Allen Shamblin was born in Tennessee and grew up in Huffman, Texas, about 30 miles outside of Houston. After graduating with a Marketing degree from Sam Houston State University, Allen moved to Austin, Texas, where he worked as a real -estate appraiser by day and honed his songwriting skills by night. In August of 1987, Allen moved to Nashville, with 14 completed songs.
His “story songs” with vivid detail and honest, earthy lyrics quickly caught the ear of the Nashville music establishment. In 1989, it was Randy Travis’ #1 version of He Walked On Water, which brought Allen to the forefront of the songwriting community seemingly “overnight”.
His #1 hit with Randy Travis began a string of award winning songs throughout the 1990’s and on into the new millennium such as Walk On Faith /Mike Reid, In This Life /Collin Raye, Thinkin’ Problem /David Ball, Life’s A Dance /John Michael Montgomery, We Were In Love /Toby Keith, Don’t Laugh At Me /Mark Wills, Live, Laugh, Love /Clay Walker, Where The Blacktop Ends /Keith Urban and Dove Award winner It’s In Gods Hands Now/Anointed.
I Can’t Make You Love Me, a song co-written with Mike Reid and recorded by Bonnie Raitt was nominated for a Grammy Award and voted the #8 song of “The 100 Greatest Songs Of All Time” in the August 2000 issue of Mojo Magazine.
Currently, Allen has another #1 hit in "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert.
Allen has had more than 100 songs recorded by artists in several genres of music. He currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife Lori and their three children on a small farm with 3 horses, 2 burros, 1 Texas Longhorn steer, 5 goats, 1 rooster and too many dogs and cats (that he loves).
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