Shonn Hinton: Milwaukee’s Hometown Guitar Hero
Shonn Hinton has played with Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Jill Scott, and Lil Wayne. He’s played during the Grammys and the BET Awards, but at the end of the day, he still loves coming back to Milwaukee. We had the chance to sit down, ask some questions, and most importantly hear him play his custom MKE-Designed Archer Guitar. Check out the full interview below!
Milwaukee Designed Guitar for a Milwaukee Legend
On tour Shonn brings his Custom Milwaukee Designed Telecaster-inspired Archer Guitar. “This is by far, one of my favorite guitars to play … this thing is amazing, it does everything I need it to do. I can go R&B, I can go rock, I can go gospel. This is the quintessential guitar for Shonn Hinton, this is my baby.”
Playing with Mary J. Blige
Shonn will be spending the majority of his summer touring with soul artist Mary J. Blige with a brief stop to play Summerfest with his band Shotgun. “I am currently out getting ready to start the Strength of a Woman Tour with Mary J. Blige … we’ll rehearse for the rest of the month … in July we’ll kick it off. We do the ESSENCE Fest which is a big deal, they do it every year in New Orleans.” When he isn’t touring or rehearsing with Grammy nominated artists, Shonn uses his talents to promote music education to Milwaukee youth.
Promoting Local Shred Sessions
Shonn is hugely active with Milwaukee’s youth and keeping music education alive among the kids. He participates in programs that give musical opportunity to young kids. “We help to keep the youths off the streets … we have some musicians here, I think we should do shredding sessions … we took every drummer, every keyboard player, every bass player and we would sit in one room and play music until class was over.”
Hometown Band — Shonn Hinton & Shotgun
Shonn plays locally and nationally with his band Shonn Hinton & Shotgun, combining hard-hitting southern rock with emotional Detroit soul. They play local clubs, festivals, and even at the Bradly Center. The band plans on shooting live footage of their album “Long Live Shotgun”, and will head into the studio in 2018. “We’re evolving as musicians, we’re singing now, you couldn’t get us to sing, we aren’t playing in the background and because of that we have evolved our sound … Each of us individually have been coming up with concepts for the album. I am looking at 2018, to get back in the studio, and cut an album.”
From playing arenas to small clubs, Mr. Hinton is making a name for himself and his hometown. Had a chance to see Shonn locally? Are you going to catch Mary J. Blige this summer? Let us know in the comments and be sure to follow us for more music news!
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