Date & Time
Sat, Aug 1, 7:00 PM
Price
$44.64
Tickets
Ticket Info
All Ages, $44.64
Price range
$44.64
About
Sean McConnell Sean McConnell has just one tattoo — his wife’s name. It represents a commitment, a sign that’s more than skin-deep. But on the cover of the Nashville singer-songwriter’s new album, SKIN, art and symbolism bloom like tattoo ink itself. An open palm beacons listeners, itself a symbol of his faith, while emblems of Earth and nature, faith and love serve as tangible and metaphorical guideposts along McConnell’s renewed musical journey. “SKIN, to me, is kind of where I'm at on my journey with being comfortable in your skin, in your physical body. Divinity is in flesh and bone, not just in heaven somewhere, someday,” McConnell says. “Lyrically, the humanness of skin is obviously apparent, but I'm always attracted to this meeting of body and spirit, flesh and spirit.” As McConnell crossed the threshold of 40 years old, he began to mine the depths of his identify as an artist, father, husband, and human. As such, many of the songs on the 11-track LP seek to find a sense of grounding in the chaos and change. The beauty of SKIN, however, is that McConnell manages to explore life’s paradoxes without needing to find answers. In fact, he hopes that the lyrics leave topics open ended for listeners to discover their own meanings. The songs themselves, grounded in steady folk-rock practices and uplifted through purposeful piano lines and swelling strings, leave plenty of room for such external observation and internal introspection to shine. “Demolition Day,” which chugs at a steady, rocking pace, is a reckoning song that stands out from the rest of the record — “a ‘come to Jesus’ moment, as some say here in the South,” he says — that is as much about his understated sobriety as it is about other routines that need to be reassessed after 20 years in the music industry. Other songs, however, are as much for his loved ones, as himself. The sparse “Never Enough,” is an ode to his wife and soulmate Dr. Mary Susan McConnell. “The West Was Never Won,” the shortest, yet most affecting track on SKIN, encourages their daughter with disabilities, Abiella, to let her heart and her soul guide her through this life. It’s a flickering faith that also guides songs like “Divinity” and “New Sons and Daughters.” After 10 solo records — as well as countless works as a sought-after collaborator with country stars like Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Martina McBride, indie rock acts like Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast) and Michigander, pop-rock groups like Plain White T’s, and on hit television shows like Nashville — McConnell has reached another of life’s plateaus. Such steadiness and consistency can be unnerving, though, especially as an artist still grasping for growth and greater truths. This contradiction, of seeing how far one’s come, while recognizing that it’s only part of the journey, is exemplified on “Older Now,” as he sings, “But I’ve got a ways to go / And in 20 years or so / Oh, this man I’ve come to know / He will seem to me a child.” Another element of SKIN, at once seemingly obvious and revelatory, is the process of collaboration and the development of community. McConnell recruited longtime friend, bassist, producer, and engineer Justin Tocket, as well as members of his live touring band — keyboardist and producer Ben Alleman, drummer Logan Todd, and guitarist/singer-songwriter Taylor McCall — to his own Silent Desert Studio four times over the course of a year to make the record. “When I listen to it now, I just hear all of these musicians — and now best friends — who I've been playing with for 10 years,” McConnell says. It sounds like it's more of a band record, more the story of a collective than just me.” Ultimately, SKIN serves as a reintroduction of McConnell, in and out of his music. It’s about, “discovering that the journey inward, underneath the skin, is truly more expansive, perilous, and enlightening than any journey outward.”
About the venue
Historic theater staging music shows, performance art & films, with a separate dining area/bar.
