BobbyCast Presents: Unsigned & Independent: BONUS - Shane Profitt on Taking a Chance in Life

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Speaker 1: Welcome into the bonus episode of Unsigned and Independent. This is Kevin O'Connell and today something a little different. We have Shane Profit on him. Shane is not unsigned or independent. He does have a deal, but he is still so fresh in the industry and his life has changed so much in the last year and I wanted to get him on to tell his story. I heard about him about six months ago from Chris Jansen, and Chris Jansen is the guy who discovered him or he discovered Chris and then they kind of made a relationship. And you'll hear the story. It's awesome. Make sure you follow Shane on social media as well at the Shane Profit follow me at kickoff. Kevin again, this is the bonus episode to Unsigned and Independent. I appreciate you listening, and here you go. You're gonna really enjoy this with Shane Profit. Shane, how you doing today? I am great, man. How are you? I'm doing great, doing great as a well, it's good to see you. Excited to be here, very excited to be here. I'm excited to have you man. And I don't know if you remember I wanted to say this for here. We actually met about six months ago or so at a Chris Jensen album release party, and I remember Chris was telling me, he was like, Hey, the Shane guy, watch out for Shane, watch out for Shane everything. He's gonna blow up. He just met him, you know, maybe six months before that. So I know you're you're kind of the story of Chris Jensen, how you met him, has gotten out there a little bit, and if you could, if you're not tired of telling it yet, if you could tell that story and what your life has been like just in the last twelve months. Either I had a gig this particular weekend at a place called Puckets in Columbia, uh, just south of here. So nowhere in Columbia, Tennessee sells guitar strings. That's where I was born and raised, That's where I currently live, and we don't have a music shop at all. Anytime I need guitar strings, I have to come to Franklin. That's the closest guitar center to where I live. So I've been talking with this girl back and forth. I knew I wanted to take her out. So I had a gig that weekend. I didn't have any strings. I needed to get strings. So I was gonna try to make a date out of going to get guitar strings. So I called her and I said, hey, I gotta go to you know, guitar center. Do you want to go with me and I take you out to eat. We'll make a date out of it. She said yeah. So we make that, you know, forty forty five minute drive up to guitar Center and Franklin and Um, I run in, I get my guitar strings and come back out half in the truck. And I told her, I said, hey, you know, I told you I wasn't gonna starve you what you want to eat while we're up here, And she said, well, I you know, Shane, I really like sushi. Now. My stomach immediately kind of started turning. Whenever I think of sushi, I think of um almost like fishing bait. You know. It's just the thought of putting raw fish in my mouth just kind of turns my stomach. But I was a gentleman that night, and I punched in the closest sushi restaurant on my phone, and it was it took me to a place about four miles down the road, and we get there, I park and we go to we go to walk in, and Chris Jansen holds the door format when we go to walk in, and you recognize it. Oh, absolutely absolutely, because I had been to seven concerts my whole life, and to see Chris Jansen was five of the seven. Yeah. So at that point, I'm nervous and I'm excited. I'm about as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. And I didn't want to say anything, you know, at first. So they go and they set us, and um, they set us as far apart as you can possibly sit. He's sitting right by the door and we're in the back corner. They come get our drink, shoulders and and everything, and I asked the girl that I'm with what I need to order, and she says, well, you might try spicy tuna roll. You might like that. They bring it out. I took one bite of it and I absolutely hated it. I waded it up in the napkin, put you know, put the waded up napkin on the plates so that the plate forward. I was done. So I had all this time to think about how I was gonna approach Chris Jansen, because at that point, I had been writing songs maybe a year. I was writing all these songs. Um, a lot of times I would take my guitar to work, and as soon as I would get off work, I would drive Nashville and right with whoever would write with me. Anyways, I noticed that it's one of those places where they bring you your ticket and put it face down on the table, slide it to you, and whenever you get done eating, you get up and you go and pay it the cash register. Right, So I had all this time to think about it, so I had it in my mind. I had it