With two singles from his sophomore album on the Texas Music Chart, a soon-to-be released Live CD, and upcoming studio time to record a third album, Charlie Shafter is making a solid breakthrough on the Texas music scene. For being only 25 years old, Charlie writes his music with a wisdom far beyond his years. Much like his personality, Charlie’s music is simple and uncomplicated, yet complex, profound and always with purpose. Charlie has surrounded himself with Texas music since his teenage years of traveling alongside his brother-in-law Matt Martindale, lead singer of Cooder Graw. This travel time exposed Charlie to priceless jam sessions with other musicians like Cody Canada and Jason Boland. Surprisingly, Charlie is not a Texas native. His outside influence has added a new and unique perspective to the genre of Texas Country, making him far more a personification of Americana than strictly Texas music. Along with his early inspirations from Texas artists, Charlie’s influences extend to include musical pioneers like Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and his favorite, Tom Waits. The combination of influences has molded Charlie into a one of a kind artist. Recently in his career, Charlie Shafter has worked with Bill Harvey, producer of the new Charlie Mars record, to produce his most recent album, “17th & Chicago.”