Acclaimed singer, songwriter, musician, and producer David Shaw (The Revivalists) chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about his new solo album and latest single “Got Me Feeling Good.”
His debut self-titled studio album will be released on May 7 via his own imprint Yokoko Records in partnership with C3 Records.
On the song selection approach for the new record, he said, “I’ve been doing a lot of co-writing and also writing on my own. I’ve been thinking of doing a solo album for a while now.”
He listed the song “Place” as his personal favorite song from the new record. “It’s the last song on the album and it’s really special to me,” he admitted. “I want people to go to their special ‘place’ when listening to the song and I want to take people there, whatever their happy place is.”
Shaw’s latest single “Got Me Feeling Good” offers a celebration of hope and finding passion as a means for escape from the heaviness of the world and is accompanied by a music video that celebrates a personal passion of David’s, roller skating, and highlights the impressive skills of Bobby Bonsey and Javan “Slick Twist” Hawthorne. “I was out in California and I was doing a lot of writing there,” he said. “I was listening to a lot of Beck, David Bowie, and Sublime.”
“The emotional state I was in made me want to make a song that was like medicine for me, and that’s how the song ‘Got Me Feeling Good’ came about. Hopefully, it will resonate with the fans in the same way. While I write music for myself, I also do it for the fans, the purpose is twofold,” he added.
Shaw revealed that his music and songwriting are inspired by everything from the situations that he finds himself in to past situations that he is pulling from to movies that he watches and books that he reads. “My writing is very autobiographical,” he said. “I try to hide a little bit of mystery in my writing, and sometimes a little fiction will make its way in there. It’s very much ‘me’ but I also love to write a good story.”
He just announced a series of livestream performances via Mandolin that will take place every Friday at 9 p.m. EST. These livestreams will kick off on May 7 from Chicago’s iconic venue, The Metro, in an effort to celebrate the release of his forthoming eponymous album.
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he responded, “The Origins of Joy.”
He defined the word success as “inner happiness” in life.
Recently, Shaw had a pair of pants on display in the “Right Here, Right Now” exhibit at the hallowed Rock & Roll Hall of Fame featured alongside items from Beyonce, The Weeknd, and Harry Styles.
Shaw listed Stevie Wonder, Robert Plant, and Joni Mitchell, as the artists that he would love to someday work with as his dream collaboration choices in music. “I would also like to do something with Citizen Cope, I love him,” he said.
For his fans, he concluded about the new solo album, “I hope they put it on and they can press play, leave it in and just feel good. I want to pick them up, take them down but not too far. I want them to get an abundance of joy from listening to these songs. I want them to feel like there is someone there with them going through all of the things that they are.”
To learn more about David Shaw and his music, follow him on Instagram and his Linktree page.
