Shane McAnally Finding Success As A Songwriter After Being Overlooked As Artist [VIDEO]

You may have never heard the name Shane McAnally.  He's one of Nashville's great, creative minds that gives us big hits through songwriting.  There was a time that he had a promising country career himself, but for whatever reason, it didn't pan out.  Right now, McAnally has several hits on the charts keeping him relevant in the music world.

If you do remember Shane as an artist, you might remember the first single and video for this song, 'Say Anything' released in 1999.  Pardon the VHS quality dubbed to Youtube.

That one was great, not to mention his biggest hit, 'Are Your Eyes Still Blue,' which only peeked at 31 on the charts.

Singles that followed include 'Run Away' and 'It Comes And It Goes,' both amazing songs that just failed to hit.  I still listen to his album which is one of the few country albums you need to own if you don't already.

These days things are good for the ginger-haired singer songwriter, which I believe is no relation to the other ginger-haired singer songwriter, Mac McAnally (at least I can't find proof they are kin).  I would imagine Shane McAnally is rolling in the dough lately, thanks to some big hit songs by some of country music's heavy hitters.  He scored a big number one in 2010 with this tune.  Here's his story behind and performance of Kenny Chesney's 'Somewhere With You.'

Here's a list of other recent songs he's had a hand in writing:

Kenny Chesney 'Come Over'

Jake Owen 'Alone With You'

JoAnna Smith 'We Can't Be Friends'

Chris Young 'Neon'

Luke Bryan 'What Country Is'

Luke Bryan 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'

Plus you'll find six songs on the charts right now credited to him, including:

The Band Perry 'Better Dig Two'

Kacey Musgraves 'Merry Go Round'

Miranda Lambert 'Mama's Broken Heart'

Lady Antebellum 'Downtown'

Love and Theft 'Runnin' Out Of Air'

Uncle Kracker 'Nobody's Sad On A Saturday Night'

Not Only that, but he's also written a couple tunes for the highly popular ABC show, Nashville, including 'Boys and Buses' and this beautiful duet from Scarlet and Gunner on the show

I, for one am so intrigued by the songwriting business, and I'm happy that McAnally has found his niche in Nashville, however, I still listen to that album and wonder if he'll ever be that superstar I thought he'd be in 1999.