In each episode Chris Shiflett sits down with a legendary guitarist and aims to answer a singular question: “How did you do that?” Each guitarist will give rare insight into the art of the guitar solo and what makes a great one so memorable.
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As the premier season of the show comes to a close, Richie Sambora sends it off with a fun, free-wheeling episode that looks at his high-drama fingerwork on “Only Lonely” from Bon Jovi’s second record, 1985’s 7800° Fahrenheit. (The song’s music video is everything you’d ever want from mid-’80s hard rock.)
Richie joins Shifty subterranean-style, from his mother’s basement in New Jersey, where he’s equipped with a reverse-headstock Charvel, complete with a Floyd Rose system. It’s a busy time for Sambora: His first new single in 11 years, “I Pray,” dropped in late April, alongside a brand new, four-part Bon Jovi documentary.
For “Only Lonely,” Sambora recalls that he used just a 50-watt Marshall and a yellow Boss overdrive pedal to push it to the limit. Producer Lance Quinn captured the performance at the Warehouse in Philly in spring 1985, and Sambora hasn’t slowed at all since that day. Shifty takes a run at a few of Sambora’s blistering lead screeds before Richie takes the reins and brings it home. They don’t leave it at “Only Lonely”; as an added bonus, they run through Sambora’s famous licks from “Bad Medicine,” too.
Between solo runs, Richie talks about his current rig (no modelers for him, just old-school tube-amp goodness) and addresses the rumors: Will he rejoin Bon Jovi after 11 years gone?
See you on the next season of Shred With Shifty!
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Learn the “Last Child” Solo With Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford
Season 1 · Episode 20
Thursday, May 2, 2024 • Duration 57:06
The Aerosmith axeman recounts how he ripped the blazing lead on the Rocks hit, dishing some critical history along the way.
Behind Steven Tyler’s unhinged howls, Aerosmith’s twin-guitar attack with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford cemented them as one of the greatest hard-rock bands of the ’70s. “Last Child,” the street-strutting, hard-blues hit off their breakout 1976 record Rocks, is one of the greatest demonstrations of this dangerous duo’s interplay. While Perry holds down the funky rhythmic chord stabs, Whitford burns through a volcanic, first-take solo. Did any pedals help snare that screaming tone? Nope. Just a ’57 goldtop Les Paul and a 100-watt Marshall.
That combo just “makes you play real good,” Whitford says with a grin on this week’s episode. Whitford gives Shifty the background story on how Rocks came together between the band’s Massachusetts rehearsal space and the Record Plant in New York. They dig deep on Aerosmith’s influences and the guitar players that shaped Whitford’s lead style, including the shredders that knew when to pause. “Whatever you play, you’re still replicating the human voice for the most part, and you have to take a breath,” Whitford notes.
Later on, Brad’s son Graham—an established player in his own right—joins the episode to talk about raiding his dad’s guitar and amp vault, and Brad muses on a big question: Will Aerosmith’s upcoming tour be their last?
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Odds & Ends and Q&A Vol. 2
Season 1 · Episode 11
Thursday, December 7, 2023 • Duration 50:38
This time on Shred With Shifty, Chris Shiflett steps out on his own. Shiflett starts up with a video montage of fan-submitted solo takes on leads from Charlie Starr, Rivers Cuomo, Mike McCready, and others. Some are more faithful than others, and Shifty celebrates the originality. “Learn it kinda, and then put your own twist on it,” he encourages. Next, he’s cued up clips from his sit-downs with Paisley, Starr, McCready, and one of his favorite guitarists, Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach.
Then it’s time for a round of questions from the listeners. Fans probe Shifty about anything and everything: his favorite Van Halen deep cut, whether he still woodsheds scales, his opinion on modelers, and what makes him nervous during his biggest shows. When someone asks the secret to band-life longevity, Shiflett answers earnestly. “I always say the trick to being in a band isn’t always necessarily how you play whatever instrument it is,” he explains. “It’s how well can you sit in tight quarters with a bunch of other people and not annoy the fuck out of them.”
Later, he talks about why cowboy chords are actually his go-to “guitar-store lick,” and has a hilarious miscommunication with a listener asking if they should “top-wrap” their Les Paul. “What the fuck is top-wrapping a Les Paul?” Shifty responds incredulously. “I’m just gonna say no. Leave your Les Paul how it is.”
