Shawn Blackwell just started out as a rocker. As family moved on towards the arkansas and missouri lines he found himslef listening to country and rock music. 'you know i liked rock at that time but could never understand the lyrics that were comin out of their mouth' says shawn. Shawns family moved down to Mountain Home Arkansas in apartments where they were still listening to rock music. 'my moms boyfriend robert had drove a nice camaro convertable and it was so cool, ya know, but all he listened to was rock music and i had already started to listen to some of the country by that time in 97' by 98 shawns mom and her boyfriend robert broke up. 'it was a tough time when you dont have a dad to help support you and at that time i didnt know who my bioligcal father was so i looked at robert like that' Lynn (shawns mom) had found a new man in her life the only change was he listened to mostly country and his mom had listened to rock all the time and wasnt the least bit interested in country music. 'he was the kinda guy that i had allways looked to as being my father' Shawn and johnny (lynns new boyfriend) had so much fun together, 'mom had got so many friends and so the would go and play a game called canasta every weekend, there was one weekend i stayed up though watchin GAC while they were playin' it was then shawn saw Chris Cagle's new video 'I Breathe In, I Breathe Out' shawn was immediately glued to the tv. 'ya know it was funny how it woked out cause i remember looking at the tv turned on to his music cause his voice and some of his songs captured what i was into, and then my moms friend stacy said thats my cousin, and i was like WOW, that is what i wanted to do.' it was right then when shawn had thought about pursuing his musical dream. Shawn's uncle Jerry had a recording studio and recorded all the time for releasing cd's. 'i knew that if i wanted to pursue being a singer i had to go to uncle jerry, but i had no voice' shawn had practiced and practiced til he could not sing through his nose. shawns family would allways tell him that he was. 'we moved to fayettville Arkansas and i started singing in this deep deep voice to paradise tonight, and they all looked back at me and said you got it' shawn was then buying chris cagle cd's and singing along to them in his bedroom. 'lesley, nicole, my brother, my sister and i would allways make up our own little awards show and i would allways come out as singing chris cagle music' shawns voice had then came out to be a smooth romantic type of voice but it wasnt quite ready. ' i was struggling cause i wanted to be able to get a high pitch sound so i could go high and turn more audiences to my music.' shawn started writing songs in 2002 and started to just sing them and not add any music but had the tune in his head. 'i would go outside and just walk the driveway pretending i was doing a video to one of my songs' shawn's family really liked is songs he was writing. but he wasnt writing just ordinary 12 year old songs, he was writing love songs. 'i was the kinda guy who loved singing ballads the most, it was where i felt at home, and thats where my heart was, i just loved writing what i felt in my heart' shawn wrote songs like pretty girl, one small light, and many more. by 2005 shawn was singing his songs in public set to music' shawn was then nominated for the ta awards for his songs and theyre success. 'i felt really good cause i was being noticed, and there was only one thing that i didnt feel good about, and it was because i could not hit that high pitch voice' shawn went through a vocal change August 2005 right after recording his third studio album. 'vocal change was a hard thing to go through it lasted 5 months that i was not singing' shawn had finally redemmed his vocals and got back to the stage but when he got back he was NOT the same guy. 'the guy i came out to be was a very energetic talented teenager, i was getting more people left and right and people would allways ask me where they could get my cd's and i told them that my past voice was not all that great and the new one is Awesome.lol' shawn was writing more love songs but in a different direction. 'the love songs i was writing was more the type that gave girls chill bumps and made them feel special cause they could relate to them so much, so it was really cool that people are living my life too' shawn has now reached out to big places such as the ..1 music show in arkansas (white river hoedown) and the ASU COLLEGE in little rock. Shawn has now been nominated for awards like ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR, MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR, HOTTEST ACT OF THE YEAR, and more