“I grew up playing Little League Baseball and running around in the woods with my friends. I was a pretty good kid. I respected my parents and neighbors. I was pretty imaginative and drew a lot as a kid. I never got into a lot of trouble other than coming home a mess after running around all day in the woods. We fished and hunted with BB guns a lot, caught crawdads, and swam in Brushy Creek where the Chisolm Trail crossed. It was a lot of fun growing up there in the Hill Country. It was kind of Tom Sawyer-like in the summers,” says Zane Lewis of his childhood growing up with his younger brother and older sister in Round Rock, Texas outside of Austin.
“I never sang in the choir, and my mom and dad never pushed music on me growing up, even though they both have musical backgrounds that run for generations. In fact, my dad was pretty anti-music in a way. He didn’t forbid me from trying it. But it was just before I left for college when he gave me a guitar and encouraged me to start playing. He knew from his own experiences how hard trying to make a living as a musician could be. He wanted me to concentrate on getting an education first so I could make a living. But he will be the first to tell you how proud he was when I left the magazine publishing business to launch my first album.”
“My dad is a fiddle and mandolin player. He played in western swing bands growing up, and when I was a really young kid he played at home a lot. We didn’t have a front porch, so I’ll call it ‘livin’ room pickin.’ My mom sang in the church choir growing up, and she sang to me a lot when I was really young. That exposure had a big impact on me. I was a ‘closet singer’ until I graduated from college. Before then, my biggest audiences had been family and a few friends.”
“I taught myself to play guitar. I tried lessons, but my ADHD wouldn’t allow me get into the whole theory of music, and thorough understanding of this and that. I just wanted to play music, so I learned some chords, and started jamming. I had a vocal coach who taught me how to take care of my voice, which is extremely important. Especially if you are out singing live on a regular basis. You can really wreck your vocal chords and get stuck with a lot of bad habits if you don’t know how to sing correctly.
The sixth generation Texan still plays the same acoustic his dad gave him before he left for college, a Fender Telecaster American ’57 re-issue that he loves, believes, “you should always, learn your biggest lessons from failures. If you fall, pick yourself up and keep trying. Never ever give up if you truly believe in what you are doing.”
“I married my high school sweetheart after we graduated from college. We waited a while before having kids, and when we decided to have them, we caught up real quick with twins. We have a house full of pets – a couple of dogs, Elvis and Pearl; three cats; two mice, and a toad named Jarry. The mice and toad are my son’s. We have a regular zoo on our hands, and the kids are a couple of monkeys.”
Zane released his self-titled second album in 2008 and had two singles to chart nationally. He is currently playing live throughout the southwest and central U.S. and getting read to release a third single off the album. “I’m just trying to make a lot of new friends out on the road. And I hope that they continue to dig what we’re doing. Right now it’s all about reaching as many people as I can with my music. I’m just looking for a chance to be heard. Hooking up with a major touring artist would be a dream opportunity. And I’ll keep working hard until someone notices. But how my future unfolds is up to the Lord above,” he says. “I want country music fans to know that I am just like everybody else. I started out a fan, and I just happen to play country music. The two most comfortable places for me in the world are being on stage and visiting with fans. I’m as real as it gets.”
