10 Questions with ... Shy Carter

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Following an earlier career in Hip-Hop, Shy Carter’s debut single as a Country artist, “Good Love,” is currently climbing the charts. He’s scored numerous previous successes as a songwriter and producer in a variety of genres, including Country. His credits include Charlie Puth’s “One Call Away,” Rob Thomas’ “Someday,” Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue,” Billy Currington’s “It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To,” and several collaborations with Kane Brown, including “Heaven” and “Worldwide Beautiful.” He has also worked with Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Jason Derulo, Meghan Trainor, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez, Toby Mac, Nelly and many more.

1. You’ve has so much success as a songwriter and producer, what has been driving you to pursue the artist path as well? Do you just enjoy being onstage, or want to be able to sing your own songs, or both?

It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid just singing in my room, playing songs and acting like I’ve got a microphone. Just imagining a crowd of people … and girls! I always wanted it. So I just never let up. I just worked hard. And then my first opportunity was just to be producing for other people and writing for other people. I was so blessed not to have to work a nine to five. I was able to make a living doing music in any kind of capacity. [But] it was never just my goal to just become a songwriter or a producer. I always wanted to be an artist. I would still be grateful just to be a songwriter, because that’s a great profession, but inside my soul I was like, “I’ve really, really gotta do this. I’ve gotta swing for the fences when it comes to singing my own songs.”

2. You’ve enjoyed hits in many different genres with your songwriting and production work. When you were thinking about pursuing your artist dream, what made you choose the Country lane?

Country music stole my heart a long time ago. It’s me as a person and who I am. I’m a family man. I’ve got these two beautiful kids. I love living in the country. It’s a lifestyle thing, but also it’s just the sonics of all the beautiful instrumentation, the banjos and slide steel guitars and just such amazing musicianship as opposed to Pop music or something that’s a lot more simplistic. I love the musicianship. I love the storytelling, the love songs, the wholesomeness of it, you know, that it’s just good values. And then also, over time since I’ve been doing it, the genre has expanded so much and started to include even more sounds that I like, the different kinds of beats and grooves. So it’s really just home for me. [There’s] no better place for me to put out music.

3. While most new Country artists were forced to meet radio virtually via their computer screens in 2020, you got on a bus and did a seven-week, socially distanced radio tour playing for just a handful of people at each stop. How did the idea for that begin, and how hard was it to pull off?

The origin came from us deciding to do it for a few people around Nashville first. So we did it in the bed of a truck. We set up a speaker in the bed of the truck and had a guitar. We went out there and sang to a few people, and they loved it so much. It was towards the beginning of the pandemic, and it brought tears to some people’s eyes.

It’s such a phenomenal label that I have, they started thinking like, “We can’t just do Zoom with Shy. Maybe we can take that [truck bed] idea and do it on a bigger scale.” I don’t know how many people really thought that they were actually going to be able to pull it off with all the guidelines and restrictions and all that, but man, they pulled it off! They brought the bus out here [to my home]. We practiced out here, and we got a great crew of people and went out.

I’ll tell you, it was actually one of the best times of my life, really great camaraderie with everybody that was out there together. We were all happy to be doing something. You would think it’s not the best to just perform for three people or whatever, but it was still great and fun for me because I could just interact with them and talk to them, and I really don’t have much of a problem with that.

4. Long before “Good Love” was a Country radio single, it got a lot of exposure from SiriusXM, where you were a “Highway Find” artist last year. How important was that in launching the single?

That was game changing for me. Just for them to give me that kind of support was such a blessing. I’m so grateful to them, And shoot, it just is a dream come true to be a “Highway Find.” Amazing.

5. You’ve had quite a few successful collaborations with Kane Brown, but “Worldwide Beautiful” is one that really stands out. Can you talk about writing that song and the inspiration behind it?

Yes. It was [written] like a whole year before all this crazy stuff happened in the world. And so, thank God, we had it to put it out right at that moment. Kane and are similar in the fact that we both come from biracial backgrounds, a white mother and a black father. And so we’ve seen this divide, and always wanted everybody to kind of be more cohesive, because we’re in the middle, so we want everybody to get along and hang out together. That will be the best life, just unity. So we just had this idea, “Worldwide Beautiful.”

I kind of thought maybe it could be just another love song, but Kane brought up the idea of making it a deeper concept. He wanted to say something about white churches and black churches, but in the end, the result is the same. We’re all going in the same direction. We’re all human beings. We can’t change that. I just thought that was amazing that he was willing to do that and wanted to go there, because that’s actually one thing I’ve experienced in my life … As a family, we always tried to find a church that just was more diverse, and it wasn’t an easy thing. So, I love to see more of that, of everybody just being together and hanging out together. I think that’s just so beautiful. That’s how we all learn from each other, and [how] we can progress as a human species.

