Shannon was Born and raised in the small town of Hazel Green, KY, and grew up with a great appreciation of music. He expressed that appreciation both vocally and by playing various musical instruments throughout his life.
Feeling an urgency to serve his country after Desert Storm, He joined the United States Navy in July of 1994 and trained as a Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman at the Naval School of Health Sciences in San Diego, Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, CA. He served as Corpsman in two combat deployments in Iraq: the first in 2003 with 2nd Battalion 1st Marines as part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq and again in 2004 during Vigilant Resolve as the Regimental Combat Team 1, Personal Security Detachments Corpsman. To help relieve the stresses of combat and deployment felt by both him and others in his unit, He would play guitar and sing during down time…and most importantly, began to write his own music about how he and his brothers felt about their experiences.