planned up where whenever I saw Chris Jansen stand up to go pay after he was done eating, I was just so happy to be paying right behind him, and you know, I could introduce myself that way, he wouldn't be with his family. I wouldn't be interrupted dinner. And um, was that the only thing on your mind? I mean, let's be honest here, when you, oh, absolutely, do you even have like a normal conversation with her? No? At one point she even said, hey, are you okay? Yeah? Because I mean I was you gotta you gotta realize, man, I was straight a stalker status like Chris Jansen, Like I'm I'm hardcore creeping across the restaurant, Like, is this the one artist that if you could see how it would be Chris Jansen like that, you would hope for absolutely absolutely as a country music and as an artist itself too. And this is who you're in the same sushi restaurant which you never go to. Yeah, I'd never been just never been to a sushi That's that's awesome. Okay, well continue, Yeah, Chris, Chris is hands down, um the one person. If I I couldn't have wrote it up any better, I'll say that. So I see Chris Jansen stand up and boom. I grabbed the ticket, I grabbed the girl. I'm like, come on, this is my chance. So we get to walking across the restaurant and we get about halfway to Chris and he sits right back down, and I'm like, oh gosh, what am I gonna do now? Because I mean, I'm standing all awkward in the middle of the restaurant. Everybody's kind of looking at me like what in the world is this guy doing? So I'm like, well, I'm halfway committed at this point. I'm just gonna go for it. So I go up to the table and I kneel down right beside him, and I introduced myself and told him what a fan I was, and um that it would mean the world to me if he would take the time to listen to some of my originals. And before he could even say anything, his wife, Kelly was sitting right beside him, and she spoke up and she said, Hey, I'm Kelly. I'm Chris's wife. I'm his manager, and I'm also a music publisher. I would love to listen to the songs. Is is that a receipt you're holding in your hand. I write my email down on the back of it, and you can send me some songs. And I promise you when we leave here, we'll listen to him. I said, yes, ma'am, that would be great. Oh man, Kelly and Chris both they are I call him the power couple. I mean, dude, they are just go, go go, and they are the nicest human beings you'll ever meet in your life. Agree, And they go so well together. No, no, yeah, they do. You know it's do it's they go so well together. And I think they jell so well together at the That's why he's successful, she's successful. It's absolutely really have one without the other in a combination of both of them. It's yeah, it's the a team. Yeah. I mean, like even even whenever Chris goes out of state and you know, flies to these shows or whatever. If he's in in Pennsylvania for one night, he has a show there and flies there, his wife and kids are gonna be there like that. That's another thing. Man like Chris is a hands down family man and that's that's why I respect him so much. Um, they've all changed my life. And dude, that I mean, I look at him like family now. So that's awesome. And then so you get the email. Oh yeah, yeah, so um she said, hey, is that a receipt you're holding in your hand. I'll write my email down on the back of it and you can send me some songs. And I said, yes, ma'am, that would be great. And I'm cheeseing ear to ear, you know, I'm smiling. And Chris immediately looked at me and he said, did you just say yes, ma'am? And I said, yes, sir, I did, and he said, I liked that a lot. Pull up a chair and talk to me. So I did, and we sat there at that sushi restaurant, at their table, and we talked for over an hour that night about music. I mean, so it started off. I didn't want to just go up to him, you know, whenever I pulled that chair up, I didn't just want to music. Music, music. I didn't want to talk about that. UM. So we started talking about hunting. We started talking about fishing because I knew he was a big outdoorsman. Um. And then you know, later on in the conversation the music and the songwriting came about. Literally if you could imagine it, we talked about it. That night. We talked about everything under the sun at that sushi restaurant. I actually I ended up getting his phone number that night too. So we sat there and we talked for like over an hour. And actually the girl that I was with, she goes back and finishes her sushi role while I'm sitting here talking to Chris. Yeah, because I didn't even let her finish eating, Because when I saw Chris stand up, I was like, Hey, this is my chance. Bless her heart. She was only like halfway done eating, which I mean, honestly, I didn't really give her time to be upset because I mean I was just so aled in, but um, not that it would