Singing has long been a crucial part of Ryan Shaw’s life. The 27-year-old soul sensation from Decatur, Georgia, grew up in a devoutly religious family, and before he was in grade school he was already an enthusiastic member of the children’s choir at his local Pentecostal church.

Until he moved to New York City in 1998, all that Shaw sang and heard was gospel. But that didn’t cause any problems when he started going to open-mike nights around town, performing covers of songs he’d just discovered by the likes of Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and other great acts from the golden years of R & B and soul in the ’60s and early ’70s.

"Most of those singers came out of the church," says Shaw, reached at his home in the Big Apple. "When they went secular they used the same chord structures and followed the same changes they learned in church. It’s just that the words were different. For me, it felt like something I’d always been singing."

Shaw became a resident at the Motown Café on West 57th Street and swiftly extended the range of his material to include rock songs, vintage ’50s ballads, and doo-wop numbers. In 2004 he was recruited to sing with the Fabulous Soul Shakers, and his powerful and amazingly elastic voice and emotion-drenched delivery made a deep impression on New York musicians Johnny Gale and Jimmy Bralower. They took Shaw under their wing, and produced, arranged, and played all the instruments on his 2007 debut disc.

This Is Ryan Shaw mixes soul standards, such as Wilson Pickett’s "I Found a Love" and obscure gems like the Sharpees’ "Do the 45", with original pieces written or cowritten by Shaw. His interpretation of "I Am Your Man" garnered a Grammy nomination earlier this year for best traditional R & B vocal performance.

"I’ve been back in the studio recently with Johnny and Jimmy-in fact, I was there last night recording one of the songs with a rockier edge," Shaw says. "We’ve worked out a good little pot of stuff already, and my second album should be done by fall, though I’ve been touring so heavily it’s been hard to find the time. Most of the songs are original, which I hope will establish me as a more complete artist."

Shaw aims to reach a new generation with a classic African-American sound. "I want to expose kids today to real music-as distinct from
the two-chords-and-a-drum-loop stuff-so they’ll say ‘Wow, music can move me and help me think a whole other way than I did before.’ "

Ryan Shaw performs at the Commodore Ballroom on Saturday (June 21), with Maceo Parker.