Shannon Shaw’s Music Video “Cryin’ My Eyes Out” Has Us Getting Out The Kleenex: BUST Premiere

by Elizabeth F. Olson

We’re excited to be premiering the music video for “Cryin’ My Eyes Out” from Shannon Shaw’s new solo album. Shaw’s solo project, Shannon in Nashville, is a departure from her band Shannon and the Clams’ golden, garage-y surf rock. Her new music underscores her rich vocals with vintage vibes.

Screen Shot 2018 05 23 at 12.51.59 PM 509d5still from “Cryin’ My Eyes Out”

Shaw relocated to Nashville to write her aptly-named solo album with a few of her buddies, including Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who produced and played guitar, and a handful of pro musicians who played with Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson. And it shows—“Cryin’ My Eyes Out” sounds like it could’ve been recorded yesterday, or half a century ago. 

Shaw tells BUST, “The song is a real tear jerker for me, it’s about a tough family pickle I’ve been in for a long time. The lyrics explore this feeling I have sometimes where I’m getting more desperate and tortured realizing that the situation isn’t going to improve after all. I’m on the edge of losing my grip and something I had so much hope for. The song was originally written soft and as sad as possible but with time it became more swinging, confident, lively, hopeful. I’m happy to have moved that direction, I think it’s important to find hope in everything and be open to the unexpected. The video Ryan Browne and I decided to take it in a playful direction. Kind of a wild juxtaposition if you catch the drift of the meaning behind the song. This video was by far the funnest one I’ve ever done. Can’t express how good it felt to become other characters. I took it seriously in that I gave each one a name and persona and tried to become them. Dusty the chipper bass player, the creepy keyboard guy (Dale maybe?) and the producer were my favorites.”

Her director, Ryan Browne, adds, “Having worked with Shannon several times in the past, I’ve come to realize that she is a natural actor with a sharp sense of humor. I wanted to take advantage of these talents, so I dreamt up a concept where she could play every character in a parody of a “behind the scenes” music video. I watched a lot of classic videos and documentaries in this genre, picking up on some common tropes such as the engineer working the faders and the producer pushing the vocalist to dig deeper with words of inspiration. My costume designer Lauren Corden worked with Shannon to create a completely unique look for each character. They even had names and backstories! I think my favorite was Richard the piano player, a hired gun who struggled to bond with the others. No one invited Richard out for a drink after the session. I’m grateful to Shannon for trusting me to pull off this idea and to Lauren for making the raddest costumes ever.”

We caught up with Shannon Shaw just before the release of Shannon and the Clams’ most recent album, Onion, earlier this year. Read the interview here.

Top image: Alyssa Gafkjen

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Founded in 1993, BUST is the inclusive feminist lifestyle trailblazer offering a unique mix of humor, female-focused entertainment, uncensored personal stories, and candid reporting that tells the truth about women’s lives.

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