matter anyway. Yeah, I mean, yeah it worked out. Um after sitting there for I don't it was at least an hour. Um, I got up and I told him, I said, hey, man, thank you for taking the time to talk with me. It really does mean a lot. You made my night. And I also told him, I said, man, you also, you know, you gotta realize I don't even eat sushi. I can't help but think that it was a god thing that you held that door for me when we walked in, like it it's all part of a bigger, you know, bigger plan, like you're my I am a huge, huge Chris Jansen fan like you. You don't understand did you have trouble trying to find not to be too much of a fan boy but also keeping a normal conversation or did it kind of just come my biggest thing? And actually the girl that I was with, she she asked me, She was like, hey, do you want me to get a picture of y'all? And I was like no, And I can honestly say to this day, I still not asked Chris Jansen for a picture. I ended up getting up and shaking his hand in telling him how much you know, it meant to me. He took the time to talk with me and told him I thought it was a god thing that we were both there that night. And um, I go to walk off, and he's like, hey, hey, we're we're done eating too, Like we'll just walk out together. So we ended up walking out together, and they had like this little patio set up outside because the restaurant had already closed, they were just staying open because we were sitting there talking, And we go to walk out and we sit down at the little outdoor patio part and we sit there and we talked for another through thirty at least thirty forty five minutes. So I had been talking with my musical hero for an hour and forty five minutes. So I mean, I'm I'm on cloud nine. And um we sit there and we talk and we talk and we talk, and it gets time to leave, and UM, I go and I unlocked my truck and I go to hop in my truck and you know kind of like before you close the door, how you might have like one leg hanging out right before you close the door. Well, it was like that, and I see Chris running up to my window, and I had my key in the ignition. I just hadn't turned my truck on yet, and I didn't want to close the close the door in Chris Jansen's face. So I go and I turned the key on and I pressed the window to roll down, and as soon as I do that, my bluetooth automatically kicked back onto what was playing on my phone when I got there originally, and it was a song off of his first ever album, and it was absolutely blaring, and I was so embarrassed. I was like, oh, dude, I'm so sorry, Like that wasn't playing, I promised, And he could see how embarrassed I was, and he thought it was hilarious and he was like, dude, don't worry about it. That's that's amazing. He said, hey, let me see your phone. So I handed in my phone and he punched in his contact information, put his number in there, and he said, all right, text me, and I said, okay, I will, and he said, no, text me right now, dinghis that way, I have your number two. So I texted him that way, he had my phone number, and before we got out of the parking lot that night he texted me. I mean as soon as he got back to his car, he texted me and he said, hey, Shane, super good to meet you. Um, when you said I made your night, you got to know that you made mine when you said it was a god thing that really touched my heart. And so from that day on we've we've been best friends. And like I said, I look at all the Jansens like family and Um. Two weeks after that night and I sent those songs and everything, Chris offered me a publishing deal and asked me to come out on the halfway to Crazy two are an open for him in two weeks. In two weeks, just like did you have any idea or did you have any doubt when you left that night? Like not not doubt as in you know, Chris is a genuine guy, but like, Okay, that was awesome, but I don't know if I'll ever see him again. Well yeah, yeah I did, um. But at the same time, first impressions are everything for me. And I could tell that Chris and and Kelly and and their family, it's a lot like mine. They are just normal people living a not so normal life. Um. In a in a way. You know, I can, I can normally normally smell bs, you know before I step in it, and I could tell that they were as real as it gets, and they are they truly are there normal people living a not so normal life. Um, but you know they're at the end of the day, they're a family and they're they're just normal people. It was that easier for you to relate to them like that because you sound like you come from the same background, same upbringing, same type of morals, genuine appreciation for people and respect. So do you think that connection between you two absolutely what set it off? Absolutely? Obviously you said all the right things, but it's not like you were trying to be somebody else. You're