Be sure to stick around to hear about Shiflett’s worst onstage guitar-tone debacle. Hint: it happened during a late-night television performance with the Foos.
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Comes “Alive”
Season 1 · Episode 10
Thursday, November 9, 2023 • Duration 01:09:58
Host Chris Shiflett starts things off with a discussion on the musical context McCready emerged from. “If you didn’t have this punk rock background, then you were looked down upon,” remembers McCready. As he explains, his upbringing was less punk rock and more Cub Scouts until he picked up the guitar. He and PJ rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard preferred the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, and after Gossard caught McCready shredding Stevie Ray Vaughan licks at a party, he phoned him up to start a two-guitar band. “I could only do what I knew how to do, which was play leads,” says McCready.
A major turning point came for McCready when he witnessed Muddy Waters’ performance in The Last Waltz. “It seemed like he could do more in one note than I was doing with all these thousands of notes,” he says. The observation led him to give up shredding and move in an emotion-driven, blues-rooted direction.
That spirit drives the soaring solo on “Alive,” which McCready cut with a 1962 Japanese Reissue Stratocaster, a Tubescreamer, and a Marshall JCM800. McCready reveals how Jimi Hendrix’s sounds on “Machine Gun” influenced his own performance. After the lesson, McCready answers questions about how “Alive” has changed over the years, Eddie Vedder’s punk-ish rhythm playing, and why he smashed a Strat onstage last year.
Best of all? Shifty finally gets a proper “guitar store lick” from his guest.
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
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Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach on the Emo-Meets-Zeppelin Magic of “Accident Prone”
Season 1 · Episode 9
Thursday, October 26, 2023 • Duration 01:19:35
On this week’s Shred With Shifty, Chris Shiflett is joined by one of his all-time favorite players: Blake Schwarzenbach, the 6-string architect behind California punk band Jawbreaker’s simple, noisy, orchestral rippers. But before things really get rolling, Shifty gets his heartbroken as Schwarzenbach squashes rumors that Jawbreaker might have a new record in the works: “There’s no truth to it,” he says.
Shifty and Schwarzenbach talk about the band’s trajectory up to and after Dear You, their major-label breakout record which ditched their indie punk-rock production style for a slicker sound. But the band’s fans didn’t approve of the perceived sell-out—a concern Schwarzenbach thinks isn’t so present nowadays. “Selling out is not a concern I think for younger people in a way that it was in our time,” he says. “Selling out seems to be this weird virtue.” Schwarzenbach remembers recording at the same studio as fellow Bay Area punks Rancid and realizing Jawbreaker would be left in the dust: “It was clear to me who was gonna win,” he grins.
Schwarzenbach admits he’s not a virtuoso lead player, but over the years, the augmented, melodic chording of Jimmy Page blended with the elemental intensity of ’80s D.C. hardcore to create his unique style, which uses octaves and drone notes to build melody and discord at the same time. He recalls the original recording rig on “Accident Prone,” including a Sovtek Big Muff, a white Les Paul, and a hot-rodded Marshall JMP. Then, playing a Gretsch Tennessee Rose Chet Atkins 1963 reissue, he guides Shifty through the tense riffing on the track. When Shiflett suggests there’s an element of complexity to the part, Schwarzenbach corrects him: “Chris, I’m afraid what you’re going to find out in your podcast here is that what you think is finesse is just sloth.”
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4B8BSR0l78qwUKJ5gOGIWb
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71
Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Charlie Starr Brings the Thunder
Season 1 · Episode 8
Thursday, October 12, 2023 • Duration 01:09:12
Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr joins Shred With Shifty to deconstruct his solo on the Smoke’s 2016 track, “Waiting for the Thunder.”
Starr, whom Shifty credits with owning one of the best vintage guitar collections he’s ever seen, explains how he got into guitar at age six thanks to the influence of his dad, who was a bluegrass rhythm player. But he turned to his mum, the rocker in the family, to help him get his first electric guitar: a Mosrite copy which he played through his sister’s stereo with some old-school technical finessing. (He eventually blew the stereo, which didn’t go over well with his sibling.) Starr and Shifty swap stories about getting their kids into guitar—Starr’s son wasn’t interested until he played guitar hero, when he discovered Allman Brothers and Van Halen.
