Ryan Shaw breathes new life into old-school soul

At 28, Ryan Shaw is very much a here-and-now guy. But when this Decatur, Ga., native pours out his soul in song, he spreads the kind of raw, funky passion that soul shouters Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding did, decades back.

Don't know of Shaw? Not surprising. He's recorded one album ("This is Ryan Shaw!"), and played Seattle just once, at the Triple Door. He didn't make a 2007 Bumbershoot gig because, as he explains on the phone from New York, "the windshield on our plane cracked, and we had to make an emergency landing, so we got in too late."

Let's wish Shaw godspeed this week: He's set to open Saturday for blues man Keb' Mo' in the kickoff concert of the Concerts at Marymoor in Redmond; then he has a solo one-nighter at Jazz Alley on Monday.

Despite critical kudos and a 2008 Grammy nod in the traditional R&B vocal category, Shaw is still unknown to many hard-core soul fans — in part because his gritty, belting style doesn't fit most current radio formats.

Being dubbed "old school" does not "bother me as much as it used to," he insists. "Society puts music into boxes. But at one point radio wasn't like that, it used to play everything. You'd get Aretha, Cyndi Lauper, New Kids on the Block, on the same station. It was just good music."

Raised in a devout Pentecostal family, Shaw sang in church and formed a group, The Shaw Boys, with his four brothers. In his teens he ventured north to perform in gospel musicals, including Tyler Perry's "I Know I've Been Changed."

After a stint at New York's Motown Café, Shaw joined the Fabulous Soul Shakers, who sang classic R&B. That's when he found his groove.

"It felt like music I'd sung my whole life. Then I did my research and realized Sam Cooke, Otis Redding ... came out of the church like I did."

"This is Ryan Shaw" is filled with robust covers of vintage soul odes by Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack, et al. Shaw's Grammy nomination, for the searing cut, "I Am Your Man" (an Ashford & Simpson tune), was "a big surprise, especially for a record that was still under the radar."

Shaw is completing a new album with mostly self-penned songs he hopes will "show people more of what I can do."

He won some new fans recently on John Mayer's hip "Mayercraft" music cruise. "It was like a festival at sea, and a whole lot of fun, but a lot of work too. Each artist had to do a bunch of things. I hosted karaoke, which was the worst, most insane karaoke ever! It was craziness!" Despite his devotion to vintage soul, Shaw keeps up with his peers. He'd like to collaborate with Regina Spektor ("I love her! She's one of my favorite artists ever!") and record a duet with John Legend. But the song he imagines doing with Legend is definitely old-school: Sam and Dave's "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby."

Ryan Shaw and John Legend as the new Sam and Dave? We are so there.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com