just being yourself and Chris appreciated that with him, right, Yeah, exactly. Um, I think I think it all starts at home. And you know, I'm very blessed and fortunate to have a family where I could tell them I wanted uh be an astronaut and they would watch watch the rocket ship pick off tomorrow. You know, I have a very supportive family. Obviously with all this going on, they are so so happy for me. And the other day my mom said you know, I would. I would much rather watch something like this happen to you than me or your daddy. So I mean that that's a true testament to what kind of family I have. And um, obviously Chris and Kelly have been over backwards in all kinds of ways for me, and there's absolutely no way I could ever thank them for what they've done from me. You grew up on the banjo music, the old country old oh yeah, the old school stuff. So you grew up listening to this And did you know as a kid, I mean you didn't pick up a guitar until recently to some as far as you know, um, your age, did you know as a kid like, hey, maybe I want to do this someday. Actually, funny story, banjoe was actually the first thing I ever picked up. My dad used to teach banjo lessons. He can straight up play a banjo. He got me a youth banjo, I think when I was like seven or eight. But I had the attention span of of a desk when when he was trying to teach me banjo. I learned a couple like a little half songs, but I never I never really got good on it, and then I actually picked up a dough bro a couple of years later. So my my parents had like this bluegrass band, and um, they would just play at churches locally and you know restaurants. I remember like every Friday night they would play at the local UM Mexican restaurant. Yeah, and uh, I mean I would go yeah, oh yeah. I mean it was just because they enjoyed it. But I remember one time they my dad uh let me come up and he had brought my little special dough bro and I I sat up there and I played a song with him playing that playing that bro. I'm sure it was awful, but um, he made sure to involve me. Yeah, definitely. Your parents are something that you said, are you know, big staple in your life and growing up and being true to who you are. And speaking of that, your new EP that was recently released had three songs. EP is called Morey County County Line, Murray Murray County, Murray County Line, and I'm sure you're it's the county that you're from, Okay in Tennessee. The songs are better off fishing guys like me and how it ought to be. I'd like to play him here but we do to legal reasons, we can't play them. But I love all three of them. I remember I listened to like How It Ought to Be first, Oh, this is a good one. I even sent it to my dad that and then I listened to guys like me and I'm like, hey, another good one. And then you go to better Off Fishing, and I gotta say, I think Better Off Fishing might be my favorite. And I'm not even a big fisherman. But the point I'm getting at with all this is all three of these seem like it's something that you are who you are, Like these songs represent who you are? Is that correct? Is that something that you try to stay true to? Absolutely? And you know that those three songs represent who I am as a person. And another thing is, like you just said, it's called Murray County Line because that's where I was born, that's where I was raised, it's where I live currently. And I think, you know, no matter what happens in the future career wise, it's important to always remember where you really come from. And that's why I wanted to name it Murray County Line. Um. And all three of these songs are so different, but yet um so much fun in in each one of their ways. UM, guys like me, for instance, like I was literally just working a city job, and guys like me talks about that blue collar, um kind of lifestyle. And I know, you know, obviously probably most of the people listening to this they get up and they punched that clocket at six in the morning, um, you know, because they had bills do next week or whenever. And that's exactly what that song is about. And better off fishing if you like fishing, and you know it's better off fishing is actually kind of a it is a breakup song. And that's also a true story. UM. So I was I was dating this this girl, not the sushi restaurant girls. UM, I was dating this girl and I was supposed to spend the day with her, um and I ended up ditching her to go fishing. And she tried calling me and calling me and calling me throughout the whole morning and I kept declining it. Um. But where I screwed up was I posted a picture on Facebook holding up a stringer full of fish, and she saw it and she had to come apart. And when I finally did talk to her, uh, she gave me an earful to say the least, and we ended up breaking up. Actually, the day of the fish fry is when we broke up, was