Performing
Does anyone really read long bios? I don’t. Here are a few facts you might want to know about me (aka, the important things): 1. I write songs and perform them for a living and some people seem to dig it (I think that’s really cool) 2. I live, work, and love in Nashville Tennessee 3. My favorite Ninja Turtle is Donnatello (I bet yours is Michelangelo) 4. I miss my mom cooking me fish sticks 5. I write for Warner Chappell Publishing 6. I’m from a big family and I want a big family 7. I have an uncanny knack for finding unbelievably awesome T-shirts at the thrift store (I believe it is my spiritual gift) 8. I always say that I sound like If David Wilcox and Patty Griffin went on a double date with Jonny Lang and Shawn Colvin 9. Every single time I go to Taco Bell I buy two Cheesy Gordita Crunches and a grilled stuffed Burrito 10. When I write songs, I like to focus on the fact that we are all the same and we are all just searching for answers and trying to make sense of everything. It's about exploring life and celebrating truth when you find it 11. My sister broke my Sega Genesis when we were kids by spilling her cranberry juice on it. I don’t think it actually smoked when it happened but I like to say that it did Here are some places you can buy my music: CD Baby iTunes Napster The Long Version (if you're in to that sort of thing) Sean McConnell has independently sold one million records out of the trunk of his car! Ok so that’s a big old fib but now that I have your attention here’s the real information or “411” as the kids are calling it these days. Sean McConnell was performing on stage before he ever knew it. Ok, maybe hanging out in your mamma’s tummy while she is singing on stage doesn’t count as performing, but he was up there nonetheless. He was born into a family of full-time musicians. Growing up in the coffee houses of the Boston folk scene, Sean watched his parents playing songs written by Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, David Wilcox, Shawn Colvin, Harry Chapin, CSNY, James Taylor and others of the like. Unknown to himself or his parents, Sean was soaking it all in and locking it away somewhere inside. Unaware of it, Sean was enrolled in the most important class of his career. During Sean’s middle school years, the McConnell family left Massachusetts to move to Atlanta, Georgia. For Sean and his three siblings, this move was less than invited. Feeling alone in a new city, Sean quickly found a way to deal with the sadness of leaving friends and family behind. He snuck into his parents’ room, found his dad’s guitar hidden under the bed, and started to write songs. He took the few chords that his father had taught him and went to work. Surprisingly, it came naturally; it just fell out of his mouth and on to the page. Eventually, with the support of his family, he wrote more and more songs and started playing them out at coffee houses and school functions. By the time he left for college, he had two independent records and a respectable buzz around the Atlanta area. After high school, Sean moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to study music business at Middle Tennessee State University. During his sophomore year, Sean started working with Quantum Talent, a college booking agency that works with NACA (National Association of Campus Activities.) In 2006, between studying and playing all over the United States, Sean signed a publishing deal in nearby Nashville with Warner/Chappell Music. In his first two years of the deal, artists such as Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Phil Stacey (American Idol) and many others had recorded his songs. The Heart Of My Music (In his own words) “For me it’s all about the SONG. I remember watching my father sitting at our dining room table for hours and hours with his pencil and pad crafting his songs; spending the time to find the perfect word, the perfect chord, the perfect melody. That really made an impression on me. When I write a song it really is a kind of science, an operation; but it isn’t mathematical or calculated, it is alive and breathing and moving. At the risk of sounding like a hippie on a soapbox, music is still powerful and holy and sacred to me. You can turn it into a product and a business, but you can’t start it that way. To me the genesis of a song has to be honest and unassuming. I truly believe that God hands me these gifts and it is my job to translate them as honestly as I can. You have to let a song be what it is. We can’t lose that. When I write songs, I like to focus on the fact that we are all the same and we are all just searching for answers and trying to make sense of everything. It's about exploring life and celebrating truth when you find it.” Sean is now 24 and works, lives, and loves in Nashville, Tennessee where he still divides his time between writing and touring.
About
Sean McConnell Sean McConnell has just one tattoo — his wife’s name. It represents a commitment, a sign that’s more than skin-deep. But on the cover of the Nashville singer-songwriter’s new album, SKIN, art and symbolism bloom like tattoo ink itself. An open palm beacons listeners, itself a symbol of his faith, while emblems of Earth and nature, faith and love serve as tangible and metaphorical guideposts along McConnell’s renewed musical journey. “SKIN, to me, is kind of where I'm at on my journey with being comfortable in your skin, in your physical body. Divinity is in flesh and bone, not just in heaven somewhere, someday,” McConnell says. “Lyrically, the humanness of skin is obviously apparent, but I'm always attracted to this meeting of
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