The 19-year-old singer is writing tomorrow’s hits today, with a new Organic Collection Wildwood Companion Satin CE
Due to pandemic restrictions, 19-year-old British busker Alfie Sheard hasn’t been able to hit the streets of London of late, much less the better corners outside his Doncaster digs.
But he has been getting plenty of writing done, some of it in face-to-face sessions with young collaborators, but the preponderance of it in Zoom meetings with other experienced songwriters.
And much of it is being done on a brand-new travel-ready Breedlove Organic Collection Wildwood Companion Satin CE, which just landed in Sheard’s hands a few weeks ago, joining a well-loved Premier Concertina CE.
“It’s one of the smallest models you can get, but it sounds really big and bright and nice,” Sheard raves. “My Breedloves sound better than some other guitars I’ve owned in the past and they’re a great value, especially when you’re a musician starting out”
Sheard, a virtual phenom who racks up huge engagement on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms, first came to wider U.S. attention with a 2015 appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, singing Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.”
It was, in fact, his Facebook fame that landed him on TV— particularly a reverb-laden version of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” a compelling folk-inflected hit from 1988.
“I filmed it one Saturday,” Sheard says, “and it just kind of went viral overnight. I woke up the next morning with 200,000 views, which had never happened before. A day or two later, it was over a million, within that week, I got an email from a producer, who said, ‘How do you feel about flying out to L.A. Monday? This was on Friday afternoon, so, it was very short notice, which is dope and I loved it.”
While he remains best known for “Fast Car,” the net is crawling with other remarkable covers by Sheard, including Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” most performed—pre-COVID—on the pavement, in front of passing crowds who pause and gather, stunned by the extraordinary voice that comes out of the lad.
Nearing his 20th year, Sheard, who has also performed at major U.K. venues like The 02 and Manchester Arenas, is now turning his focus to original material, with an eye on a long-term career like that of primary influences Arizonian Alec Benjamin, Australian Dean Lewis and fellow Brit Ed Sheeran (who actually sent Sheard a signed signature model while he was on the Ellen set).
You’ll be hearing more from Sheard soon, here, and—we’re quite sure—on the radio as well.
