Shelbie Z.: Born for the Stage

After performing on American Idol and The Voice, singer Shelbie Z. looks to a new chapter

Words by Erin Shockey | Images by Blakeney Clouse

In the back of her mother’s old Camaro, Shelbie’s feet barely hung off the seat as the gleamy, antique car bustled along the roads. Peter Frampton’s Do You Feel Like We Do? poured through the speakers, lingering in the balm of summer.

 “Listen to this, baby girl, this man can make this guitar talk,” her father beamed as he turned up the dial.

 In that moment, a love for music was rooted deep within Shelbie’s soul, a love that would only grow and blossom over the years, leading her to places of which many people could only dream.

 Ever since “Shelbie Z.” (full name Shelbie Zora James Panter) was a little girl, she saw the world as her stage. Anyone visiting her grandmother’s home would never leave without being swept into one of Shelbie’s performances. “I always loved being in front of people,” she says. “I used to love putting on shows for my mom and dad when I was little.”

 As Shelbie grew older, she decided it was time to raise the stakes and bring her talent to competitions. “Singing in church when I was little led to singing in a karaoke contest at the fair in Jasper. I learned my three songs, got up there, won, and it just kept happening. I kept doing singing contests all over the state,” she says, smiling.

 With a track record of competition wins to back up her talent, Shelbie was determined to take her voice to two of the most competitive singing competitions in the world: American Idol and The Voice. After auditioning for Idol when she was 16 years old, Shelbie was selected to compete in the 15th season. She auditioned for Seasons 1-5 of The Voice and was chosen to compete in the 5th season.

 “When I auditioned, I always had the attitude of ‘I really have nothing to lose,’” Shelbie says.

 This attitude helped her to persist in achieving her dreams.

 During her audition for The Voice, Shelbie remembers the double doors opening to a stage where her fate would unfold at the hands of the judges. After one nod to the band, she took the world by storm with her rendition of Gretchen Wilson’s Here for the Party. “When you’re in front of a really big crowd, it’s a rush you can’t explain,” Shelbie says. “It’s one of those things where you’re in the moment and you come off stage and want to do it again.”

 Looking back, Shelbie believes that she discovered who she is as a person through her experiences on American Idol and The Voice. “It was a very big growing experience in my life and I got to meet so many amazing people,” she says.

 Meeting Cher and opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Rock the South concert in Cullman are just a few pivotal moments in her career. Rock the South was the first time in her career that the crowd sang her original music along with her. “It was at that moment where I thought, ‘This is the best thing I have ever done in my life,’” Shelbie recalls.

 Shelbie recently took her talent to the studio once again to record her newest album, A New Me. The album was to make its debut in April, but the release date has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. She hopes this album will capture the melting pot of musical influences within her unique genre. “Everyone expects me to be this country singer and I don’t really fit into any category at all,” Shelbie says. “A New Me is basically just songs I like that I wrote, and other people wrote, that we produced and put together and made an album out of it.”

 Shelbie was also recently named the Alabama Music Awards 2020 BAMA Female Breakout Artist. She will be presented this award at the 2021 Alabama Music Awards ceremony in Bessemer.

 When she isn’t performing, Shelbie and her mother run their company, Walker County Junking Divas, which specializes in refurbishing family heirlooms to suit a person’s style. Currently, they are launching a new line of all-organic soap called Zora.

 In addition to the excitement of Zora’s launch and a new album on the horizon, Shelbie and her husband are also expecting their first child, Gibson Wyatt, in a few months. According to Shelbie, her son is already following in her footsteps with a love of music. 78

 While awaiting the new album release, fans can find Shelbie Z.’s music on Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify and on YouTube.