man band, Cooley wears many hats.  Literally speaking, he was wearing a very smooth hat during our interview, which distracted me a bit with thoughts of how I would look in the same headgear.  With that being said, Shane is many things, though the title of "workhorse" surges to the forefront of my mind.  I was floored when he humbly conveyed to me how he just finished touring and performing 49 shows in 45 days … I repeat - 49 shows in 45 days.  Coast to coast, I might add.  Seeing as how he will be touring all the way through 2012, it is undeniable that Shane Cooley is a man on a mission.  With his dynamic performances and burgeoning cult-like following, Cooley will soon have his mission accomplished.

33: What genre of music do you consider your sound to be?
Shane Cooley: I get that question a lot.  My answer is retro-folk rock.  I sort of, as a person and a musician, feel misplaced in the twenty-first century.

33: How late do you think you are?
SC: Forty, fifty years late.  I resonate from the sixties and seventies a lot, that’s sort of the music I grew up on.  I listen to some modern stuff, but I really try to bring back the classic singer/songwriter vibe.

33: Who did you listen to growing up?
SC: Dylan was definitely a huge influence.  I listened to a lot of Hendrix and Zeppelin, and then as I got older I started listening to jazz and some hip-hop.  Stuff you wouldn’t really hear in my music, but it’s still very influential.  I can tell it’s there, even if other people can’t.

33: Is that where you draw your inspiration?
SC: Yeah, I listen to a lot of music, but I’m a very lyrical person.  I read a lot of poetry, I read a lot of novels.

33: Do you write all of your songs?
SC: I do.

33: Your album Westland came out in February. How’s that working for you?
SC: It’s going well, getting some radio airplay.  It's actually been picked up by Clear Channel now.  I’m hoping the airplay will get more extensive in the near future.  It’s on XM radio, too.  The cool thing about it is one of the songs from Westland, "Last Love," got me second place for best male artist at the international acoustic music awards.  That’s really gotten me a lot of exposure.

33: How’d you feel when you found out you won?
SC: Pretty good, man.  I never win contests.  I’m one of those guys who seem like they have the bad luck of the draw.  I don’t know, I lucked out on that one.

33: Where do you see yourself in five years?
SC: I wanna go absolutely as far as I can go.  I want to have some diehard fans.  I’m not really interested in the whole American Idol, Top 40-type thing.  I wanna have the comfort of knowing that whether or not I’m getting a lot of radio airplay, there are still people following my music.

33: Are you under a label?
SC: No, I’m completely on my own, but the way I did the tour was pretty interesting.  The tour was called the Home Sweet Home Tour.  I got together with some acts from different parts of the country - the Melillo Brothers, Adam Smith from Nashville, and Adam Webb from Philly.  We just went to everybody’s hometown, so we all had a free place to crash, and we had everyone’s home crowd.  So if my draw in Philly was weaker than it was in Virginia, Adam Webb could hook me up with his people.  It was a cool concept, having collaborations instead of competition.  We were able to make it worth it.

33: Do you have groupies?
SC: No comment [laughs].  There are definitely followers - I don’t know if they would appreciate being called groupies or not - but they're there.

33: Tell me about your song “California Nights.”
SC: It was about the first time I had been on the West Coast.  I just wanted to write a rock 'n' roll song, man.  I really wanted to represent the excitement of being out there for the first time.  It had been a while since I had written a real rock 'n' roll song, and I’m very proud of it.  It’s got that sort of classic rock 'n' roll vibe.

33: Do you come from a musically inclined family?
SC: Actually, my dad’s playing drums tonight, so that’s cool.  Basically, how I got started was my dad was playing guitar - I was, like, ten - my dad said, "Shane, get on the drums," and halfway through he stopped and was like, "Shane you got it."  So I just kept going from there.

33: What other instruments do you play?
SC: I play guitar, harmonica, bass, a little bit of piano, and drums.

33: You mentioned earlier you have a lead guitarist coming on tonight.
SC: Yeah, his name is Curtis Prince.  He’s a solo artist from Charlottesville.  I played a few shows with him, and it sort of happened we just started jamming together.  He’s got some really cool sounds coming up.

33: Dead or alive, who would you most want to collaborate with?
SC: I would have to say Jerry Garcia.  I’ve really been listening to the Dead a lot lately.  My music isn’t very jammy, but its definitely got a lot of Grateful Dead songwriting technique in it.  I would really love to hear his flicks on my song.

33: What part of the music scene don’t you like today?
SC: I don’t like the misconception of the music scene.  I think that a lot of non-musicians have sort of been led on by American Idol and other TV shows.  I wish I had a dollar for every time someone says I should be on that show.  I have to correct them.  To me, American Idol has this get-rich-quick scheme to it, and that’s not how it works.  I really think it’s important to educate people on how it really is in the music scene.  Let me tell ya, there are guys out there who are ten times worse than Simon.

33: Is there anything you want the fans to know about your music, your style?
SC: The main thing is that my songs are very real.  I’m a shy person, my music is very autobiographical, and my performances are very emotional.  They’re a lot of fun, too.  Hopefully, fans will come away relating to it, because one of the best parts of being a musician is when someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, your song helped me get through a tough time."  To me, one of the things that get you through life is a good song.  So whenever anyone says that about my music, I’m absolutely flattered.

Shane Cooley may be flattered, but I was blown away by his epic performance at Ebenezers.  His standing a top a chair with the crowd rocking and his fist held high, embodied for me, the spirit of folk music.

ShaneCooleyMusic.com

MySpace.com/ShaneCooley

By Correspondent: Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen catapulted into this world via the Lone Star State during the cute baby shortage of ’78, and thus ended the crisis.  He then went on the military brat world tour, laying his hat down in Japan, Alaska, Florida, Virginia, and now watches the sun set in Washington D.C.  He’s been known to mumble in his sleep “I’m hip-hop ‘til I die.”  With a passion for arts and entertainment, Michael has produced his own public access television show, has been beaten up as a small time hustler on HBO’s “The Wire,” and writes screenplays in his spare time.