Hi, and welcome from a fellow Ogre Shaman. You've made a fine choice!
Hours spent to get to 60 varies a lot - it does depend on how well geared you are to some extent, as Shaman is one of the few casting classes that can actually benefit from twinking. It also depends on how much time you spend grinding exp versus other stuff like quests, tradeskills, and raid-buffing newbies in the EC tunnel.
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
As for the low-level population, it seems like there are always more new folks around. Even alts of high-levels tend to not be shy about grouping with new faces, though, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Overall, shaman can be a great casual class. You can login, solo for an hour, and log off having made good progress. Or form up a duo, trio, or full group for six hours if you want that. You can do very well in both group and solo situations, although soloing is kind of rough at low levels.
Look up Zaftig in-game and I'll be happy to help you out in any way I can. =)