Aaron Shanley

Last Updated: October 27, 2023

Aaron Shanley is a talented singer-songwriter and musician hailing from Northern Ireland. Born on February 9, 1990, he started releasing demos on his own imprint, Love Gum Records, which received positive reviews and radio support from BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio 1, and 6music in 2010. He gained more recognition after he won the Katherine Brick Award for Songwriter of the Year at the Ulster Hall during the Panarts Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival.

In 2011, Shanley embarked on a tour, playing at various festivals such as Liverpool Sound City and Glasgowbury, and opening for artists like The Wedding Present, The Divine Comedy, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, and Foy Vance. He also received an honorary Access to Music award and became the Artist in Residence at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

Shanley moved to Nashville in 2012 to pursue a career in writing for TV and film, and he contributed to popular shows like the CW’s Hart of Dixie and ABC’s Switched at Birth. He continued releasing demos through American Cadence Records, which is based in East Nashville, before relocating to Phoenix, Arizona, and rural Centennial, Wyoming, where he released music under various pseudonyms and the mini LP Bedroom Tapes: Swiss Cottage Teal Roses.

In 2014, Shanley moved to London to collaborate with other artists such as Norma Jean Martine, Gita Langley, and Irwin Sparkes. He released the eight-track mini-LP, Metal Alligator, in 2015, which he wrote and recorded alone over three days at his home in Barnes, London. Though he toured infrequently between 2013 and 2016, he played a number of shows with Ciaran Lavery and occasionally supported Hozier, Noah Gundersen, Oscar and the Wolf, Wakey!Wakey!, and The Riptide Movement.

Metal Alligator was officially released in 2017 on Swallow Song Records, with bonus material and live shows in Belfast and Derry with his band, The Horrortongues. The album was listed for the NI Music Prize 2017, and its lead single, “My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At the Minute),” was BBC Across the Line Track for the Day No. 475.

Aaron Shanley’s journey has taken him from Northern Ireland to Nashville, Phoenix, and London, where he has worked with some of the best in the industry and released music that has garnered critical acclaim. With his unique sound and impressive talent, Shanley is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.