Biography
shane leslie mattison (aka br chanan) was born in calgary alberta, canada. his parents were from saskatchewan and had him riding horseback there at a young age. he came to believe in the provenance of the great plains, of the heartland. ‘the people i met were honest, real people of faith,” a faith which sustained them - “the faith of our fathers.” he said as well that he knew early on that all was gift and grace.
Its grace that “causes us to catch the breeze of presence, the rain of compassion, and the thunder of truth. even if i, sadly,” he says ” did my damnedest to be as prodigal as i could be!”
its a kind of kris kristofferson or johnny cash outlook. shane might as well have taken his place alongside the highwaymen, with willie and waylon too. he and tom philips of the men of constant sorrow met up by similar happenstance, as he did with john hammond jr. “i played darts with john after my first marriage collapsed so i offered him my cowichan island sweater” which had been a present from his ex-mother-in-law. A time when, in kris’s words, “when no one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor.” And then, by the grace available and the holy sacraments turn to "the Christos" and "begin through the Spirit’s help to walk in the truth and the light, by offering up my life as a burnt sacrifice of love refined in the furnace."
And the songs he left here were testimonies to a higher sense of calling than just a repeated "Gound Hog Day" for romance. it was rather a full circle 'pasajero' for a love that can only be found above… he was called to become a “servant of the authentic spirit.” And he hopes that others too might hear the call as he did:
“Have you had sight of me Jonas my child? Mercy within mercy, within mercy…”
(Thomas Merton)
"I call the songs my babies." After he wrote them, in a few months he got a phone call from Maurice Ginzer, Owner of Canada's Kaos Cafe, Jazz & Blues Niteclub. "They are really quite good!" he surmised, setting Chanan up for a CD Release Night with Calgary's Channel 8 TV filming it for the News next day. "And then on Soundclick, the first four songs went Number 1 on their Internet Billboard Charts. And all on my own living room Roland 8 track recorder. I felt all of a sudden like Brian Wilson."
Then Chanan moved to a tough little Alberta town called Black Diamond for 4 years. "It was very Kristoffersonish: where he sang, "& if booze was just a dime a bottle boy, you couldn't even by the smell. I said, I knew there was somethin' that i liked about this town." In its midst however, with a few successful gigs at "Coyote Moon" and "the Stop," "well I even became the first local artist who played at the town Chinese Cafe, where the popular thing was my Willie Nelson impersonation," (that and his Parker NiteFly and the Roland VG-88 synth on the floor which changed notes on the strings automatically.)
"A symbolic four years and I was outta there. But I learned how a tough town could make me stronger for the things which lay ahead; a little more time doing Ground Hog Day until I was done and burnt to a crisp." And the songs are testimony that "though the world might beat you down, hang in child, because Life, and the Saviour of Life, will lift you up again, like a resurrection bound to come and long overdue…"
"Like other artists who are my heroes, the love expressed come from the stories, amalgamations, and dreams. A big heart I was given. They are poems. I had one true Love that could never be replaced. Her name was Donna and we fell in love in the magical city of Victoria. She actually owned a condo looking out at the Oak Bay Marina. One could hear seals, sea lions, even whales, while we laid in each others arms and two hearts became one. She was irreplaceable and priceless. I Love her today 35 years later, as much as when I first met her…Our story is like the one on "The Notebook."
please note: all songs copyright by shane mattison at the U.S. Library of Congress 2002.
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