Life & Work with Shanny & The East Men of East Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanny & The East Men

Hi Shanny & , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Shanny & The East Men was founded in 2023 by Shannon Eastman and Travis Kelso. The duo had met in 2021 and were in a band called “100% Juice.” That fell through, but Shannon and Travis wanted to keep pursuing to make music together and eventually play live shows again.

To put that to action Shannon began posting in Nashville musician groups on Facebook where she found guitarist, Ryan Gelder & bassist, Cody Boss. After jamming a few times everyone could tell it was something special & we’ve been a band ever since!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Living in Nashville it can be difficult to gain traction & confidence because it seems like everyone is doing music here. It’s so easy to get imposter syndrome & second guess if it’s all worth it, but when we all first met we could tell it was worthwhile. All of us were extremely invested and that’s what fuels our drive to take constructive feedback & keep sharing our music. However, we feel very proud of the progress we made. We think the main goal for ourselves is making music that we, ourselves, enjoy & are proud of!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Outside of the music scene all of our members have full time jobs! Our guitarist, Ryan Gelder, is a full time video editor at Blackbird studio. Our bassist, Cody Boss is full time at Chick-fil-A. Travis Kelso, our drummer, is a Client Relations Manager for Walgreens Corporate. & Shannon, our singer and rhythm guitarist, works full time on the Orthopedic floor at TriStar Centennial.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Since Shannon was working at the hospital during Covid-19 we think she’s learned & taught us the value of being together. Shannon is always making sure we have “family time” or “band bonding” along with practicing & recording. Rather it be games, movie nights, cooking dinner, or making the guys go to the Christmas tree farm together she always says it’s important for us to be connected! We hope you can feel that same connection in the music!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lnk.bio/shannyandtheeastmen
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannyandtheeastmen/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/p/Shanny-the-East-Men-100092450136220/
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0m0fm8KbvDoJya1ov2TXRL