Cody was born in Bryson City, North Carolina on December 20, 1984. His parents are James and LeeAnn Shuler and he has a younger brother, Casey. Bryson City is a small town tucked in the heart of the Smoky Mountains 10 miles west of Cherokee, North Carolina and on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This region is rich in musical history and many great singers and musicians including Red Smiley, The Inspirations Quartet, The Primitive Quartet, and many more have come from this area.

Cody’s father, James, always played the banjo and guitar around their home. He also taught Cody a lot about harmony singing. Vaughn Shuler, Cody’s grandfather, always played Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Stanley Brothers, and Reno and Smiley tapes. This is where Cody learned to love the mountain and country style of music called bluegrass. Vaughn and Sheila(Cody’s grandmother) regularly took Cody to the Maggie Valley Opry House to see Raymond Fairchild and the Maggie Valley Boys. Raymond is a world renown banjo player and one of Cody’s first musical influences.

At the age of 12, Cody got his first mandolin for Christmas. For countless hours he listened to Bill Monroe tapes. Stopping and starting the tape player to learn certain mandolin breaks and licks, he finally started figuring it out. The first place he played in public was his grandmother Linda Wike’s church. After that, he started playing around Bryson City and would try to hit all of the local Jam sessions. When he was 15 Vaughn took him to the Maggie Valley Opry House to play for Raymond Fairchild. After Raymond heard him play, he offered Cody a job and told him he could start the next summer.

When Cody started with Raymond, he played four nights a week, Sunday through Wednesday. After a year or so, he started playing seven nights a week. He also played festivals with Raymond all over the country. While working with Raymond, Cody got to know Jimmy Martin very well. Many times Raymond, Vaughn, and Cody met Jimmy at the Waffle House in Canton, North Carolina for breakfast while Jimmy traveled through heading to a show. There Cody listened to stories of when Jimmy played for Bill Monroe during the early days of bluegrass music. Tales of Bill and Jimmy playing the Grand Ole Opry and writing songs together wowed Cody. At 17 he had the honor of performing with Jimmy Martin, Raymond Fairchild, and Del McCoury on stage at Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Festival, Bean Blossom.
Cody went with Raymond and Shirley Fairchild and spent the night at Jimmy Martin’s home before he died. This was a highlight for Cody. The same year Cody got to make his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.

In 2004 he joined Pine Mountain Railroad and became the mandolin player and tenor singer. While working in the band, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee and married his lovely wife Marianne Jacobs on April, 15 2006.

In September of 2006 he took over ownership and management of the band. Since then he has taken the group to new heights. In 2007 they released the album “ALONE with FOREVER”. Cody wrote or co-wrote several songs on this album. This recording had three #1 songs on it and was one of the top played albums on XM Radio. Being a big fan of gospel music, Cody believes that harmony singing should be as perfect as possible and he has gathered some of the finest singers and musicians in bluegrass music. Bluegrass Unlimited Says “The vocals are truly something rare”.

In 2008 they released the all gospel album “Pickin’ Praisin’ Singin”. This album debut at the top of the Billboard chart and was nominated for a Dove Award.
You will find Cody just about every week playing festivals, concerts, or church events somewhere in the U.S.A. Please check out the schedule page to see if Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad will be in your area. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.