Here we have Elvie Shane. He is becoming a country music star thanks to his first hits and being named the latest NextStage Artist. Then there is Steve Harvey, a renowned comedian and talk show host. It would be hard to connect the dots if one were trying to paint a picture of how one of these men inspired the other. But, in this case, the picture is clear.

“There are a lot of little things I have seen and sayings I have picked up along the way,” said Shane. “But a video I saw from Steve Harvey really hit home. It was called ‘Jump.’ He talks about life being like a parachute jump and how you have to go after it and just jump. He goes on to say it’s the only way for us to soar. You got to take the gift that is packed away on your back, jump out of the plane, and pull the cord. That gift opens and gives you the soar.”

With his chart-topping debut smash hit “My Boy,” a nominated Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2022 CMT Music Awards and his Backslider album named one of 2021’s Top Country Albums by Rolling Stone, Elvie Shane is already in a soar of his own and the sky is the limit.

Leap of Faith

Shane had a wide-open sky when his ascent began. In fact, it had a lot to do with the higher power of church, the gospel according to John (Fogerty) and the readings of Steve Earle. It started in the pews of Walnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Caneyville, Kentucky where Shane grew up.

“I would go to church on Sunday and my mom used to say that I was born on Sunday and in her arms, beside a hymnal, at church the following Sunday,” Shane said.  “My mom was such an amazing singer that she could make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. She was also an amazing person.”

Shane likes to remember his mother taking him to church on Sunday mornings and on Wednesday nights. “My whole family was singers,” Shane said. “Some of them not as good as others, but they all loved gospel music and I fell in love with gospel at a young age.”

On the way home from church, the elder Shane, Elvie’s father, would have the music in the truck playing the likes of John Fogerty, Steve Earle and The Whites.

“In church, I’d enjoy gospel music,” Shane recalls. “Then, on the way home, and around town, my dad would be playing nineties country music, classic rock, and because he loved Motown, there would be a fair amount from The Temptations coming out of the speakers too. My dad was always about the lyrics and my mom was always about the singing. It was a good blend.”

Shane thinks that kind of music speaks to certain individuals, and he knows he is that kind of person.

Jumping Off Point

While he is now on a headline tour, Shane recalls that his first face-the-crowd performance was for a congregation of people shortly after his brother was involved in an automobile accident.

“After the accident, my brother was in a coma for a time and he was left with other health issues that led him to lose his ability to sing as well as he could before,” Shane said. “And I took one of his songs over to the church and started singing it. I enjoyed performing in front of people and I began to believe God had given me a gift to do that.”

Defining his sound and absorbing more from his musical influences, it was not long before Shane began to build an audience.

“The first professional gig I played was this little place in Louisville,” Shane said. “It was me and a few friends playing in a band. The place was close enough to home that I had enough friends and family to support me. Sometimes we were playing for 50 people, sometimes it was a hundred, but I recall playing places and seven people showed up.”

Delayed Launch

When he decided to enroll in Western Kentucky College in Bowling Green, music became an afterthought. He met his wife, Mandi, at Western, but since neither one of them had a clear direction on what they wanted to do in life, they gave college a break. The couple ended up moving back to her hometown of Montell, Kentucky where they now reside.

“When I met Mandi, music had become associated with a lifestyle that was getting me into trouble and was not healthy,” Shane said. “I wanted to make changes for the better and I let music take a backseat for a little while. I put my guitar in the closet and did not touch it for almost three years.”

But when Shane found himself loving newer music he was hearing from the likes of Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson, the guitar – and the dream – were dusted off.

“I pulled out my guitar again and started learning the things I was hearing,” Shane said. “I was also following a group called Borrow Blue and we ended up crossing paths here and there. One night, at a party we were all at, I started playing “Barely Alive” by the Johnson Brothers. When I got done with it, they were, like, ‘Dude, you sing?’”

Shane began to play the breaks when Borrow Blue booked their bar gigs or would open for them at other shows. It reminded Shane how much he loved – and missed – playing, writing, and performing. Or, as Shane puts it, “It just felt good to get up and sing in front of people again.”

The experience began to solidify, in Shane’s mind, what it was he should be doing and why. It also helped shape the definition of the journey’s payoff.

“When you grow up wanting to write songs or perform or whatever, you do it because it’s an interest that you have and so you want to do it right,” Shane said. “Just to know that you’ve put so much time and effort over the years into playing and writing, finding comfortability on stage and gaining your fan base, to me, is the ultimate payoff.

Shane continued to perform publicly for good starting in 2012. His gigs led him to competing on American Idol in 2016. He went on to release multiple songs online including, “Country Roads” and, “My Boy.” In 2020, he signed with BBR Music Group and they released “My Boy” to country radio.

Leaping into the Opry

When Shane made his Opry debut on April 23, 2021, he felt very much like he was coming to a family reunion for the first time. 

“I grew up hearing stories from my parents and my grandparents about all the artists that played the Opry,” Shane said. “To me, the Opry pretty much came from the same place I did because it was built on a mix of gospel, hillbilly, and country music.”

While Shane will always consider playing the Opry a big honor, he will remember it came with a not-so-small problem.

“I bet I used the bathroom 17 times in 45 minutes leading up to my time on stage,” Shane recalls with a laugh. “Then, ClarenceSpaldingfrom the management company walks up to me, puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Walk slow, baby. Just walk slow,’ and to me that meant just take it all in. I ended up getting a tattoo not long ago and it says ‘live fast, walk slow.’ To me, that means to take the chances, but take them all in.”

Landing on Two Feet

In a life that has become lights, camera, action, staying grounded for some would become a challenge. But Elvie Shane knows how to keep both feet on the ground even when he is soaring.

“For me, it’s pretty easy to stay grounded. If you get knocked down, you could just stay there. But I am always about the next thing. I am very appreciative of any goal I set out to achieve, but I also see how many people are involved since I first started all this out. Back then, it was me and a few songwriters. Then it was me and a booking agent and a publisher and then another publisher. Now, it is a lot more people. As you gain success, it takes a little bit of an army you build up around you. So, it is easy to be humble and stay grounded when you see how many other people it takes to make something like this happen.”

Shane looks at it as am equation of sorts. “You find what you’re passionate about, then you are honest with yourself about what your strengths are,” Shane said. “Then you find the people around you that show up in your life and support it.”

Successful Jumps Come in Stages

The number one reason why people hesitate to jump is because they see nothing at first glance. Like, Elvie Shane, you need to believe in your gift. You have to have faith that the journey may be its own reward and that the scenario you envision may come in stages.

“These days, when I am on stage, I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to be doing,” Shane said. “I have stood on different stages in life. I have stood on the Ryman Stage, I have stood on the pulpit and read the gospel. I’ve stood on stage for things I believe in. When I stand on the country music stage, I  feel like I get to stand on all those stages at once.”

Elvie Shane. Proof positive that if one is going to soar, one first needs the courage to jump.