WeHo’s Shane Mack, Now Nashville’s Hit Songwriter Shane McAnally, on Coming Out

If you were living in West Hollywood between 2000 and 2007, you might have known him as Shane Mack. Blonde, with a big smile, he devoted most of his time to writing and singing country music and tended bar on the side.

Mack, a Texas native who moved to Nashville in 2007 and took back his given name of Shane McAnally, is profiled in today’s New York Times as one of the few out country songwriters in America and a man who came to terms with his gay sexual orientation in West Hollywood.

“West Hollywood blew my mind: gay men, walking down the street, kissing and holding hands,” McAnally, 38, told The Times. “I’d never imagined there was a place like that.” Today McAnally is a major figure in Nashville, where he has written seven No. 1 country singles and other songs for performers such Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack.

“My career really took off when I came out,” McAnally told The Times. “When I stopped hiding who I am, I started writing hits.”