Shelby Means: Shining in the Spotlight

Shelby Means is comfortable performing. 

That comes from nearly eight years playing bass and singing harmony with the bands Della Mae and Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. But now she’s center stage and in charge as she leads her own band after the release of her first album, simply called Shelby Means.

Shelby with Della Mae:

Shelby with Molly Tuttle:

“There's a lot more responsibility in fronting my own band,” says Means.  “But the more comfortable I can be on stage, the more authentic and real the music comes across.”

The eponymous album showcases Means’s personal writing (all but two of the songs are originals), and the playing of A-team artists including Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Molly Tuttle, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and Billy Strings. It’s only natural that this is a bluegrass album, given that Mean’s father, a banjo player, used to wake her for school by sitting at the foot of her bed playing “Cripple Creek” or “Salty Dog.” That story is told on “5 String Wake-Up Call,” perhaps the most autobiographical song on the album. Other songs tell about growing up in Wyoming, moving away from Nashville, and life on the road.

“5 String Wake-Up Call”:

“I think it's fun to mix it up like that -- to put a little bit of me and my experiences in there, and then just let my imagination run wild sometimes,” she says. “And whatever happens in that world can be fun to uncover.”

Her father’s musical influence went beyond morning banjo serenades. “He would take us to contests and music festivals when we were growing up,” Means remembers. “My brother Jacob plays the mandolin. He started playing when he was eight, and he stuck with that instrument. Unlike me -- I changed instruments. I first started on fiddle and then I switched around to viola, guitar, and then bass. But singing was really a constant for me.”

Means studied music and business at the University of Wyoming but moved to Nashville before graduating. “I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew that I wasn't going to find it in Laramie. And I just wanted to be surrounded by musicians that were better than me,” she says. 

A chance encounter with the guitarist Courtney Hartman, whom she’d come to know at festivals when they were growing up, led to the gig with Della Mae. And after four years with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, Means felt she was ready to step up her game.

“I had a duo with my husband (singer/songwriter Joel Timmons), and that gave me some experience doing stage banter and writing set lists and putting things together,” she says. “And then being in the background and watching how Molly leads a show, and learning from my bandmates Kyle Tuttle and Bronwyn... I feel like all those experiences have led me to this moment where I now get to front my own band.” 

One of the covers on the album is Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.” Means admires the pop star’s music and stagecraft, and might be inspired by the latter, as her own bold onstage fashions go beyond the denim and gingham of her predecessors. 

“Million Reasons” 

“I think it's great, and maybe a way to appeal to a younger audience, and get some of the kids thinking, ‘Oh, we can wear cool clothes and be on stage and play acoustic music!’ If you want to wear a t-shirt and jeans, or if you want to wear rhinestones and high heels, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day -- as long as the music sounds good,” she explains.

Ironically, perhaps, Means started her band after having left Nashville nearly five years ago, relocating to her husband’s home in Charleston, S.C. 

“It doesn’t have the pool of pickers that Nashville has by any means, but thankfully there is still some bluegrass here,” she comments. “And with my life being on the road, it turns out that it didn't really matter where I live, because when I come home, I'm just a little bit on break, you know? And Nashville is a constant hustle. When you're home, it still feels like you're working. So, coming to Charleston feels like the antidote to life on the road. And that was what I needed.”

Means pulls from a select roster of Nashville players when she’s touring, but the core of the band consists of her brother on mandolin and Timmons on guitar. Though she’s performed and recorded Americana music with her husband, she went back to her musical home on her first album.

“It’s paying homage to my roots, and I was inspired by Bronwyn and Molly putting out straight-ahead bluegrass. Or maybe not traditional bluegrass, but very much bluegrass albums,” she muses. “And I wanted to do that, too. A lot of people maybe didn't know that I could sing before I put the record out. I think it was just important for me to leave a stamp in the bluegrass world and say, ‘Hey, I love bluegrass music.’ I'm choosing to make a bluegrass record, and it's important to me, and I hope to be a part of the bluegrass scene for years to come.”

Check out Shelby online at https://www.shelbyleemeans.com.