supposed to bring the cold slaw, but um, we didn't have cold slaw at that fish fry. And uh, I remember the last thing I told her, because she asked me. She said, well, since you ditched me today, are you at least gonna come see me tonight? And I thought about it, and I said, well, I'm gonna have all these fish to clean, and I'm you know, I'm not gonna leave early if if all we're gonna do is argue, so I'm better I'll stay in here fishing from That's where it came from. Did it hit you right then and there? Did you write this song years later? No? So I yeah, I wrote the idea down. My my phone is full of song ideas, and I wrote that idea down. And I didn't even have you know, uh uh melody or anything in my head at the time. But mainly I was just focused on fishing. I wasn't trying to write a song right then and there. But um, and then you know that every every single one of these song ideas come from something real and that's another thing. I am very proud to be a a writer on all of my all of my songs, and I think that's why they mean so much to me. Um, you know, I don't know if you have any siblings, but I do. And growing up, you know, a lot of times as a kid, you would ask your your mom or dad who the favorite is, and uh, they would they would never never give an answer. They'd say, well, I love all my kids the same, and you would think, right then and there, ah, that's gotta be a lie. They gotta they gotta have a favorite. But this EP is a true testament to that. I don't have any kids, but at the same time, these songs are kind of like my kids. But I have to say with that me and said, um, how it Ought to Be is my favorite right now, probably just because I was listening to it when I pulled in the parking lot. But um, you know, every day is different. Tomorrow it could be better offishing the next day. It could be guys like me. But right now I would have to say, my absolute favorite is how It Ought to Be? And when I sat down to that song, um with the co writers man it, I had the idea because I had just quit my city job and gas was almost five dollars a gallon, and all the craziness going on in today's world, and I got to thinking, man, you know, all this shouldn't be like that. We should learn to love each other and not talk trash about each other and just be better human beings in general. And in the course of how it ought to be, it says the world ought to try a piece of Mama's chicken and feel the love around our table top in the kitchen. And I was very blessed and fortunate to grow up in a home instead of a house where my mom would cook supper just about every night, and we'd sit there at the dinner table as a family, and we would pray, and we would, you know, just have dinner and just be us. And I can't help but think that if everybody in today's world had a little bit of that family life going on, we'd all be living a whole lot better in in a lot better world than what we really are right now. Agreed. I have a couple of siblings myself and very supportive parents, so I know exactly what you mean. It makes all the difference in the world. It does, and your outlooking life and who you are as a person. And that's awesome that they're a big influence on you and a big impact of you growing up. I can tell it means a lot to you. It's awesome, man. I can hear in your songs. I can hear in your voice. Do you have a lot of fans back home now seeing what you're doing and rooting you on? You ever go back there and perform? Still? Man? So back home in Murray County. Um, one of my buddies had a birthday the other day and I was in town and I didn't I wasn't even supposed to be in town. Um, but one of my shows got canceled last minute, and or it didn't get canceled, it got postponed. So I got to surprise my buddy. He it was. They had a big table at a different Mexican restaurant in town, those Mexican spots, Oh yeah, Um. But so I got to surprise him and go to his birthday party. And I get there and go to walk in, and I bet before I even got to that table, I took pictures with probably at least ten different people Murray County in Columbia is kind of an extension of my family, um, if that makes any sense, because I grew up with all those people, those are those are my people. And you know, I'm maybe I'm I'm super blessed and super fortunate to get to do this for a living, but I'm no better than anybody listening to this podcast right now. And I just I want people to to know, you know, I am very blessed and fortunate to be able to do this, but I'm no different than anybody else that. So when you go back there, then do you have do you try to tell kids or whoever it may. I mean, you're still so fresh in this at the same time, but you've also come a long way in six months to a year. Do you have the chance to tell kids or people back there? Hey, if you want, if you have a dream, go chase it. Maybe