Shenale's most well known works as a producer are Backstreets of Desire, Loup Garou, Crow Jane Alley and Pistola with Willy DeVille and Everything with the Bangles band.
[22] Barry Walters on PitchFork noted that Tori Amos dug deeper on Bells for her which suggests a ghost pirouetting across John Cage's prepared piano.
[23] He has often played the Chamberlin, an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that uses the modulation of a magnetic pickup to create sound on many studio albums such as Crow Jane Alley, Pistola (Willy DeVille) and Abnormally Attracted To Sin (Tori Amos).
[3][29] However, he considers his collaborations, specifically during the latter part of the decade, with artists such as Jim Keltner and The Beach Boys to be of particular value and significance, affording him a considerable amount of time in-studio where he was given the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment and to learn the language and various philosophies behind recording professionally.
Shenale's work[12] has been featured on albums by artists such as Tori Amos,[30][31][32][33] Willy DeVille,[34] Jane's Addiction,[35][36] Tracy Chapman, Billy Idol,[37] Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, The Bangles, Dionne Warwick, Rick Springfield, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and John Hiatt.
[46] Cash Box said that "Affair Of The Heart shows a greater use of synthesizers and a hardened guitar sound" than previous Springfield songs but retains his ability to create a powerful refrain.
In 1984 he teamed up with the American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer Janet Jackson for her Dream Street pop, synth-pop, R&B album (1984, A&M, Composer, arranger, keyboards).
[51] He collaborated with Bonnie Tyler on her Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire certified gold, pop, rock album (1986, CBS, synthesizer).
[71] He worked with Jimmy Harnen, the lead singer of the band Synch, on his only solo rock album Can't Fight The Midnight (1989, WTG, keyboards).
[76] John Philip Shenale is credited with the strings arrangement on Three Days, and he also performed on Then She Did...[77] He has been a member of the Royal Macadamians band along with Davitt Sigerson, John Beverly Jones and Bob Thiele Jr. releasing the Experiments in Terror electronic, rock, funk, soul, pop album (1990, Island) creating an arty and idiosyncratic mixture of jazz-and-funk-infected tunes given a surrealistic spin.
He worked with American singer and songwriter Victoria Williams on her adult alternative pop/rock, indie rock, contemporary folk album Swing The Statue!
[85] Shenale worked with American singer, songwriter and artist Sarah Hickman on her folk, pop album Shortstop (1990, Elektra, organ, string section, keyboards, tin whistle).
[112][113] His experimental approach to arrangements painted a distinctive sonic landscape which was notable since her certified platinum album Under the Pink (1994, Atlantic) which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Performance.
He worked with American singer-songwriter and poet Zachary Richard on his rock, folk, world & country album Snake Bite Love (1992, A&M, keyboards).
He worked with American rapper, DJ and producer Warren G. on his debut certified three time platinum West Coast Hip-Hop, G-funk studio album Regulate... G Funk Era (1994, Def Jam, editing).
[145] John Philip Shenale contributed as a musician to the album Tribute to Edith Piaf, [Amherst], a French singer, lyricist and actress (1994, drums).
He worked with American actress, musician and author Tanya Blount on her hip hop, funk, soul album Natural Thing (1994, Motown, keyboards)[146] which peaked at No.
John Philip Shenale worked with Uma on her rock, pop, folk, world & country album Fare Well (1997, Refuge, percussion, programming) and with the American pianist, singer-songwriter Vladimir John Ondrasik III also known by his stage name Five for Fighting on his soft rock, pop album Message for Albert (1997, EMI, arranger, string arrangements).
[177] He played Oberheim synthesizers for California Feelin' which was included in the rock album Classics Selected by Brian Wilson (2002, Capitol, musician).
[183] He worked with the French singer and actress Sylvie Vartan on her pop, rock album Nouvelle Vague[184] on which she re-interprets some old classics (2007, Mercury, producer, engineer, arranger, guitar, flute, piano, Fender Rhodes, Farfisa organ, Wurlitzer, Chamberlin organ/Hammond, clavier, Clavecin).
[9] In 2011 Deutsche Grammophon released Sin Palabras (Without Words), the instrumental companion to Tori Amos' record Night of Hunters, a rock, pop, classical, folk, world & country album.
John Philip Shenale composed all the orchestral arrangements for that record, merging the pop and classical worlds while still maintaining a decisive stylistic motif.
[10] Sin Palabras album stripped away Amos' vocals and replaced the parts she plays with The Apollon Musagete Quartet and the Berlin Philharmonic clarinet soloist Andreas Ottensamer, as the forefront.
[13] The album Night of Hunters simultaneously landed on Billboard's Classical, Alternative and Rock Charts all in the Top 10[196] and went on to win the 2012 ECHO Klassik Award.
[198][199] John Philip Shenale worked again with Katey Sagal on her rock, pop, folk, world, and country album Covered (2013, organ, piano, string arrangements, synthesizer horn).
As a member of the roots rock band The Forest Rangers they have worked together releasing songs from the soundtracks of the drama television series Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C.
[221] Shenale's work has also been featured on films[222] and musicals by directors such as Curtis Hanson, John Hughes, Carl Reiner, Herbert Ross, Walter Hill, Richard Lester, Brian Yuzna, Steve Miner, Paul Verhoeven, Frank Oz, Marianne Elliott.
Bob Thiele Jr. was nominated three times for an Emmy Award for the songs he wrote for Sons of Anarchy and were performed by The Forest Rangers ("This Life"/2009, "Day is Gone"/2014, "Come Join The Murder"/2015).
[255] The story was based on a Victorian fairytale by George MacDonald contemplating the need for balance between gravity and levity and that there can be no true happiness without knowing sadness as well.
The story was written by Marco Goecke and Nadja Kadel and nineteen dancers brought his vision to life in a piece about parting and about everything that we have to burn.