Morning Train - Shelton Powe

Shelton Powe was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and raised by a family of gifted instrumentalists, singers and dancers. In keeping with family tradition, his mother would give young Shelton gifts of harmonicas and guitars at Christmas with the hopes of awakening a dormant musical aptitude to no avail.

It wasn’t until the deaths of his mother and father in the late 1980s that Shelton became reacquainted with the rhythms and melodies of the old songs his parents used to sing. Picking up the guitar as a tribute to his deceased mother, Shelton set out to learn old-time blues and gospel the way he remembered it from his childhood. Living in Georgia, he immersed himself in the blues scene of Atlanta and soon found what he was looking for. Listening to him sing and play in the Piedmont finger-style guitar tradition of his parents and elders, you find yourself back at the wellspring of the Carolina Blues tradition. His honest delivery is captivating.
A self-taught musician playing the "old style country picking” as he calls it, he has been privileged to play at various venues including Georgia Tech’s WREK’s “Friday Night Fish Fry”, WRFG’s “Good Morning Blues” as well as “Old Time Gospel” and 1280 AM Atlanta. He was also invited to perform at the Charlotte Folk Society. Shelton’s success does not end here though; he recently recorded a Blues documentary with both Tim Duffy of Music Maker and Jim Ransome. He has made several appearances at Hungry Ear Coffeehouse events and attended many “Giving It Back” festivals created by Mudcat. He has also played alongside Carlos “Breeze” Kings, Ross Pead, “Slim Fatz” Eddie Tigner, Mudcat, Bill Sheffield, “Little Brother” and Cora Mae Bryant.
The following were performing partners and friends of Shelton’s who have passed on to Blues heaven: Frank Edwards, Cootie Stark, Neal Pattman, and Sean Costello
Shelton currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.