About Me
My name is Joey Shaling and I am originally from Gardendale, Al. My wife Jennye and I have been living in Panama City Beach, Fl. for the majority of the past 32 years having moved here in April of 1989. We also had various stints living in Key Largo, Ft. Walton Beach and Destin, Fl. She and I had fallen in love while playing music in the Birmingham area some 41 years ago and always wanted to make our living playing music. That was not going to happen back in those days in Birmingham. We were fortunate enough to make friends with several musicians while vacationing in the Panama City Beach area including our friend Andy Redmond whom we owe it all to. Andy invited us to sit in quite often when we were visiting. Then one day he offered me a partnership that I could not refuse. With a season of work booked at Schooners, Jennye and I took the proverbial Leap of Faith and quit our jobs back in Birmingham to move to the Beach and play music for a living. Andy was one of the best showmen and hardest working musicians around and really helped us to get acquainted in the musical community in the area. Unbelievably in our first season here we also got to meet and perform with The Wailers Band (formerly Bob Marley and The Wailers), we made friends with the band but especially with Junior Marvin the lead vocalist and guitarist with whom we are still great friends and he even co-wrote one of the songs on my upcoming CD. Also that first year I had the great pleasure of meeting and jamming with Toy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band. We worked hard for the first year with Andy, we moved to Key Largo and worked the Winter season at various spots in the Keys and when it came time to come back to PCB for the Spring/Summer Season the job seemed to be set more for just a duo so Jennye and I started our duo then and landed a job as the House Band for Jamaica Joe’s on Santa Rosa Island in Ft. Walton and moved there for the next year. Then moved to Destin for the next three years while still employed at Jamaica Joe’s and I was still driving to PCB to work with Andy too. The jobs were plentiful, we worked at Chan’s in FWB and Panama City, Sam’s Oyster Bar, Night Town, Harbor Docks, AJ’s, Harry T’s, Lucky Snapper (where we played Keith Urbans off nights) and several other places in the area.
In 1994 we moved back over to Panama City Beach to be part of the lineup for House Bands that were at The Original Runaway Island and The Light House Restaurants. We started being regularly employed by The Spinnaker Beach Club where we were fortunate enough to be the opening act for most of the concerts there during that time including The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Yellow Man, The Wailers, Eddie Money and Fleetwood Mac etc. Through the years we have also performed at many other venues including Hammerhead Fred’s, Holiday Inn Sunspree, Schooners, The Original Runaway Island, Sharky’s, Flounder’s in Pensacola, Jamaica Joe’s in Ft. Walton Beach and many more. Jennye and I have continued our work as a duo even to this day but I have always kept busy by playing in other situations with duos and bands having played in Junior Marvin’s Band (Roots Rock) and other guest spots with various bands including The Rhythm All-stars, Barry Fish Band, etc. I've also had the good fortune of meeting and playing music with the likes of Morgan Freeman, Emeril Lagasse, Zac Brown and many other local and national acts.
Jennye and I continue performing at many different venues in the Panhandle of Florida as well as in the Florida Keys. Some of our regular places to play are at Margaritaville in Pier Park on Saturdays starting at 4 p.m. March into December and Margaritaville at Harborwalk in Destin on Mondays starting at 6pm running from May through August. We also perform at several other venues to include Los Antojitos in St. Andrews area Panama City, Millie's downtown Panama City, Hang Five, Chrito's etc. and private functions as well. If you would like to have us perform for your private function or if you just want to drop me a line you can always send an email to jshaling@aol.com or feel free to call (850)-258-0906. You can also keep up with us on Facebook. I also perform with many other duos and groups in the area. Please check out our calendar for more information on dates. We are looking forward to seeing you at one of these fine establishments.
I also have also had the honor of sharing the stage performing with a few of my good friends including Barry Fish, Crook Stewart, Bruce Hebert, Ike Bartley and many more. We play a blend of Soul/R & B, Motown, Classic Rock, Reggae, Blues and Light Jazz.
I've performed quite a bit with Bob Marley's Band "The Wailers". On Junior Marvin's (Bob Marley and Wailers Lead Guitarist/Vocalist) last solo CD project titled "Wailin' For Love", I recorded guitar solo parts on several songs.