Shawn Lane – Way Beyond Music  by Scott Quinn

Moving to California in the early ‘80s opened a lot of doors for me.  While working for Charvel/Jackson Guitars, I got to do a series of clinics featuring various “famous” guitar players. One such guitarist was Alex Masi. Alex had been in this country from Italy a short time before he started making quite a name for himself in the “shredding circle”. I had scheduled a clinic in San Diego, stopped by his home in Studio City to pick him up, but he was running late. So he told me to sit down, relax and popped a video into the VCR for me to watch while he got ready.

What came on the screen next forever changed my outlook on guitar playing and life.  My jaw dropped and I was speechless! There, on the screen was a guy wailing on the guitar with a drummer and backing keys and bass tracks! He was destroying the guitar in a way I hadn’t seen before. Soon, Alex came into the room and asked me what I thought of the video. I could not speak, and he just started laughing. “I was speechless too the first time I saw him play,” he admitted.

The guitarist in the video was Shawn Lane.  Lane was Memphis born and played guitar with Black Oak Arkansas at the tender age of fourteen. Then, at eighteen he got bored with touring and the guitar. Over the next eight years he studied music and composing on his own and mainly worked on playing piano and became as proficient on that instrument as he had been on guitar. I couldn’t believe no one had signed him, or that he was not better known! I asked Alex if he had his phone number. Then the next day I called Shawn, introduced myself, and told him I wanted him to endorse our guitars and wondered if he would! He said, “Sure, I like your guitars and it would be great to work with you!”

Shawn and I spent a lot of time together from that time on and I got to know him quite well.

Then one day out of the blue, he asked me to manage him! I had never managed anyone, but I agreed to do it. One of the first things I did was to contact Guitar Player Magazine. They were celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a big bash at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and I got Shawn invited to play.

The event was a “who’s who” of guitars players. Frank Gambale, Steve Morse, Steve Smith, Adrian Belew, Greg Allman, Adrian Legg and many others were present. Shawn’s performance that night had all of them drooling! Back stage after the show, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter asked Shawn what he thought about finally being in the spotlight. Shawn quietly replied, “Well I still can’t believe I’m here and right now surrounded by all my guitar heroes!” The Cars guitarist Elliot Easton said, “Yeah, right Shawn, like any one of us here plays anything near what you play!” There was a short silence. Then Shawn started to laugh with this little grin on his face! It was priceless.

Sadly, Shawn passed away from lung-related illness on September 26, 2003 and for all his ability on guitar and as a composer, he shied away from the spotlight and all its accolades. He leaves us with a reputation as a speed monster, and, indeed, he could play faster than just about anyone. But he never wanted to be pigeonholed in that category. Shawn lived his life in a quest for knowledge. He was a maestro in his ability to convey thoughts and feelings, and his songs were all journeys that took you in a multitude of directions. Ultimately, Shawn was a musician who was forever altering his voice in the quest to grow and explore new territory. As bassist Barry Bays remembers, “Shawn put his whole life into his music, and he always felt that if you didn’t live life, then life wasn’t going to come out in your music. Obviously he had a lot of technique, but there was some kind of spirit coming from him that you could feel all around you—and it was something way beyond music.”