Artist Spotlight – Shaun Hopper

Shaun Hopper is well-known for his energized arrangements of pop tunes, classics, haunting melodies and neck-popping originals. Whether you’re a guitar enthusiast or not, Hopper always delivers with an audiovisual performance which stretches the limits of acoustic guitar….mesmerizing everyone within earshot. His repertoire is global in scope, crossing and combining musical genres on the fly. Moving thematically through his set, Hopper takes his audience on a tour from Celtic imagery and Classical medley to soulful ballads and jazzy improvs, all of which he’ll counter punch with a Nashville “hot licks” session, fret-tapping original or 70’s pop song. With listeners caught off balance, he is always able to rouse the crowd with a contagious sing-a-long or two. Expect to hear threads of Beethoven, Beatles, George Benson, Sting, Segovia, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor and Queen. Song by song, night after night, Shaun always raises a smile, a glass and if not … a standing ovation.

Shaun has made his mark opening for acts like “The John Jorgenson Quintet” (Elton John), Bobby Yang, Pierre Bensusan, The California Guitar Trio, Muriel Anderson & Tierra Negra, G. Love and Switchfoot. He has toured with Tim Reynolds & TR3from the Dave Matthews Band and has co-written songs withTommy Emmanuel and Buster B. Jones. He was recently signed to Steve Vai’s Favored Nations/Digital Nations label (Fall 2010) which included the release of his CD, “Lower Case Letters”.