In the spring of 1994, Kenny Loggins was looking for a strong, singing bass player and after a recommendation from DeFaria, Shem found himself touring North America with one of his favorite artists and continued to do so through 1996. During that time he still toured with Ambrosia, and also performed with with Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, Dave Koz, Steve Perry, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, Stephen Bishop and Tanya Tucker. In the winter of 1996 Shem played with Marie Osmond for her "Spirit of Christmas" holiday tour. It was in 1997 that Shem began picking up his acoustic guitar. "While I never took guitar seriously, I found myself writing a lot of material and although I didn't notice it at the time, the more I wrote the better my guitar playing was getting."

After a second Marie Osmond holiday tour, Shem joined Tom Jones' band and played the entire 1998 world tour with the Welsh superstar. Even though he spent 10 months out of the year on the road with Jones, Shem spent a lot of that time writing more songs and began thoughts of recording his own music again. By July of 1999 Shem had finished putting together his own studio and began recording his album. The next two years would see this process endure while he continued to tour. In early 2000 Christopher Cross invited Shem to tour with him. Together they would perform in Brazil, Chile, throughout Central America, Japan and most of North America.