The Reverend Shawn Amos
Also known as the Reverend Shawn Amos, Shawn Amos is a singer, songwriter, and producer with a style that alternates blues, roots rock, country, and gospel. After releasing his first full-length, Whitey McFearsun, in 1996, he made his label debut with his third album, Harlem, in 2000. It featured members of Crazy Horse and the Jayhawks. After establishing himself as a solo artist, he also became known as a multi-faceted label and marketing executive, among other enterprises, while continuing to release music. He delivered his seventh album, Breaks It Down, in 2018 before collaborating on the 2020 blues release Blue Sky with his newly formed backing band the Brotherhood.
Amos was born in New York City in 1967 to nightclub singer Shirl-ee May (Shirlee Ellis) and Wally Amos, founder of cookie brand Famous Amos. Raised mostly in Los Angeles, he returned to New York to study film as a college student, but segued from screenwriting to songwriting in the early '90s. After releasing the albums Whitey McFearsun and Be Real in 1996 and 1997, he signed with Unbreakable Records. Inspired by a museum exhibit dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance, his label debut, Harlem, was released in 2000. It featured guest appearances by the Jayhawks' Mark Olson and Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro. The more acoustic-leaning In Between followed in 2002.
Amos then took a job overseeing the A&R department of Rhino's Shout! Factory, the label that would eventually release his fifth album, Thank You Shirl-ee May (A Love Story). It arrived in 2005, two years after his mother's death. Amos continued as vice president of Music & Original Content for the label through projects by William Shatner and Susanna Hoffs, while releasing his own material including the 2007 singles "Burned" (featuring Matthew Sweet) and "Long Time Gone" (with Julie Miller).
In the several years that passed before Amos' next album, among other events, he divorced, became an ordained minister, took a position as artistic director for Herb Alpert's Vibrato Jazz Grill in Los Angeles, and wrote an autobiographical serial for The Huffington Post. He also adopted the persona the Reverend Shawn Amos, issuing an EP under the name in 2014. The album Loves You followed in 2015 on the Put Together label and included guests such as the Blind Boys of Alabama and Missy Andersen. He returned in 2018 with his seventh LP, Breaks It Down. A contemporary protest album, it included performances by friend and Blues Brothers drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Larry Taylor (Canned Heat, Tom Waits), and drummer Steve Potts (Booker T. & the MG's, Gregg Allman).
In 2019, Amos formed the Brotherhood with guitarist Chris "Doctor" Roberts, bassist Christopher Thomas (Terence Blanchard, Norah Jones), and drummer Brady Blade (Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris). Credited as the Reverend Shawn Amos & the Brotherhood, they delivered Blue Sky in 2020.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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Back to the Beginning
Blues - Released by Immediate Family Records on 23 Feb 2024
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Soul Brother No. 1
Blues - Released by Immediate Family Records on 3 May 2024
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The Cause of It All
Blues - Released by Continental Record Services on 21 May 2021
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The Cause of It All
Blues - Released by Immediate Family Records on 21 May 2021
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The Reverend Shawn Amos Breaks It Down
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 16 Feb 2018
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It's All Gonna Change (For the Better)
Blues - Released by Immediate Family Records on 29 Mar 2024
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Blue Sky
The Reverend Shawn Amos, The Brotherhood
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 20 Mar 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kitchen Table Blues, Vol. 2 (Live Over Sunday Breakfast, Van Nuys, CA, 2016)
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 15 Feb 2019
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Kitchen Table Blues, Vol. 1 (Live Over Sunday Breakfast, Van Nuys, CA, 2016)
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 1 Feb 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hollywood Blues: Songs and Stories from the Family Tree (1997-2022)
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 13 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hollywood Blues (Acoustic)
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 29 Jul 2022
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The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 16 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'm Ready
Blues - Released by Continental Record Services on 14 Apr 2021
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Troubled Man (feat. Ruthie Foster) [Breathe Remix]
Dance - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 13 Aug 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Revelation
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos. Under Exclusive License to Immediate Family Records on 6 Oct 2023
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Spoonful
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 12 May 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Diggin' My Potatoes
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 9 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Harlem
Alternative & Indie - Released by Unbreakable Records on 15 Feb 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stranger Than Today
The Reverend Shawn Amos, The Brotherhood
Rock - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 14 Feb 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Reverend Shawn Amos Tells It
Blues - Released by Shawn Amos, under exclusive license to Immediate Family on 22 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spoonful
Blues - Released by Continental Record Services on 12 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo