Shanes's origins are definitely "humble". His father, Maurice, a Dubliner, worked for the department store C & A, and his mother was born on a small farm, just outside Puckaun in Co. Tipperary. She was, is, a fine traditional singer. Shane was born in Kent and taken to Tipp when only months old and spent the next six years of his life there. Most of his work is influenced one way or another by those childhood days on the farm. His uncles gave him bottles of Guinness even then, so it's little wonder that he became alcohol dependent.