6. Like “Worldwide Beautiful,” your single “Good Love” is a song that has such a positive message that’s so needed right now. Is that another one that you wrote way before these crazy times and it just kind of ended up rising to meet the moment?

Yes, it was. It was just something that we wrote because of us all having gone through our personal things. My guy [co-writer] Carlo [Colasacco], his fiancée had passed away, and he had gone to the hospital with her for years. She had cystic fibrosis, and the story that he told was just so heartbreaking and heartwarming that he was such a friend to her and a lover to her through that time. That stuff just poured out into the music. What everybody had gone through poured out into the music. We were trying to figure out what song we should put out. Then the pandemic hit, and we’re like, “Man, we’ve got to put ‘Good Love’ out because that’s what people need right now.”

7. There’s a quote from you where you said that song is a perfect representation of who you are as an artist. In what way does “Good Love” song encapsulate who you are?

It’s just the uplifting spirit of it. There’s so many comments people have made where they’re like, “Man, I was having a bad day or a bad week, and I heard this song and it just really brought a smile to my face.” That’s the kind of person that I want to be like. When somebody meets me, I want them to say, “Man, no matter what I was going through, you put a smile on my face. You brought that good love.” To me, it’s like the light that can only come from the creator, that could only come from God. Just pure love, no matter what, unconditional. I’m trying to be that kind of person, I just want to spread positivity.

Music is intentional. We go in there and we make it, so we can make whatever we want. I want my life to be like that, too. To not focus on the negatives, because we could write about that all day long, too. That’s never as rewarding as just going about spreading the positive message.

8. In industry terms, you’re a “new” artist, even though you’ve been in the game for a while as a songwriter/producer. Do you feel “new,” or more like a veteran at this point?

I feel like a new artist. I do. I just feel like I got new life right now. I’ve been through stages in my life, and I’m at a stage where I’m really focused and I’m really clear. I think it’s just the best time. I feel like I could have come out as an artist earlier, but I’m much more prepared for it now. I’ve learned so much in the business. I’ve learned so much about writing. And I feel brand new, baby, I feel ready to go!

9. Looking back over your body of work and all the songs that you’ve had cut by other people, do you have a couple of favorites?

There’s a trifecta [of songs that] speak to where I am as a person now, coming to this place. They all have happened around the same time. And it’s the songs “Worldwide Beautiful,” “God Whispered Your Name” by Keith Urban, and “Good Love.” Those are my three favorites.

They all are powerful and important for different reasons. We talked about “Worldwide Beautiful,” and being able to get that message across without being corny. “God Whispered Your Name” is just so special to me. Just the way that that song came out, and the way that Keith performed and produced it is really touching to me. And it’s got a similar message to “Good Love.” It’s like the person in that song was just down and couldn’t find his way, couldn’t bear his cross, cold and lost, and then God whispered your name.

And “Good Love” is, melodically and musically, just a song I feel is gonna last a long time.

10. In just hearing you converse, and cite your own lyrics, I’m struck by how often you’ve mentioned God. And you have the words “Amen” and “Holy” tattooed on your hands. How much does your spirituality infuse your songwriting?

It’s actually everything to me. I’ve gone through stages and I’ve gone through a lot of tests with that, and I’ve had to fight a lot of battles. But the only way I can see it is that God has just allowed me to go through these things, and he wants me to spread light. He wants me to spread the message that God is love, and that he’s gonna love you no matter what. There’s nothing that you can do that he won’t love you. I feel like music is such a spiritual thing, and it can be used to spread good and also to spread not so good … I feel like it’s a very important responsibility with the music to spread light and love.

The “Good Love” music video is so sweet, especially because of the appearance of your two children in there. How did they feel about being in that video?

They’re such a major part of my life, so they’re always with me. I was putting everybody else in there too, so of course I will put my kids in there. I really want them to be a part of everything that I’m doing … [But] I actually had to pay my son to get in it. I had to give him $20, I think. [Laughs] It was one of those tired moments, it was kind of early and I knew I wasn’t gonna get a good performance out of him, so I had to think fast.

Finally, tell us three fun facts about Shy Carter.

1) I like to just go jump on [my] horses bareback out here and just see where they’re gonna take me. I have fallen off, too. 2) We already know I keep my kids with me all the time. Is that a fun fact? I love my kids so much. I always want to be with them. They’re the joy of my life. 3) I love to eat good, organic, healthy food straight out of the garden. We’ve got a big old garden out here when it’s warmer with zucchini and watermelon and kale. I would love to just live all the way off the land.