Songwriter, singer dream of breaking into Nashville scene
Walter Shrum is holding his breath, crossing his fingers and offering many prayers in the hope that his dream of breaking into the Nashville music scene will be realized. The Uniontown man has been writing songs for about eight years. He has had some interest from Nashville. Diamond Rio looked at a song, and artist Tony Dalton recorded it, but no success, yet.
“I just need the right person to hear to hear my songs,” Shrum said.
He believes that just may happen very soon as he submitted his first music video titled, “What You Did Not Say,” to CMT, the popular country music video site. CMT is having a music video contest called Music City Madness, which began Feb. 13 and will be airing the top 64 of the entries received.
The viewers will narrow the field by voting online at, cmt.com in a single elimination tournament. The winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to Nashville to record his or her performance at a CMT video studio. Shrum hopes he will be on a plane to Nashville along with his producer and vocalist.
Shrum collaborated on the video project with videographer Harry Metz of Grindstone and 10- year-old female singer Kamry Uhazie of Uniontown.
Shrum and Metz know each other from work through Westmoreland/Fayette County Headstart.
“When Walt learned of my video production background, he approached me about the project,” Metz said.
Metz worked on a television program for five years, then he continued to hone his production skills by doing weddings and other occasions.
Metz said of Shrum, “He is a very persistent man who is very talented. He writes good lyrics, he just needs the right break, and he will go somewhere.”
They worked on the video part of the production during their vacation from work for a solid week. Choosing the sites for the video was in itself time consuming. The Esquire Barber Salon in Uniontown was used for the exterior shots, as was East Park in Connellsville. Walt’s mom’s house was used for the interior shots.
“Lots and lots of hours were spent on filming and editing to accomplish the end result of a three- minute video,” Metz said.
“It’s been a learning experience for both myself and Walt,” he continued. “He has taught me a lot about music and lyrics, and I taught him about video production. And we were surprised about how much work goes into both skills, as well as merging them together.”
Shrum met Kamry Uhazie at a fall festival in Scottdale, where he was advertising for a vocal artist to sing his songs. He thought she would be the perfect fit for the song, “What You Did Not Say,” because it was written in honor of his father, who passed away when Walt was young.
He thought having a young artist record it would bring more emotion and sentimentality to the song.
“I took it home and tried it and was able to perform it well,” Uhazie said.
Both Shrum and Metz think Uhazie is an awesome talent, mature beyond her years and will be a huge musical talent in the future.
She is already on her way, performing at Woodland Zoo and opening for acts such as Girls in Black Hats and the PovertyNeck Hillbillies.
This is Uhazie’s first music video, and she really enjoyed doing it. In the video, she plays the part of the daughter and Shrum plays the father.
It is a portrayal of Shrum’s reaction to the devastating news of his father Walter’s death.
Shrum, Metz and Uhazie plan to collaborate on another music video.
Uhazie has inspired Shrum to write a song about her. It is tentatively titled “Follow Her Dreams.”
Shrum said his father tried to teach him to play the guitar, but he had not learned. After his father’s death, his mother was forced to sell a valuable guitar to pay taxes.
Not long after, while cleaning out some of his father’s things Walt found an old acoustic guitar.
He said he prayed, “God if you teach me how to play, I will play.” Two weeks later he bought an instruction book and is still playing. Of his father he says, “He taught me to believe in me.”
His father’s memory inspires him to continue to pursue success in the music industry.
According to Shrum, viewers can get a sneak peak of the music video by logging on to the U-Tube website, and clicking on videos and then typing the name of the song, “What You Did Not Say.”
Shrum, Metz and Uhazie are all very proud of their first music video project.
Voting for the videos began Feb. 13 at cmt.com.