Starr says his playing has never been too bogged down in theory—“I know what sounds good to me and what feels good to me,” he says—and he details how he came to his hybrid picking, middle-finger “crutch” style of lead-playing. For the scorching solo on “Waiting for the Thunder,” off their 2016 record Like An Arrow, Starr messed around until he found the right shape and sound. He used a 50-watt 1976 Marshall JMP, running through a 4x12 cab with Celestion Greenback speakers, and the same guitar he’s playing in this episode: a 2014 Gibson Custom Shop Southern Rock Tribute Les Paul, an homage to the smooth riffing of Duane Allman, Gary Rossington, and Dicky Betts.
You can hear those southern rock pioneers in Starr’s solo, which starts in the low register before slinking its way up the neck to a blistering crescendo. “Tom Waits said, ‘Our hands are like dogs, and they go to familiar places,’” says Starr.
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
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iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shred-with-shifty-116270551/
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71
Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Brad Paisley's G-Bender Magic on “Mud on the Tires”
Season 1 · Episode 7
Thursday, September 28, 2023 • Duration 01:17:16
"It's maybe the most important thing to me that the solos [I record] are things that I haven't done a million times," country guitarist and singer/songwriter Brad Paisley shares on this episode of Shred With Shifty. "That's getting harder and harder to do." But as Paisley walks host Chris Shiflett through his solo on "Mud on the Tires," the centerpiece of the interview, it's clear that Paisley can improvise melodies that don't necessarily need to clear that bar in order to hook and make a lasting impression on his listeners.
Brad was learning Chet Atkins-style thumbpicking in lessons from the age of 12, and while he later absorbed a rock vocabulary, Shifty comments that Brad always seems to play with a country feel. Throughout the episode, Brad frequently illustrates his points by playing riffs, in a way that shows that his connection with the instrument is a fluid one and a key part of how he expresses himself.
"Mud on the Tires" was originally recorded 20 years ago, in 2003. Brad's setup was either his '68 Paisley Tele or '52 Tele, recorded through a '63 AC30 and a Dr. Z Z 28, the latter of which was run through a 15" JBL speaker. As he puts it, the AC30 fills the frequency gaps left by the Fender, making the combination a perfect sonic marriage. He says that live, he normally plays the solo on a guitar he's nicknamed "Splash," and they've had to replace the nut on it three times, due to how Paisley bends the 4th string on the space behind it at a certain point in the solo.
While rockin' his G bender, Brad has some trouble executing the solo's most elaborate middle riff during the solo breakdown, but his incredible chops pull through towards the end of the ep as he whips out the impressive lick. Shifty encourages followers to see if they can match it! That might be a tall order, but it is all part of the fun.
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71
Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Chris Shiflett Rates Your Solos and Shares His Pedal Philosophy
Season 1 · Episode 4
Thursday, September 7, 2023 • Duration 43:44
In this solo installment of Shred With Shifty, host Chris Shiflett shares juicy unreleased footage from previous episodes, rates fan submission solos, and fields questions from viewers.
This week’s Shred With Shifty keeps the spotlight on our intrepid host and shameless shredmeister, as Shifty kicks things off with a swift hammer-on ascent up the neck. Next, he shares a few ace videos submitted by fans where they tackle Alex Lifeson’s solo on Rush’s “Limelight,” though Shifty has some choice words for one shredder’s choice in guitars. (Plus, he duets one lucky Foos cover band expert’s rendition of the solo on “Long Road To Ruin.”) Shifty shares some unseen clips from his conversations on the pod thus far. He talks Epiphones versus Gibsons with Lifeson, soccer fandom and arthritis with Rivers Cuomo, and guitar-painting with Lindsay Ell. Best of all, Nile Rogers dishes on how he rescued David Bowie’s dismal “Let’s Dance” demo.
To round out the show, Shiflett answers questions from viewers. He talks about his love for Strymon’s Iridium and how they fit into his solo shows, plus he reveals what he’s playing through on Shred With Shifty. Later on, he recounts how a malfunctioning amp during “This Is A Call” ended with a smashed guitar, his favorite pedalboard picks (“Put like 15 pedals on your pedalboard and go to the races!”), his amp-switching rig and pre-show warm up routine with Foo Fighters, and how to play his leads on Foos’ emotional new track, “Under You.”
