Elvie Shane Opens Up About His Life as a Backslider: 'I'm Just Going to Own It' (2024)

Elvie Shane is currently "living a dream."

His debut single "My Boy" recently reached the top of multiple country music charts and his debut album Backslider is receiving critical acclaim. Add that to the fact that he and wife Mandi are currently basking in the goodness of their two young children, and it's safe to say that these are some of the sweetest days for the singer/songwriter.

But he's seen some cruel ones too.

"I've always been attracted to a little bit of trouble for whatever reason," Shane, 33, admits in an interview with PEOPLE mere days before the release of his debut album Backslider. "I tend to try to self-sabotage for reasons that I still can't figure out, especially when things are going good. I have to find a little struggle because I guess I'm just used to it."

A kid from Kentucky raised in the church alongside a mom who worked at a factory and a dad who drove a truck, Shane mixed a whole lot of faith with a whole lot of rebel in his early days, snagging 20 or so traffic citations before he was 18 years old. And like many before him, Shane admits his college years were tough, and he soon found himself heading completely in the wrong direction.

"I started out really good and then just started partying a lot," Shane admits. "Playing music became associated with a harder way of life — a lot of drinking and a lot of doing other things that had to do with partying."

Shane eventually found himself in a jail cell.

But it's that life that the rising country music star prefers not to dwell on at this point, as he finds himself at an incredibly precious spot in his life right now, a new life that began when he walked into a bar and noticed a girl who would end up being his future wife. And yes, that girl happened to have a little boy who would end up serving as the inspiration of Shane's future hit "My Boy."

And as his luck began to turn, Shane knew he couldn't screw this up.

"I put my guitar down for a few years when I met my wife because I felt like my music associated me with things that would lead me away from the changes that she helped me make," he remembers. "And then when I picked it back up, I found that I had a firmer foundation."

It's this firmer foundation that Shane finds himself not only standing on, but writing about on his new album Backslider, a sonic treasure that weaves between blessings and contradictions amongst 14 honest-to-goodness tracks that display a messy honesty that couldn't be more appealing.

"Whether you believe in this or not, to be Christian means to be Christ-like, and what that symbolizes is a very perfect being," says Shane, who wrote the career-altering "My Boy" alongside Russell Sutton, Nick Columbia and Lee Starr. "That's something that none of us really will ever be able to obtain in life, I don't believe. So then, I looked at the word 'backslider' and to me, it seems like a more accurate representation of what we tend to be on a daily basis. Instead of being ashamed of it, I'm just going to own it because we're all human."

While Shane has put a lot of distance between him and his darker past, it's something that still keeps him up at night.

"I try to stay away from things that make me feel bad," he says. "Instead, I do things that make me feel good. I try to do those more often."

And when that becomes a battle, he leans on God.

"There's been times in life where I've definitely lost my faith and times where I've felt like I didn't even believe, but it's really hard to be as blessed as I have been and not believe in Him," Shane notes. "I'm thankful for all the things that have been going good. But at the same time, I'm still just as thankful that I've still got just enough recklessness in me."

He takes a deep breath in.

"It's all about trying to navigate how to do all of this and find balance and be a great artist and a great voice for my demographic while also being a great husband and a great father. I'm still trying to figure all that out as I go."