Shannon Shaw at the Royal Sonesta Clift Hotel in San Francisco on Friday

Sonesta

Body positive advocate and Shannon and the Clams frontwoman Shannon Shaw joined Rolling Stone Magazine and The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel for a special “Musicians on Musicians” event on Friday. This intimate evening in downtown San Francisco blended conversation, performance and storytelling. Moderated by Rolling Stone’s deputy editor Joseph Hudak, the discussion brought Shaw into dialogue with electronic artist Tycho (Scott Hansen). Both hail from Northern California, and are influenced by its unique regional flavor in starkly different ways.

Shaw’s sound is retro, soulful, and raw. Her influences include California garage rock, doo-wop and country. Tycho, by contrast, focuses on atmospheric instrumentals. Their conversation quickly revealed Shaw’s philosophy of music as a type of exchange that bridges people and communities.

“I think making music is an energetic exchange,” said Shaw. “You are sacrificing and taking a risk sharing all of your insights with everyone out there, and then you are taking it all in, and alchemizing it. This back-and-forth is necessary. I just really feel that more than ever before.”

That sense of reciprocity between artist and audience threaded through the evening. Both artists reflected on the San Francisco Bay Area as an incubator of sound and identity. Though the Bay Area is home, Shaw is often on the road. “A lot of the time I’m going back-to-back on tours,” she said. “It can be really hard.” She relies on structure to keep up with her rigorous schedule. “I’m a really big planner person. I have a paper planner. It’s color-coded. It’s a thing of beauty,” shared Shaw.

In discussing her solo record Shannon in Nashville, which she recorded with the legendary Dan Auerbach, Shaw described the creative possibility of making music outside her home base. “I liked the idea of being ‘not from here, but here, creating something,’” she said, framing the project as both homage and experiment. She worked with veteran session musicians who reshaped her understanding of authorship. “I was working with dudes that were 79 years old, and had all the best stories. They played on Neil Diamond’s hit records and with Aretha Franklin, Elvis, and Wilson Pickett. That was their life for so many years. They’re listening to a demo I recorded on my phone in my car, and then they interpret it through their entire life of playing music. That’s something really beautiful about that environment,” said Shaw. ”I loved working with them, and I think that was part of calling it Shannon in Nashville, because they brought so much to the record.

Recounting how professional wrestler Mick Foley ended up contributing handclaps to a recent album, Shaw laughed, tracing the collaboration back to a chance airport encounter years earlier. “It can be hard to meet your heroes, but he’s just a genuinely kind person,” she said. The story underscored that behind the polished industry, music culture still runs on chance, connection and the awkward intimacy of fandom.

In a moment when musicians are increasingly expected to produce work rapidly, the creative process can feel secondary. Shaw doesn’t deny that tension. “Everyone’s working so hard at things that will make them money,” she said. “The things I do don’t really do that, but they make my soul grin.”

The night offered a potential snapshot into the next frontier of music culture, curated by brand partners that center place and experience, not just sound. In addition to thoughtful conversation and intimate performances, there were regionally-inspired cocktails, elevated bites, and luxe seating. Where live music has historically been purely sonic, events like this suggest a shift toward full-body memory-making. Hopefully, that future will also see more artists like Shaw at its helm.