Local Musician Spotlight // Shannon Runyon
Music is intricately woven into the fabric of Shannon Runyon’s life. Raised in Michigan to a “musical family,” Shannon grew up singing with her siblings and spent her high school years singing with a traveling youth choir and in school musicals. Falling asleep to the lull of her dad’s fingers on their piano is one of her favorite childhood memories.
As an alto, Shannon didn’t initially see herself as a soloist, thinking of singing as just a part time hobby. Over time, she began to acknowledge the important role that music would play in her life. Her perspective shifted, and she saw herself as an individual, finding her voice as a soloist outside of the group comforts of the church choir or her family. Shannon came to Park City in 2012 and fell in love with the music scene here. Fond of its collaborative nature, Shannon notes that “there’s a lot of support, a lot of collaboration, when it comes to music. It’s a great place to live and play.” Pushing herself to become better at her craft, Shannon spends hours in vocal lessons, seated at her piano, or strumming her guitar. She finds inspiration in the infinite potential for growth in the arts. Small hits of the unexpected, learning something new or discovering a new sound keep Shannon inspired.
Our interview came at a time when I was debating whether to return to my college’s New Hampshire campus for a term of online classes, or to take another off-term. I expressed anxiety about my unknown future, about the sudden disappearance of the once concretely – paved road of my life, and the sudden emergence of new, windier, more adventurous paths that covid has revealed. Shannon helped me to see the beauty in the ambiguity, to consider not only the doors of opportunity that this virus has slammed shut, but also those it has opened. Urging me not to settle for the safety of online classes, she told me to listen to my gut and take another term off from school, get out into the world and truly live. “It’s such a big world,” she said, her eyes gazing wistfully beyond the constraints of the zoom screen, probably resting on the view beyond some window.
Her adventurous spirit is contagious—it is what propelled her away from a conventional life of marriage and kids and what accompanied her as she traveled the world. It guided her as her perspective gradually changed and music began to take a front seat in her life. And eventually, it became her main focus in Park City. Every time she sings, the lessons she has learned from her adventures saturate her lyrics, dewdrops of emotion. “It’s with limitations that we are forced to expand beyond what we thought we could do. When doors are closed, people get creative,” she stated, smiling into the zoom camera. Artists have always challenged themselves to work within constraints—but the coronavirus has brought this to a new level. Shannon’s creativity has been useful as she navigates the jungle that is being a performer in a global pandemic. She has found ways to continue performing for a live audience, without compromising anyone’s safety. She is able to keep doing what she loves thanks to newly implemented innovations like plexiglass dividers and the face screen she excitedly showed me. This winter, Shannon will continue to perform at her regular in-town venues. Catch her on Monday nights at open mic at The Cabin, as well as at the Prime Steak House and Snowed Inn.
On Shannon’s website, it states, “Music is not meant to be hoarded or hidden away, but is a light and a God given gift to share with all who will listen and all who will receive.” Shannon shares this light through her songs, leaving the world a little brighter with each note.