When Ryan was 7, Ted decided it was time to form a band to utilize his son's fiddle talents. He searched for other kid musicians and formed the PeeWee Pickers. They played at Lagoon for $25 a day plus food for two summers, then they took their act on the road. Each summer, they loaded up the family's motor home and toured. They played in Europe. They played at the world's fair. They played for President Reagan. They played in nearly every bluegrass festival in the country. Ted managed the group, sending out press material and booking dates.

"I could get them booked anywhere," Ted recalls. "If you closed your eyes, you couldn't tell they were kids."

Among those who saw Shupe on stage in those days was Miner, when he was 8 years old, a year younger than Shupe. "It was at the Kiwanis Park in Provo at the Fourth of July celebration," he recalls. "As my mom reports, I just stood there mesmerized the whole show. I immediately noticed Ryan and how good he was. That's about the time I started playing the uke and guitar."

In those days, Shupe's trademark enthusiasm and showmanship were nowhere to be found (that didn't come until after he returned from his church mission). "I tried to get (the group) to smile and to be showmen," Ted says. "I remember once Ryan was playing 'Orange Blossom Special' and just tearing it up, and he's looking at ants crawling on the floor."

The PeeWee Pickers eventually grew up and moved on to other things. Shupe joined an adult band, Powder Ridge, which claimed first prize at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

By that time, he was living in two worlds. During the week, he attended Weber High School, where he won the Sterling Scholar Award for music, started a snowboarding club with his friends and sang in the school choir. On weekends, he performed professionally with an older crowd in Powder Ridge. Then he left music behind to serve his LDS mission in Portland, Ore. He rarely played music during those two years, and upon his return, Shupe completed his public relations studies at Weber State.

"On my mission, I didn't really think I'd be a musician," he says. "Even today I wonder if I'll be doing music years from now. I'm not one of those guys who has to be a rock star. The mission was a good next step. I played better

when I returned. I understood people better. It made my songwriting better."

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