Atlanta music couple stays in tune by making art happen

It was a rager of a party at Rutgers University in the summer of ’91 when music majors Melanie and Paul Shaw fell in love. The washer and dryer were commandeered as beer coolers and Melanie’s special mix tape was blasting over the house stereo. One particular song, “Beth,” stopped Paul in his tracks just as his future wife and eventual bandmate crossed his path.

“This is Kiss,” he said.

“You and I are the only two people in this whole room who know that,” Melanie responded.

Instantly charmed, Paul invited Melanie to listen to his vinyl copy of Carole King’s “Tapestry” at his place. Friendship blossomed into romance, and within two years, the youngsters were wed.

Now in their 50s, the couple’s shared love for creativity has bounced them across the globe and back, recently settling in Atlanta, where they perform in the folk-inflected band Acoustic Station and promote Atlanta art through their nonprofit The Art Share Foundation.

“We have the most amazing marriage, and I believe our marriage is founded on a love of music making,” Melanie explained on a Saturday in January while beaming at her husband in their new house in Scottdale.

The Shaw home is equal parts art gallery and music hall, with plenty of room for the pair’s hairless felines, Ruth Balder Ginspurr and Pounce Van Zand, to roam. Every wall, window and nook of the space is lined with original works by area creatives such as Catlanta, Lyiness, Matthew Evans and WonderWorks Design. Paul practices drums in an upstairs recording studio, and the couple duets daily in a downstairs rehearsal space — Paul on acoustic guitar and Melanie on theremin. 

Paul Shaw, who was a jazz drummer in the United States Air Force Band, stays on the beat at home. Paul teaches guitar and cajon (a Peruvian percussion instrument) at Decatur’s Frank Hamilton School of music and gigs with groups such as Evan Stepp & the Piners. (Courtesy of Dustin Timbrook)

Music kept the young Shaw family on the go during Paul’s career as a jazz drummer in the United States Air Force Band, regularly relocating across the country and spending a three-year stint in Germany. Melanie, a classically trained vocalist, would shift her professional focus to academia during the fledgling development of online universities. It was a perfect fit for a military spouse with an ever-shifting residence.

When the Shaws decided to call Atlanta home in 2024, their first address was a Krog Street apartment directly overlooking the Beltline — a perfect perch for avid people watchers like themselves. One day, Melanie chalked a colorful hopscotch pattern on the path and observed as a diverse array of pedestrians sidestepped their routine to interact with her childlike installation. If this engages community among strangers, the couple wondered, what else was possible? That was the seed for The Art Share Foundation, an initiative to bring more of the city’s art into Atlantans’ lives in inventive ways.

“Once a month, we ask an artist to come up with an idea that they would like to bring into the world,” Melanie explained. ‘We pay the artist a $500 stipend, and we cover all materials, and we say, ‘What do you want to make?’”

The Art Share Foundation commissioned this mural by Atlanta artists Vayne and Evereman on the back of the Eyedrum art and music gallery at 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW (at Humphries Street). The artists are shown sitting on the wall above their respective works. (Courtesy of The Art Share Foundation)

Art Share’s projects have included murals by street artists VAYNE and Evereman, shareable crafting kits, coloring books and even holographic lenticular prints by designer Caleb Madrigal. The sponsored creations are often distributed during Acoustic Station’s live performances or planted in public spaces in secretive “art drops.”

A few months into their enmeshment in Atlanta’s visual art community, Melanie got the bug to start making her own work, with assemblages such as her traffic-satirizing piece “The Connector.” During a recent group show in Binders’ Limelight Gallery in Buckhead, she sold an original for the first time.

“She sent me the photo, and I thought, ‘There it is. It’s on the wall. Wait a minute … It’s got a red dot next to it!’” Paul remembered. “You’re constantly blowing my mind.”

Melanie Shaw has begun making art, including the assemblage "The Connector," on view in the home she shares with her husband. (Courtesy of Dustin Timbrook)

Admiration flows in both directions, with Melanie in continual awe of Paul’s musical prowess. After retiring from the military at 44, Paul picked up finger-style guitar and started covering Bob Dylan before writing tunes that would ultimately lead to forming Acoustic Station. As a member of Atlanta’s wider music community, Paul teaches guitar and cajon (a box-shaped Peruvian percussion instrument) at Decatur’s Frank Hamilton School and gigs with groups such as Evan Stepp & the Piners.

“He played drums at the Earl, and I felt like, you know … tossing my bra on the stage,” Melanie laughed, fawning after Paul as if the two were college students all over again.

What’s the secret to keeping a marriage so fresh three decades in? For the Shaws, the answer is simple.

“Making music is like the ultimate couple’s activity. It’s renewal all the time when you create together,” Melanie said. “It’s like genesis.”