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):
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I write songs and perform them for a living and some people seem to dig it (I think that’s really cool)I live, work, and love in Nashville TennesseeMy favorite Ninja Turtle is Donnatello (I bet yours is Michelangelo)I miss my mom cooking me fish sticksI write for Warner Chappell PublishingI’m from a big family and I want a big familyI have an uncanny knack for finding unbelievably awesome T-shirts at the thrift store (I believe it is my spiritual gift)I always say that I sound like If David Wilcox and Patty Griffin went on a double date with Jonny Lang and Shawn ColvinEvery single time I go to Taco Bell I buy two Cheesy Gordita Crunches and a grilled stuffed BurritoWhen 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 itMy 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.â€
Sean is now 24 and works, lives, and loves in Nashville, Tennessee where he still divides his time between writing and touring.