His love of stepson captures No. 1 spot on TikTok with #MyBoy
By Preshias Harris
Elvie Shane knows just how much dedication and hard work (and patience!) it takes to see one of your songs eventually begin to climb the charts. The Billboard Country Airplay chart for October 16 shows Elvie’s “My Boy” jumping in at No. 56. The song also tops Billboard’s “Most Added” chart that lists the songs added to the playlists of Country Radio stations nationwide.
- Watch Elvie perform a ‘Live in Studio’ version of “My Boy” at YouTube here.
Due to the continuing corona virus, Elvie and BBR Music Group reimagined the traditional radio tour. The innovative approach involves customized, high-quality live-streamed, full-band performances and video chats, which deliver extraordinary experiences for the viewer and will likely become the model of radio tours for the foreseeable future. For six weeks straight, Elvie has performed roughly five full-band shows per day—miraculously maintaining his stamina, gaining believers and setting the bar high for future newcomers.
The song also leapt to No. 1 on TikTok’s Country chart with well over 775 million uses of #MyBoy and more than 1.5 million streams in the USA alone. You can see a few of the posted TikTok videos here.
No overnight success
This achievement is no overnight success – either for “My Boy” or for Elvie himself. Growing up in rural Caneyville, KY, Elvie absorbed influences from the Gospel music of his church and the gritty rock music favored by his truck-driving dad.
He credits a professor at Western Kentucky University for encouraging him to develop his creative writing, but, much as he enjoyed listening to music it wasn’t an immediate career choice, particularly as he devoted his attention to providing for his wife and stepson.
After he watched the now-famous Chris Stapleton/Justin Timberlake duet at the 2015 CMA Awards, he saw that his voice and personal style of songwriting might find an outlet in country music. He started performing anywhere he could find a mic.
“One of the best singers I ever heard”
Matt Cooper, one of my ‘kids’ (as I call my clients), is responsible for me meeting Elvie. Matt said, “Hey Momma P, there is a guy we’ve been playing with up at Somerset, Kentucky, and he’s one of the best singers I ever heard. He needs you to watch out for him, because he’s going to be big. His name is Elvie Shane.” I was immediately struck by his unique talent and (equally important) by his unshakable work ethic and determination.
He soon became one of my ‘kids’ and I was able to connect him with other writers while helping him steer clear of some of the pitfalls that can derail a music career before it even starts. His appearance on the 2016 season of American Idol opened him up to a national audience.
In 2018, he self-released “My Boy” (co-written with Russell Sutton, Lee Starr and Nick Columbia) about Elvie’s stepson. The heartfelt song and Elvie’s honest rendition immediately got through to listeners with lyrics such as these:
He ain’t my blood, ain’t got my name/ But if he did I’d feel the same/ I wasn’t there for his first steps/ But I ain’t missed a ball game yet/ And that ain’t ever gonna change/ I could never walk away.”
The video of his performance quickly racked up six million views, leading to a publishing deal with Rome Phrey Publishing. It was this song that drew the attention of Broken Bow Records and, in early 2019, BBR signed him to the label.
- A personal note: one day, Elvie had called me and asked me to have lunch with him. As we set out he turned to me and said that it wasn’t exactly a lunch date. He then told me he was on his way to BBR to sign his record deal and he wanted me to be there with him. It was a very emotional moment for me. My heart swelled with happiness to see the culmination of his hard work and determination as Elvie and the BBR execs signed the record deal.
When the Coronavirus pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, song promotion was just one of the aspects of the music business that was put on hold. As Tom Roland reported in Billboard Country Update (Oct 12, 2020), country radio adopted a “safer posture,” during the early months of the pandemic, playing big hits from the recent past and fun records from established stars, making it hard to ‘break’ new artists.
But now labels are finding new ways to get emerging artists in front of radio programmers, and BBR’s promotion team are proving that with Elvie’s “My Boy” being added to more radio playlists every day.
BBR/Wheelhouse’s creative decision to get Elvie in front of radio decision-makers with customized, personal full-band performances and video chats evidently played a big role in Elvie’s radio airplay gains With the increased radio exposure, #MyBoy sparked a massive jump in TikTok videos too.
Elvie joined an impressive roster of artists at BBR that includes headliners such as Jason Aldean, Dustin Lynch, Chase Rice, Craig Morgan, Jimmie Allen, Lindsay Ell, Kid Rock, Blanco Brown, LOCASH, Runaway June, Billy Ray Cyrus and more.
“‘My Boy’ had me in tears…”
In a story about Elvie posted by MusicRow, Jon Loba, EVP BBR Music Group said, “The first time I heard ‘My Boy’ it had me and our SVP of Promotion, Carson James in tears and it garnered the same reaction from many people throughout the building. As we dug in deeper from there, we got to know Elvie as an accomplished writer and storyteller.”
As Elvie’s story demonstrates, talent is only the beginning. Success means taking the long view: refining songwriting and vocal skills, networking, getting ‘out there,’ taking advantage of down time (such as the pandemic), understanding setbacks are inevitable and part of the journey, and being fully prepared to grasp the opportunity when it presents itself.
BBR Music Group/Wheelhouse Records artist Elvie Shane is managed by Maverick, booked by United Talent Agency and is signed to Nashville based Rome Phrey Publishing. For more information, visit his website and on his page at BBR Music Group.
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com