Shawn P. Rohlf began his music career in Elk River, Minnesota at age 9 performing, recording and touring for four years with the Land of Lakes Choirboys.
As a young man, he was honing his skills as a songwriter
and bandleader in the clubs and coffee houses of the thriving
Minneapolis music scene. Drawing influences from the
local artists; Prince, Replacements, Jayhawks, Husker Du,
Soul Asylum, Spider John Koerner, Dave Ray and Tony Glover.
He spent endless hours in recording studios and on the road;
eventually relocating to cities such as Santa Cruz, San Francisco,
Amsterdam and most recently San Diego.
Shawn currently wears many hats in the San Diego’s professional music and theater scene including; singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, educator, actor and front man for the 7th Day Buskers; who were formed at the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market where they performed every Sunday morning for 18 years.
The Busker’s have released 5 full length albums to date and have
received numerous San Diego Music Award nominations
over the years, winning "Best Americana Band" in 2004.
Summer of 2003, they took the theater stage in the cast of Lambs Players Theater’s musical production “Cotton Patch Gospel,” which ended up as the final musical work of the late Harry Chapin. They joined the legendary Marvin Hamlisch for the San Diego Symphony's Summer Pops concert series in 2010 and performing four sold out shows.
As a sideman, Shawn has worked with many artists including Steve Poltz, Tim Flannery, Bob Weir, Mojo Nixon, Sara Petite, Hullabaloo, Kick Up The Dust, Lisa Sanders, Barbara Nesbitt and many more.
In the studio he's worked as a producer and studio musician for a long list of artists including multi-Tony Award winning director Des McAnuff (Tommy, Jersey Boys), Darryl "DMC" McDaniels (Run DMC).
San Diego’s professional musical theater world has seen Shawn in many productions taking on roles as an actor, singer, musician, Musical Director and composer. He was added as an Associate Artist with Lambs Player’s Theater in 2001 for his collaborations in more than a dozen productions with them.
In 2019, he composed the music and performed in a Mike Sears play, "How High The Moon" for the LaJolla Playhouse's WOW Festival. During the 2020 quarantine, he composed music and performed in "Ancient" for the LaJolla Playhouse's Digital WOW production. Ancient was picked up by Broadway on Demand is currently still running on both sites.
This past summer of 2023, Shawn took on the roll of Musical Director and performer in Lambs Players Theater's re-mount of Cotton Patch Gospel. This version came 20 years after the 7th Day Buskers had performed in it and the production ran through the summer.
