Daily Discovery: Billy Shaddox, “I Melt, I Howl”

ARTIST:  Billy Shaddox

SONG:  “I Melt, I Howl”

BIRTHDATE:  May 26, 1977

HOMETOWN:  San Diego, California

CURRENT LOCATION:  Gold Hill, Colorado

AMBITIONS:  Be a role model

TURN-OFFS:  Being late, competition, newspaper

TURN-ONS:  Trust, coffee, watercolors, guitars, bicycles, mountains, being surprised, woodworking, the perfect knot, and really cold drinking water

DREAM GIG:  Summertime sunset performance at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, a beautiful venue with great vibes.

FAVORITE LYRIC:  Right now this one is really resonating with me: “I’ll pay the cost if they say I’m lost and it means that I’m totally free” from the song “Jackpot” by the band Jackpot

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW:  John Santos, the only person I know that has had to swim to shore in San Diego for a class from a lobster boat.  He’s not a lobster fisherman.  Why was he on a lobster boat before class?  Why wouldn’t the boat take him to shore?  These are the mysteries that make him so special.

SONG I WISH I WROTE:  “Northwest Passage” by Stan Rogers – This a Capella song captures the desire and hopeless fortitude of an explorer in search of a sea route across the North Country.  It’s a great song about the quest for that which eludes us and it really touches into my love for nautical tales.

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH:  Captain Cook, Abraham Lincoln, Levon Helm, My Grandpa Oscar – who passed away when I was young, John Muir

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE:  Arriving at a Willie Nelson show with my brother to find out the seats printed on our tickets didn’t exist.  We were apologized to, placed in the front row, and asked if our new seats were going to be ok.  Willie was great too.

I WROTE THIS SONG:  Sometimes you need to run, listen closely to the wisdom of the nature world, love like there is nothing to lose, dig deep into your body and produce a howl like a wild animal.  I wrote this song [“I Melt, I Howl”] when I needing all of this.