About Mike
Mike Shaw is an Atlanta-based writer and musician. A singer-pianist, he began touring in the late 1960s, performing in nightclubs and on concert stages, solo and with small combos, ultimately settling in New Orleans in the late ‘70s. He currently heads up a jazz quartet in Atlanta. As a writer, Mike is the author or co-author of seven traditionally published books, including the November 2026 release, What You Learn Learning Music, which he co-authored with internationally acclaimed jazz pianist and educator Kevin Bales. Since 2024, the two lifelong musicians have published a bi-weekly podcast, Music Life and Times, a discussion of the benefits of learning to play and perform music and the positive impact of music on people's lives. Mike has founded and presided over three Atlanta-based marketing agencies, including his current firm, Shade Communications, through which he has authored more than 15,000 published articles, from investigative pieces adopted by 60 Minutes and ABC 20/20 to articles, white papers, and blogs for corporate clients.
Stories, Insights, Lessons Learned
The Musician captures the character and circumstance of life as shared by musicians everywhere, from immersion in their craft, to the joy of playing music well and with others who play it well, to the challenges associated with committing a lifetime to such an unstructured and often unrewarded career.
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For The Musician (Blue Room Books, 325 pages), Mike Shaw draws upon his decades as a performing musician to chronicle the fictional story of Tom Cliffe, a pianist devoted to his craft but without a pathway to stardom or financial success. Like many working musicians, Cliffe survives on the edges of the business: playing small nightclubs, living in humble quarters, fighting temptation, and constantly scrambling to earn enough money to survive.
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Music Life & Times, Mike Shaw’s podcast with internationally renowned jazz pianist Kevin Bales, argues that becoming an accomplished musician requires discipline, self-acceptance or self-confidence, and cooperation. They are also the life lessons that music teaches those who would learn to play. The podcast seeks to prove the premise through revelations about music and musicians past and present as well as from the podcasters’ own experiences as career musicians.
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