Shane Barnard (left) and Shane Everett have a better understanding of their creative partnership after performing ten years together.

Shane & Shane have been performing together for about a decade, but only in the last year or so have they more clearly defined their respective roles as a team—as professionals and in their perception in the music industry. During a recent sabbatical, Barnard poured his heart into a journal, contemplating everything from the sudden passing of his father this past year to his own understanding of his relationship with Christ. Those musings fueled the songwriting that yielded the Pages album. Here, Barnard discusses the duo's newfound clarity in occupation, the new album, and his recent engagement to popular Christian songstress Bethany Dillon. (The wedding is planned for March 2008.)

After recording six albums together, you reportedly have finally figured out exactly how your partnership works.

Shane Barnard: When we first started 10 years ago, Shane E. jumped in as a buddy. I was more a solo artist—I wrote the songs, he sang with me, and together we pulled the trailer and loaded equipment. From that stage up until a year ago, everything is a blur between performing 250 shows in a year, recording projects, and being our own bus drivers. It didn't lend itself to giving us very defined roles when each one of those days, our roles were whatever needed to be done. Now I feel like we have finally fallen into our roles for the first time.

How did you discover what those roles were?

Barnard: We budgeted for some time off to take a breather around Thanksgiving 2006. And in this down time, for the first time, I really felt the spiritual calling for what I do—a call to really labor in the unseen, the intangible. Everything I've always done has been more in the physical realm—working our way through school, doing construction, playing sports. Then I heard the call to apply that physical work ethic to the intangible realm of creating. I started spending time in my days thinking, studying, and dwelling on things about Jesus.

Time well spent.

Barnard: Yeah, earlier in 2006, I realized that I had no idea what I enjoyed or what I wanted. I didn't know what I was called to do, and I was always waiting for the touring to slow down. I have never had any real huge fulfillment from playing concerts and singing songs into a microphone. I still don't. But I do have huge joy and fulfillment in thinking on my God and talking about my God. It took most of that year to realize that. And I discovered that I was willing to do anything to not waste any more years; I wanted to pursue my time differently. My time with the Lord writing songs has probably been the smallest part of how I've lived my life, and I decided I was willing to do whatever I needed to do to make that the largest piece of my life.

In the same sense, Shane E. has definitely stepped into his calling to facilitate and be the hands and feet of the spiritual aspect of what we do. We recently tried to hire management for the first time in a decade, and confirmed that in the bigger picture, Shane E. is more gifted than anyone else we could hire. He's genuinely gifted to be that PR managerial person, heading up the people on our small staff to work out the tours and promotional things for this new project. He's made more time to handle management issues; he calls people with good ideas, and then follows up on those ideas. He has a gift to get people on his side. Because of that consistent voice, people know more what is happening and are excited about it. He's good at rubbing shoulders and making friends, and that impacts our projects.

Including your latest project too? How is all this reflected in Pages?

Barnard: I'd like to think you could tell a difference musically and lyrically and in the overall sound of the album. All of the songs that happened previous to last year were just as much a miracle as these songs, but I spent a lot more time in my study and in my journaling, just saying what I want to say. Those pages of my journals became the content for the record. Everything I was hearing, studying, and wrestling with went into that journal, and [these songs] should be a good reflection of this past year.

In the song "In You," you sing about finding the deepest pools of peace in the moments of deepest despair. Were you experiencing despair when you wrote it?

Barnard: "Despair" might be a strong word, but there was a time in the past year that took its toll on both me and my family, building to a feeling of unrest. And it mirrored what was to come when my father suddenly passed away last spring. That cry of sadness in the middle of a season of prosperity led me to believe that the deepest pools of peace and fellowship with God have definitely come from the hardest things in life.

It's an ongoing process then, finding those places of peace while living life?

Barnard: That's definitely true for me, yes. Talking in terms of despair, depression, loneliness, or whatever you are walking through—feeling any of those things I think is so much better than having a calloused heart. I would much rather be drowning in [despair] than playing my eighteenth hour of Xbox glazed over in spirit.

You and Bethany Dillon were recently engaged. How did that come about?

