Gorgeous brown eyes. Light tan hair with a striking white streak. Boundless devotion.
Photo Courtesy Landstar Entertainment
These attributes inspired the title track of Shane Piasecki’s new disc, “Set You Free.”
“In the middle of the night or in the light of day/I run through the streets and I call your name/Patient and kind I will try to be/I love you too much, can’t set you free,” the Liberty Center native sings.
It’s for Jack.
What, you don’t know Jack?
“I love my dog. He’s a boxer pit bull mix; his name is Jack. I’d been in the studio all day. I’d have my friends help me walk him,” Piasecki said. “When we were done, I took him out at night — he’s on the leash — and I let go because we’re in this courtyard of the building.
“And I didn’t think he’d get away, and he comes barreling by me and he gets out, and I was chasing him down the street and that song just came in my head.”
He was sharing the story during a call from his home on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I think [‘Set You Free’] strikes a message with anybody, but for me, it was really deeply aimed at my feelings about love and my dog. I’m pretty sentimental, so letting go of anything is necessary sometimes, but it’s not always welcomed. It’s hard to do,” he said.
Piasecki’s 12-track debut on LandStar Entertainment mixes pop, folk, rock and blues. The singer-songwriter offers his trademark heartfelt acoustic numbers with “New to Town” and “Wings of Wax,” and plugs in the electric guitar and rocks with “Feels Alright” and “Night Like This.”
“I like the blend of everything; it’s got a little bit for everyone,” he said. “I go for a lot of the soul, pop, blues, country, old roots music and definitely pop too. I love pop, not like Christina Aguilera pop, more like John Mayer, Jason Mraz, more focused on the guitar.
“I want to be a raw dog like Bob Dylan was and make stuff that’s rootsy like Muddy Waters. I really had to learn to play ball for this record. My producer [Nathan Meckel] is amazing; he taught me a lot of things.”
The 27-year-old has been turning heads since moving to Music City.
“I had some opening dates for Howie Day on tour, and I’ve been asked to come back and do more because he liked me,” Piasecki said.
When he isn’t on the road, the musician does a lot of writing.
“I’ve got a publishing deal, so I keep writing songs for people to sing or put in movies or I can sing and then they’ll use the tracks,” he said.
“Sometimes I think songwriting is like farming: You can’t control what you get out of it,” he said. “In the end, you have to learn to make the most of it, like the seasonal harvest.”
This summer, Piasecki will play a couple of dates each month at Reel Bar (formerly Tony’s Garage) on Put-in-Bay. He and Jack will motor north for gigs June 13 and 14, July 11 and 12 and Aug. 15 and 16.
“When my first disc [‘All for Coffee’] came out, I was 17 and I wanted success real bad then. And here I am now, and I sacrificed a whole lot more, and I still want it just as badly,” he said. “Life’s been really good to me for being a musician. Music is a good thing for me to follow because it’s never let me down.”
