The idea of forming "Shay and Friends" band came up and was named after the name given by the organizers of the famous "Jacob's Ladder" folk festival, to one of the acts that became a tradition in the festival, where Shay hosted the best local artists and the guests from overseas for a long set on Saturday mornings where he played with them all, rehearsed and non-rehearsed sets, and actually connected artists who never knew each other and definitely never played with each other creating unforgetable sets of music with great musical atmosphere. 

The band members never stay the same for every show. According to the type of music or program needed Shay builds up the band from the big number of musicians that Shay regularly plays with, thus creating the best show possible, why shay plays guitar and harmonica as the "backbone" of the band and usually makes all the musical arrangements and set lists. 

The concerts are usually amplified acoustic music, Folk, Folk-Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Celtic, English, Irish and Scottich music.