if you're doing your job, I get it. Some people have to pay their bills, they have a family take care of. But you're a prime example of a guy who took a shot when the opportunity came, an opportunity that you wouldn't have thought of it a Susie restaurant restaurant, But are you able to relay that message. I guess is where I'm getting at is if you have a dream for all the listeners listen to this, you know, give it a shot. You never know where you'll be in a year from now. Absolutely. Um, Here's here's the thing that I would I would say is when the night that I got ready to approach Chris Jansen and I went to ask him if he would take the time to listen to my music, He's going to give one of two answers, yes or no. So the way I kind of look at it is you have a fifty fifty shot either way. He can either say yes or he can say no. And that's the same thing with anything. If if you want to pursue something, either it's gonna happen or it's not. But don't no mat ter what it is. Just ask yourself, is this is this gonna be something where twenty years I looked down the road and wonder what if? Because I know whenever, you know, in ten years, when I'm or twenty, I guess when when I'm married one day and and have kids. Um, whenever my kid asked what did I want to be when I grew up? I wouldn't have any doubt saying, well, you know, I gave it, I gave it all that I had, but uh, it just didn't work out. I want to know that I did give it my all, and uh, you know, I just I think it's important that we all just kind of capitalize on what we really want to do and pursue um. And I'm kind of a kind of a walking testimony to that. Don't don't wonder what if? Because if I hadn't went up to Chris that night, I'd still be medians cutting grass and the medians of the road. So and I'll add this as well, this is more just I guess a personal thing for me just knowing you very briefly, I think because of who you are, you know and you're staying true to your roots and you're not going up to Chris and acting like you were somebody that you're not, because a guy like him or most people will be able to sense it out just like you did, or you do yourself. So I think you being who you are and I can tell you're genuine, I can tell everything you say you mean, I think that has also carried you to where you've gotten too so far, and will continue to carry you. So for anybody listening to what you just said and to watch your story, listen to your story. I also think that's a huge thing too. And I think it's gotten to you, gotten you to where you're at now, and it's awesome to see. Man. I'm very not before you. It's really cool. Like I said, I saw you six months ago for the first time, and Chris is talking all about you, and here we are six months later. I had no idea we'd be sitting down and talking like this, but I'm very glad we did. This is awesome. I know you're gonna You're gonna do great things, and I'm sure we'll see each other down the road at some point again. I sure hope. So if or the next what are the next six months looking like? Do you know yet? Are you just kind of weing in it here? You got a lot's kind of coming to an end of here. What I said to it's tour season kind of coming to the end here. Yes, it is, um right now, I'm on radio tour. I've been on radio tour. That's another thing. This is my eleventh week on radio talk and I gotta say getting up at five or six in the morning now versus nine months ago. The differences is when I wake up, uh five or six in the morning. Now, I am truly excited to get my day started because nine months ago, I had only ever been to four states Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and now I'm up to forty three states. So getting to see all these places and meet all these different people, um, and you know, just eat all these different foods and just experience more than just Middle Tennessee, which I love Middle Tennessee. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but just getting to experience so much. You don't really realize what you're missing out on until you've actually seen what you're missing out on. And uh So, getting getting to go out and see all these different places and meet all these people is truly life changing. And uh I am very very fortunate to be, you know, be able to do this now and um, just get to experience all this it it's truly amazing. It's only gonna get better. Man, I'm excited for your future. You can follow him at the Shane Prophet Correct Media check them out. I promise you is new EP is awesome. All three songs. Just put them on the loop, put them on repeat. They're all great how it ought to be. Yeah, well play worried Shane. This is awesome man. I'm really excited to see what the future holds for you, and I'm sure than you will do this again down the line. Than yes, sir, thank you for having me. All appreciate it.