Zane Lewis

A sixth-generation Texan, honky tonk rocker Zane Lewis was born in Lubbock, a town famed for its musicians (<a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a> being the most notable), and raised in Round Rock just north of Austin. His father was a fiddle player who had his own western swing band in college so Lewis grew up hearing not only the music of <a href="spotify:artist:3YeRGjR8sa1PHjTUMjqsQg">Bob Wills</a> but also the music of the other artists in his father's record collection, including <a href="spotify:artist:5W5bDNCqJ1jbCgTxDD0Cb3">Willie Nelson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7wCjDgV6nqBsHguQXPAaIM">Waylon Jennings</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0ECwFtbIWEVNwjlrfc6xoL">the Eagles</a>. Later Lewis gravitated to <a href="spotify:artist:5vngPClqofybhPERIqQMYd">George Strait</a> and the southern country rock of <a href="spotify:artist:4MVyzYMgTwdP7Z49wAZHx0">Lynyrd Skynyrd</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6UpFUXmXvDV7Qj1SPymamh">Charlie Daniels</a> as well as the harder rock sounds of <a href="spotify:artist:2cnMpRsOVqtPMfq7YiFE6K">Van Halen</a> and the tireless conviction of bands like <a href="spotify:artist:51Blml2LZPmy7TTiAg47vQ">U2</a>. He began playing guitar while he was a student at Texas Tech, and while he sang constantly in private, Lewis wasn't quite ready to make the move to being a professional singer. After graduating with a degree in advertising, Lewis moved into the magazine publishing business, establishing a successful equestrian magazine called Western & English Today, and the money he made from selling it to a larger publishing firm financed his debut 2003 album, This Town, which Lewis recorded with members of <a href="spotify:artist:2d3VHzlOEwXvmBdS4pzOPL">LeAnn Rimes</a>' road band. The album was a regional hit with the title track actually grazing the bottom of the national country charts and generating some radio time. The follow-up album, the self-titled Zane Lewis, produced by Lex Lipsitz and <a href="spotify:artist:3WIMGDdZYN91QQr3zGzpxo">Brett James</a>, was released in 2008 by Slant Records. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi