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WITF Music: Shine Delphi

Shine Delphi

Photo by Joe Ulrich

Even when Shine Delphi isn’t smiling, it somehow seems like he is.

Shine was born in Doylestown but spent most of his formative years in California. He moved back to the east coast and lived in Mechanicsburg for a while. He worked and played gigs and then…

“I saved up enough money to by a guitar and a car and my car cost less than the guitar I bought,” he says. “I spent the next two or three years just on the road wandering around and one of the places I stopped was New Orleans.”

Despite playing a blend of gypsy, ragtime and folk, he was very much into metal and alternative music growing up, things like Alice in Chains and Metallica and…Brittany Spears.

“I do love that song ‘Toxic’,” he says as he laughs. “Every now and then when I’m taking a solo I’ll be like do do doodle doo [mimicking a catchy string line from the song]…and I love if anyone in the audience or any of the musicians can pick it out…Such a great riff.”

Shine Delphi

Shine Delphi performing in the WITF studio.

After discovering New Orleans, Shine spent the next handful of years there.

“People are just so amazing and you could learn so much. But they’d also play with you on your songs. That town’s just filled with people who play the swingin’ style and folk music and…I guess what I consider roots, just stuff from the past.”

Shine Delphi is not his birth name, but it was inspired by an old song from 1910 by Cecil Mack and Tin Pan Alley songwriter Lew Brown.

“The song’s called ‘Shine’ and it’s like ‘Just because my hair’s curly/just because my teeth are pearly/just because I always wear a smile’. And there was a girl that I was kind of dating when I was younger and she was like, ‘They should call you shine’ because I had a giant fro and I was always laughing…And Delphi is actually my original resonator guitar which is a National Delphi model.”

“I like the idea of being able to choose what you call yourself as an adult and I chose to be Shine. I wanna be a positive person who hopefully makes you smile and laugh and reminds you that even on the darkest days it’s ok to smile…So I hope that I shine that light on people,” he says with a laugh.

Shine is releasing his first CD and is having a release party Thursday at River City Blues in Harrisburg. Doors open at 8pm.

https://www.instagram.com/shinedelphi/

https://www.facebook.com/shinedelphi

http://www.shinedelphi.com


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