“Affable and unpretentious” would sum up Tony James Shevlin perfectly, yet this UK-based Anglo-Irish musician has a musical pedigree that would have gone to a lesser man’s head. It’s not often you’ll have a solo guitarist playing a small venue who can introduce his next song and casually mention “this was the International Anthem of Peace chosen by Amnesty International” or “I wrote this one for REM”. However, as he starts to play, the tune and lyrics have that rare quality of true originality and you wonder why you’ve never heard of this singer-songwriter before. Tony’s been a professional musician for most of his adult life, and has performed around the world, from Europe to Russia, Africa, America, the Middle East, Australia… in fact it would be quicker for him to tell you where he hasn’t been. In between songs he’ll tell you of times spent in a cell with Shane McGowan singing in his ear or some of his many other tales from a life spent in music.
On his travels, he’s played with top flight musicians such as Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello, Neil Finn, Sheryl Crow), Mike Casswell (Brian May Band, Cozy Powell Band), Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega), Justin Hildreth (Joan Armatrading, Thomas Dolby), Tim Bye (Tony Hadley, Martin Fry) and Spy Austin (Desmond Dekker, Style Council). He’s also recorded with producers such as Colin Fairley (The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Elvis Costello, The Bluebells), Robin Millar (Sade, David Gray) and Jim Abbiss (Kasabian, Adele, Arctic Monkeys). Tony’s work has been featured on national ad campaigns (for BT), recorded at BBC’s Maida Vale Studios, performed at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and played on BBC Radio 5 Live. Dues, as they say, have been paid. Tony chats with Slacker.