The Shawna Jackson Band is comprised of six talented musicians with many (many!) years of experience in the music industry in general, and country music specifically. Fronted by the very talented Shawna Jackson, they have appeared throughout southern NH, northern MA, and southern ME at a variety of venues ranging from country fairs, to bars and various country music festivals. Offering a variety of covers from such country mega stars as Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris as well as Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Dylan Scott, Luke Combs and others, they also delve into classic rock covers by Bryan Adams, John Cougar Mellencamp, and the Eagles, to name but a few. A favorite of crowds everywhere they play, they entertain with an impressive sound and a great show. Check out their next performances, it's sure to be a fantastic time!
Shawna Jackson
The youngest in a family of 4 girls, Shawna found herself the family entertainer, singing to her family as little more than a toddler using a screwdriver as a mic and the brick fireplace base as a stage. Her passion for music grew to include singing gospel music solos in church and competitions. Shawna has toured Japan, Hong Kong and China, and while in college, she earned a spot in an elite gospel singing group. She also toured the West Coast and recorded an album while participating in several bands, performing up and down the West Coast and Pacific Northwest, including Alaska and the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. After recording an original CD, she stepped away from music for several years to raise her children. Shawna returned to her musical roots in 2018 when she joined the “In Cahoots” band, which rebranded in 2022 as The Shawna Jackson Band. She provides powerhouse vocals along with a musicianship seldom found outside of a very few singers.
Bruce Stone has been playing in Country cover bands since the late seventies. After playing in a variety of local country bands Bruce was fortunate enough to found and play with the same band for 10 years all along the Sacramento and the Highway 49 circuit in California. After returning home to NH Bruce was again fortunate enough to join and help cofound a local country band enjoying a successful 7-year run. When the band disbanded, he and several former bandmates began a project that would evolve to become The Shawna Jackson Band.
Bruce also served as a board member for Granite State Country Music Organization (GSCMO) and still maintains contact with them. His heart remains rooted in country music, and he looks forward to many more years of performing.
Rick Leavitt grew up in a home filled with traditional country music which has remained a strong influence on him over the years. He began playing drums at the age of 12. By his early 20’s, he had the opportunity and pleasure to open for such Nashville artists TG Shepard, Johnny Russell and Ernest Tubb at Lone Star Ranch located in southern New Hampshire, as well as playing with Dick Curliss, Dave Dudley and Marty Haggard.
Over the past 30 years, Rick has played with many country bands in the New England area and in the past few years opened for JoDee Messina, Tracy Byrd, Mark Wills, George Jones, the Outlaws, Kellie Pickler and Reba. Although he enjoys different genres of music, country is still where his heart remains today.
Lead guitarist Eric Shea asked for a guitar for his 14th birthday because he was good at the video game “Guitar hero” and he laughs as he explains he found out it didn’t translate to the real thing. But he never looked back! He practiced constantly, finding his motivation from jazz and played his first paid gig at age 16 in Harlem. At age 17 he received a scholarship to Berklee and graduated in 2015. He is credited with 15+ years of performing, producing and working as an Educator based in New England and in various locations around the world as well. His education, dedication, and professionalism have enabled him to excel across a wide range of genres.
Bassist Ed Bordeleau played his first professional gig in 1968 (a last minute fill-in gig with a 9 piece big band, sight reading the music, playing upright bass. He gigged all throughout high school both in several bands and as a “hired gun” when someone was needing a fill in player. He had to learn fast, pick up on the patterns, and learn to fit in with the drummer and keyboard player. When his family moved to NH in 1971, and he started playing with club bands. That kept him busy until 1984 when he opened Pianoarts, a full service piano business providing tuning, repair, rebuilding and refinishing services as well as used and rebuilt pianos for sale. While managing the store Ed remained active in music performance through fill in work and a stint with a classic rick band. He then moved on to form another band, Soulhouse 7 - a Blues Brothers tribute band. In 2012 Ed began producing the Regional Idol Scholarship Competition, a competition and showcase for high school vocalists, hosted by the Bedford Rotary Club and continues to the present. Ed’s most recent band gig was forming and performing with the Ed Bordeleau Band until May of this year.
Blake Duncan is a multi-instrumentalist out of North Carolina, who brings not only amazing keyboard skills to the band, but provides vocals and sound engineering to the band also. Blake has played in a variety of classic rock, country, and Christian cover bands, and has owned and operated his own studios in Georgia, Alabama, and now Kingston, NH.
Blake’s Sonic Trinity Studios (www.sonictrinitystudios.com) provides recording, mixing, and engineering services to the NH music family. Please give Blake a warm welcome, and come on out and see us at our next show.