Look out for the next episode of Shred With Shifty, when Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora joins Shiflett to teach him the screaming solo for "Dead Or Alive."
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
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Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Nile Rodgers on the Magic of “I’m Coming Out”
Season 1 · Episode 4
Thursday, August 24, 2023 • Duration 01:19:46
CHIC bandleader Nile Rodgers and his Hitmaker spill the history behind writing the unforgettable music and lyrics for Diana Ross’ iconic smash, “I’m Coming Out”
When CHIC guitar wizard Nile Rodgers tells Chris Shiflett that he was at Woodstock, Shiflett quips, “You didn’t take the brown acid, did you?” Rodgers grins and chuckles, “I took every color acid they had!”
This is the tongue-in-cheek tenor of the latest episode of Shred With Shifty, a fun, often hilarious conversational romp through Rodgers’ music career. It all started with classical music and woodwinds (specifically the flute and clarinet), but as Rodgers tells it, a major turning point was a chance encounter with a crew of Los Angeles hippies—affectionately called “freaks” in those days of the late ’60s—that led to a two-day LSD party soundtracked by The Doors’ first album.
After he picked up a guitar at 16, he turned to unique jazz pluckers like Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery. He followed in their footsteps and played semi-hollow guitars until he met his longtime musical partner and CHIC cofounder, bassist Bernard Edwards, who urged him to pick up a Stratocaster. So it was then that the Hitmaker was born one fateful day in a south Florida guitar shop.
Rodgers gives Shifty the full, eyebrow-raising story of how he and Edwards penned Diana Ross’ hit, “I’m Coming Out.” The duo had tried the song’s drumbeat on many other tracks—they nicknamed it “the hesitation waltz”—but its playful rhythm didn’t land until they wrote the song for Ross. Rodgers explains that his neck-pickup “chucking” on the song, which is most clearly voiced on the highest three strings, was structured around the vocal melody. “I’m a very hook-oriented guy,” says Rodgers. “I believe in reinforcing the thing that I believe is melodically the motif that the house is built on.”
And Rodgers doesn’t shy away from the whole truth about the song’s history. Ross was the first superstar that Rodgers had recorded with, but as he remembers, that didn’t stop him from spinning a little white lie to make sure that “I’m Coming Out” was released.
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Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71
Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Lindsay Ell's One-Woman Guitarmony
Season 1 · Episode 3
Thursday, August 10, 2023 • Duration 01:04:47
On this episode, the country guitarist walks Shifty through her blazing solo on "Hits Me," after sharing all about what makes her guitar-mind tick.
"I've always looked at guitar solos as additional lyrics to the song," says Lindsay Ell. She approaches guitar solos by balancing their voice with that of the actual vocal, and on this episode of Shred With Shifty, the country guitarist and songwriter—who really draws from a host of genres, including rock, jazz, and blues—breaks down her epic solo on "Hits Me" for host Chris Shiflett, walking him through each phrase and figure.
But before the two get into the solo breakdown, they cover some ground delving into topics like Lindsay's early bluegrass studies (and how her teacher Randy Bachman later introduced her to jazz and blues), her experience playing with producer Dann Huff, and why there aren't more female lead guitarists. (For that last one, she's not sure she has the answer, but is proud to be on the vanguard!)
"Hits Me" is in Bb, which could be a challenging key to play in, and even Chris admits he gets lost on the fretboard if his songs aren't in the far more common keys of E, A, or G. But, she didn't want to be pigeonholed as the "girl who uses a capo," throwing it out at a very young age, and plays the solo high up on the neck, mostly on the top strings, around the 16th fret. It's also full of "guitarmony"—which she loves doing on just one guitar, although the solo was tracked on two for the recording to throw a bone to the mixing engineer.
In the final minutes of the ep, Lindsay reveals one of her favorite warm up exercises, which she calls "chromatic spiders," which Shifty finds pretty wild (and they sound just as creepy as their name). Watch the full episode to get the whole story on Lindsay and the nuts and bolts of her guitar wizardry.
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Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4B8BSR0l78qwUKJ5gOGIWb
iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shred-with-shifty-116270551/
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Follow Chris Shiflett:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shifty71
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chris.shiflett
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71
Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
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