Barnard: Well, you know when you just gotta have something? Like, if you don't, you could die? Nothing could stop me from my pursuit: neither age gap [Barnard is 31, Dillon 19], nor industry pressure, nor the seven states in between us. Beth is irresistible.

What attracted you to Bethany?

Barnard: Where do I start? Beth is beautiful. She is humble. I love what she has to say. I love what she doesn't have to say. She is so in love with our Jesus that she doesn't care about anything but him. She would rather babysit than play a concert. She would rather feed the dying in India than have a hit song. She's clumsy, she's simple, she's complicated.

Have you written any love songs for her?

Barnard: I've written some songs about her but they didn't fit the theme of this record. I'm a romantic, so I'd kinda like to record a song for her, but for now I like sitting down at the piano and playing just for her. I'm sure I'll always write songs about Beth, but recording them probably depends on the time and the place. For the most part, [Shane & Shane] is focused on bragging about Jesus.

Have you written any songs with Bethany yet? Or do you plan to?

Barnard: Not yet, but I hope to collaborate!

"Vision of You" comes from the idea that the ever-present God must stir in order for our hearts to be moved toward Christ. Do you recall how the song came about?

Barnard: For me, the realization of the idea of an ever-present God was gradual. It's been one of those things I've wrestled with over the last decade, along with the other paradoxes about God we learn from reading Scripture. Like how he's always here, yet we ask for him to be here [in prayer or in worship]. Those things used to frustrate me.

Then I decided that I'm just going to say "yes." It is such an elementary and childlike thought, but it's also truth. I think about the prayers of Peter and Paul, praying that they would have the spirit to preach the word boldly—that though the Spirit fully lived in them, they prayed that the Spirit would come fully to give them power. It's been a gradual and freeing realization for me. I want to influence and change hearts in what I do, but you can't help but feel a little helpless when you realize it takes more than you to accomplish it. The song is such a freeing prayer that helps me with that. I pray to be diligent and that when I open my mouth that God would fill it.

Many of us have had times when we read the Bible and suddenly notice a verse or phrase for the first time. Was that the case for you with "Burn Us Up?

Barnard: Totally. When I think about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I have this random memory of a Sunday school room and poster on the wall with three dudes and some glowing angel. It was always a Sunday school story of deliverance that I hadn't thought about much since. These guys wouldn't bow down to the 100-foot golden statue of the king, even though they were involved in the political arena and knew what would happen. They were willing to stand before him and say, "Our God is able." That's what I remember.

It was the part after that which caught my attention this time. This probably wasn't a happy moment for the three of them. Chances are they were going to burn just like hundreds of others before them, and they had probably even smelled the burning flesh of others. Yet amidst all that, while they had no doubt that God was able to rescue them, they were ready to be burned alive "even if he doesn't." The radical spirit of these guys changed the whole perspective. This became more than a cheesy Sunday school story of deliverance for me.

You're still writing deeply personal confessions, literally revealing your journal. So why is Shane & Shane often tagged as a worship band?

Barnard: I don't think if someone heard any of our records, they would go, "Oh this is a praise-and-worship CD." Musically, it's not a typical worship sound, but lyrically, people embrace it as a worship experience. It is a worship CD to them personally, but they still don't sing these songs in their church.

It's not corporate. You're not a Chris Tomlin.

Barnard: Right. That's where terms like "worship leader" become hazy. We view a worship band as someone that comes to your church to lead worship. And we do that sometimes. But if we go to a church and lead worship, it's different from our normal Shane & Shane show.

Would you ever consider writing a worship album for the church?

Barnard: There's a chance that I could write an album the church could use. I've never gone into the writing process thinking that's, "This is the direction I'm going." Maybe someday, but I don't think I'll be heading purposefully for the corporate worship songs anytime in the next few years.

Visit our Shane & Shane artist page for more info and history about the duo, including a review of their latest album Pages. To listen to song clips and buy their music, please visit Christianbook.com.

© Jackie A. Chapman, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Click here for more interviews.

Click here to view our music review archives.

Visit the artist pages for related interviews and reviews.

				Try an Issue of Today's Christian Woman Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up now for the Christian Music Today weekly newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help