Biography

There’s a powerful sweet spot at the juncture where rock’n’roll and country intersect, giving the music that results a double-whammy that can’t be denied. The Austin, Texas-based band Shurman hits that bulls-eye dead on packing a powerful punch of rock crunch, soulful grooves and deeply-rooted country twang. The songs breathe the truth of real life experiences and emotions, and reside within the common themes that are a part of everyone’s lives.

The foursome’s new album for Sustain Records, Still Waiting for the Sunset, is a smoking 12-song tour de force that blends the best of heartland rock with a deep grounding in the finest country traditions. It blasts off with the propulsive kick of the regular guy existentialism of “Is It True” and wraps up with the blistering twang and statement of musical purpose of “Three Chords.” And in between one finds everything that a fan of real American music with a Southern accent holds dear: songs about life, love, people and places that speak to the human heart and soul with sincerity and conviction, and potent music that can lift the spirit as well as drown any sorrows. It is rich with tales and thoughts we can all relate to and music that’s as warm and welcoming as the company of a deal friend and also as bracing and intoxicating as your favorite nightcap at last call. Or in short, it’s the best elements of real rock’n’roll and true country united in a potent, persuasive and emotive set of songs, driven by the impassioned vocals of singer, songwriter and guitarist Aaron Beavers.

Co-produced by Beavers and Danny White, Still Waiting for the Sunset was tracked at Nashville’s 16 Tons Studios and Austin’s Premium Recording. Joining the band on the sessions are such luminaries as steel guitar legend Al Perkins (known for his work with The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Gram Parsons and a host of others), Robert Reynolds of The Mavericks and rising Memphis soul singing star Susan Marshall on background vocals, and former Wilco/Uncle Tupelo drummer Ken Coomer on percussion.

At the heart of Shurman are the voice and songs and as well as faith in music and artistically ambitious tenacity of Beavers, who founded the band in Los Angeles in 2000. Since then Shurman have built a dedicated grassroots following over the course of two self-released EPs and a live platter plus what Amazon.com calls their “exuberant album-length debut,” the aptly titled Jubilee on Vanguard Records in 2005, as well as some 200 road dates a year. Now with Waiting for the Sunset and a dream team of such killer players as bassist Keith Hanna, lead guitarist Jesse Duke and drummer Nick Amoroso behind Beavers, the group stands ready to fulfill All Music Guide’s prediction that its “songwriting and synchronicity will carve out a distinct place for the band on the contemporary music scene.”

Along the way Shurman has been declared “L.A.’s undisputed favorite” by The Los Angeles Times in an article on the city’s burgeoning country-rock revival. CMT has touted the group in a half-hour Close-Up feature program and used its song “I Got U Babe (Pt. 3)” as theme music for the channel and in promo commercials for its 2006 CMT Music Awards. House of Blues tapped Shurman for its annual “One To Watch” program that previously helped usher such acts as Kanye West, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Radiohead, Gavin DeGraw, Travis and other notables to stardom.

Beavers was all but born if not fated to lead this mission to bring country-rock into the forefront and back to prominence. The son of a musician turned pilot and a singer mom, young Aaron was captured in a family video at barely a year old totally transfixed by his uncle playing guitar amidst a lively family Christmas celebration. Growing up in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, he was weaned by his dad and uncles on classic rock like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top as well as Sly & The Family Stone and 1960s soul and such country music legends as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard. Johnny Cash and many more, to cite but a few notables within his blue ribbon musical tutelage.

After his family moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area in his teens (correct?), Beavers started his first bands with Shurman founding drummer Damon Allen. His rock and country roots began to resonate when he hit college at Arizona State University, where he played in a duo with noted Americana singer-songwriter Josh Rouse and then started the band Shut Eyed Smile, a popular live attraction within a vibrant Arizona scene that included The Meat Puppets and Gin Blossoms. Post-college travels took Beavers through Denver and then to Maui, where he learned to surf and wrote some 100 songs before landing in Los Angeles and reuniting with Allen to start Shurman.

Over the last decade the band has built a “reputation as a live powerhouse” (Amazon.com) that has scorched its music into the hearts and minds of a mushrooming cadre of followers that is about to hit critical mass. They’ve also garnered reams of press raves and won such advocates as Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ted Nugent and John Popper of Blues Traveler.

Along the way the Shurman line-up has coalesced into a solid dream team of talented, dedicated and like-minded musicians. Cleveland, Ohio native Keith Hanna not only shines on electric and upright bass but also sings and plays Dobro. Lead guitarist Jesse Duke hails from Minneapolis, and is a resource for Austin’s Fulton-Webb Amplifiers where he designs and builds some of the finest classic-style tube guitar amps on the planet. Californian Nick Amoroso came in following Allen’s departure on drums.

“It’s like a whole new chapter,” says Beavers of the group today as it soars into its next decade. Making music that melds “the energy of alternative rock with the sensibility of alternative country” (Tucson Weekly), Shurman has evoked comparisons to such monumental bands as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and even The Rolling Stones. As the Phoenix New Times declares, “I defy anyone not to love this band.”