the G-Man
Gregg Shanle, the G-Man
Gregg Shanle considers himself a St. Louis, Missouri product, growing up with top 40 music on their AM radio. His father was a jazz music fan but Gregg was drawn to the eternal magic of classic compositions from the 17th century by the great composers.
He was raised in the suburb of Webster Grove, a thriving music community and home of Scott Joplin and Miles Davis. Gregg took a few drum lessons during middle school but basically banged on his drums in the garage with his buddies in the 70s. He graduated in 1979 from a private all boys school.
Gregg attended the local Webster University which had a great music program. He majored in psychology with a minor in jazz studies. Peter and Jim Mayer plus Roger Guth (guitar, bass, and drummer for the Coral Reefer Band) studied music at Webster University before their successful careers with Jimmy Buffett.
After school, Gregg moved to Chicago and began performing with several groups. He met a lovely lady and with neighbor Tim Marshal Curtis’s suggestion, they visited Key West in 1990. Curtis is now a Key West resident musician and sculptor. With a little luck, Shanle found an apartment that accepted their two big dogs in the Bahama Village community.
Moving from bustling Chicago to laid back Key West was a bit of sticker shock. Gregg had to learn how to slow down and enjoy Key West. He soon joined a group called Fill in the Blanks and had a steady gig at Captain Tony’s. He later performed around town with many others, including 1996 gigs with Carl Peachy and Randy Lewis (The Outta Hand Band) and in 1999 with Caffeine Carl and the Buzz. An important footnote was Caffeine Carl telling Gregg that he “was not a drummer, but a musician who played drums.” Later through friend Rick Cleaver, he met Howard Livingston and performed with Howard and his MM24 band for several years.
Gregg’s most memorable music achievement was playing in the Paul Cotton Band beginning in 2006. They would often rehearse at Gregg’s home studio. Most of the other players would have solo gigs to attend, so it would be Gregg and Paul together after rehearsal talking about music and the Grammy Award winner’s many, many musical experiences. He remembers stories of Cotton and his good friend Neil Young, another Grammy winner. Paul also shared his experiences as a member of the house band at Los Angeles’s exclusive Whiskey a Go-Go where he met everyone including Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. Paul was also great friends with Beatles’ George Harrison, another Gretsch guitar fan. The conversations with Paul Cotton kept Gregg spellbound.
Performing on Earth Day with That Hippie Band.
The music duo Black and Skabuddah introduced Gregg to Gary Hempsey who started That Hippie Band. It was a special group made up of band members that had grown up with, and thrived on, 60s and 70s music. They bragged they could play any song that anyone could remember from that era – an impressive statement that they often backed up. Drummer Terry Wetmore would say that if one band member could start the first few chords of any 60s song, the rest of the band would “follow him to the gates of hell.”
One evening while performing with That Hippie Band at Schooner Wharf Bar, they were approached by Jerry Jeff Walker. They invited Walker to sit in with them. Jerry Jeff was a hoot and later told the group his famous story of bringing Jimmy Buffett to Key West for the first time.
Jerry Jeff had been to Key West many times before and described to Buffett this eclectic 1970s tropical paradise with a thriving counter culture scene. When they drove into town, Jimmy first saw the Searstown Shopping Center with JC Penney’s and said disappointedly, that “this was just suburbia” and not at all what Jerry Jeff had described. Once they got to Duval Street, and the Chart House, Buffett changed his tune.
G-Man featured with the Paul Cotton Band at the 2014 Keystock Festival
When Shanle was hired to work at 97.5 FM Ozone radio to play classic rock in Key West, he planned to use Gregg Scott as his handle. The manager said that wouldn’t work as they already had a Gregg and it would be confusing. He suggested a new handle, the G-Man and a star was born.
Gregg feels that music and musicians are getting better and better. Music is a big melting pot of jazz, rock, and African rhythms with vibrant easy to view and learn YouTube videos. He spent time studying with former Survivors percussionist Quint Lange (another product of Webster Grove) learning congas, timbales, and very cool rhythms. This led to a sailing adventure to Cuba in 2000 with Tim Marshal Curtis and getting to sit in with some very cool Cuban musicians. To Gregg, music is the greatest art form. No one looks at a Rembrandt or Gauguin masterpiece and starts dancing or even tapping their toes. To the G-Man music affects the most stirring primordial human instincts.
The last performance of the Paulk Cotton Band at Schooner Wharf Bar in 2017 – Joel Nelson, Din Allen, G-Man, Paul Cotton, Russ Scavelli
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