Shane Alexander: “Forever Songs” (2025) CD Review

The Americana West Music Festival 2024 had an excellent lineup, which included Shane Alexander on the first day. He was on my list to see in part because of Carl Byron, who was sitting in with him on keys. I’ve learned to pay attention to projects that Carl Byron is attached to, and Shane Alexander’s set that day ended up being one of the highlights. He focused his set on new material, and I made myself a note to be sure to get a copy of that album. That album, titled Forever Songs, will be released soon. It features all original material, written or co-written by Shane Alexander. On these tracks, Shane plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards and glockenspiel. He is joined by Carl Byron on piano, organ and keyboards; Vic Ruiz on bass guitar and upright bass; Fernando Sanchez on drums and percussion; and Jesse Siebenberg on pedal steel, lap steel, fretless guitar, dobro, mandolin, organ and percussion. Justine Bennett, Jamie Drake and Paulo Coelho provide backing vocals. And there are a couple of special guests.

The album opens with “You Make Your Own Luck,” one of the songs Shane Alexander played at the Americana West Music Festival. At the time I thought he’d said he’d written it with Danny McGough, and erroneously wrote that in my review of the concert. But I misheard him. It was co-written by singer/songwriter Danny McGaw. The song begins with a somewhat lonesome sound, perhaps evoking a barren landscape. Chris Pierce joins him on harmonica and backing vocals on this track. “Some things in life you can never get past/Trust and believe, let it come around/In a world that’ll tell you who you are/It’s harder than it sounds/You make your own luck, you find your own way/It’s never too late, you can start again.” Those lines stood out for me when I saw him perform this song, and I find them even more meaningful and relevant now. I love the way this song grows, with the backing vocals, and the way it offers encouragement. We’re going to need this, especially in the coming weeks and months and years, as the country flounders and breaks into pieces. It’s happening already. Hang on, friends.

“All alone, we wait at home/Afraid to face the world outside,” Shane sings at the beginning of “Autumn Blue.” Those lines make me think back to the early days of the pandemic, when things were shut down and fear settled over us, but they also seem to address how many of us feel now. What is this country going to be? It seems unclear, at best. Shane follows those first two lines by singing, “Feel like going for a ride,” which is interesting. Afraid to face the world, but wanting to go for a ride. But it makes sense. My girlfriend and I have been eager for a road trip, even as worry grips us. “Dying on the couch, watching the world going south.” There is a beauty to this song, and that beauty ends up being part of a positive bent, heard in lines like “Won’t be swallowed by the undertow” and “I need love around me.” Having love around us seems to be the answer.

At the beginning of “Sweet Melody,” Shane sings of the magic of music itself. “Sometimes the simplest song can ease my mind/Bring me to the moment and leave the past behind.” This song tells of the power of music, the power of words – at least of an honest word. Music can do so much. It can help us deal with the past, help us face it, even help us revisit it. And, as he asserts here, it can help us leave it behind.  “You don’t have to be alone as the night is growing colder/Just be here with me ‘til the dawn comes streaming in/And we’ll find a way to face the day again.”  He repeats that last line, and it’s one that bears repeating. This song was written by Shane Alexander and Jenny Van West. “Ballad Of The Troubadour” is also about music, but from a different angle. This one is about a traveling musician, about that moment when he hits the stage. “He reminds himself it’s worth the sacrifice.” This song was co-written by Ted Russell Kamp, who included his own recording of it on his 2024 album California Son. The song celebrates the musicians, while also having a tinge of melancholy, as an early line mentions, “It’s a melancholy werewolf kind of life.” This is another song that Shane Alexander performed at the festival. “A song that lasts forever/Can make the world just a little better.” Yes!

“Whole Lotta Stars” begins on the road, as the song’s character checks out of a motel, alone. And of course we still have the troubadour of the previous song in our mind. “Always on the run’s no way of living your life/No way of living your life.” So this song looks at being on the road from a different angle from the previous track. “Maybe there’s an answer/Beyond the next rise/Maybe there’s a purpose/Behind every goodbye.” And then some pretty backing vocals join him, and so the sense of loneliness is lessened. The percussion has a positive feel to it too. This song was written by Shane Alexander and Clayton Joseph Scott. And speaking of something positive, the next song, “Something Good,” begins with this line: “Someday soon you’re gonna find what you’re after.” I appreciate that the word “soon” is in that line, because it turns the word “someday” into something more positive. For as Steve Owen once told us, “It’s a different kind of cursing, but ‘someday’ is the dirtiest word.” Shane Alexander offers a friendly voice reaching us from across what might look like a harsh landscape these days. “Someday soon something good is gonna come/So hard to keep on trying/When you feel like the dream’s dying out.” He encourages us, “Hold on/A little longer/‘Til the light starts coming through.” This music is making me feel good, and that might be precisely what we need of music in the coming days. This track features some nice work on steel guitar. This is one of my personal favorites. It was written by Shane Alexander and Judy Blank. “All those tears can’t keep falling forever.”

“A Heart Like Mine” is a song stood out for me when I saw Shane perform last summer. It’s a beautiful song, written by Shane Alexander, Vanessa Olivarez and Elizabeth Elkins. “But I won’t wait any longer/This feeling’s getting stronger/No use trying, you can’t hold back the tide.” This track features an excellent, passionate vocal performance, and some really nice work on keys and electric guitar. That’s followed by another pretty song, “Love Finds A Way.” “But when you touch me, you make me mountain high/You’re the one thing keeping me alive/Love finds a way in the land of forgiving,” Shane sings here. It always comes back to love, and I suppose it always should. As for forgiving, I wish I were stronger, but there are people I fear I can never forgive. This track also contains some gorgeous backing vocal work. The album then concludes with “Higher Than High.” At the beginning of this one, Shane sings, “Wrap your arms around me now, my love/Anytime you feel like giving up/And in time we’ll see/That we can be/Above the pain of history/And get back to what we were dreaming of.” Those are lines that I’m going to hold onto. I know each of us takes song lyrics and applies them to our own situations. For me, those lines urge us to separate ourselves from the horrid sickness taking over the country, and instead pursue our dreams, to not let the horrors divert us from what we should be doing, to get above it somehow. This one builds in power toward the end, and includes some very cool work by Tommy Schneller on saxophone. I also really like the bass line. “Tomorrow is the dream we’ve yet to face/Together we will build it day by day.”

CD Track List

1. You Make Your Own Luck
2. Autumn Blue
3. Sweet Melody
4. Ballad Of The Troubadour
5. Whole Lotta Stars
6. Something Good
7. A Heart Like Mine
8. Love Finds A Way
9. Higher Than High

Forever Songs is scheduled to be released on April 4, 2025.