Check out what ThatsCountry.com has to say about Sean Patrick McGraw:
“Sean Patrick McGraw…..what can I say? This good-looking, down-to-earth young man has everything it takes to make it in this industry. First off, he’s a stellar songwriter……he’s a remarkably talented singer as well. He’s also got the drive to make it in this business. Now……put that all together and all I can say is…….what are you waiting for record labels……sign this guy!!!!!”
“Songs For Saturday Night” packs in twelve solid tracks of quality modern country. From upbeat to downbeat, his songwriting never falters. With strong vocals, solid footing in the tradition of country music and a forward-looking approach to the future of the genre, his songs are full-bodied and nutritious to the ears. With this album, it’s not all about the bells and whistles but about the heart and substance of the song. His strong sense of story and direction gives the impression that his priorities are with quality and not flash.
Pop & HIss
The L.A. Times music blog
One of the first things you might notice upon arrival at this year’s Stagecoach is that despite all the barbecue, it feels a bit slimmer. It’s not for a lack of lawn chairs, beer koozies or brisket though — the fest is just down one stage this year. What was the Outdoor Stage last weekend has become barbecue alley, leaving a Mane Stage, a Mustang Stage and a new Palomino Stage in what was the Sahara Tent at last week’s Coachella.
It’s not all lean times early this Saturday, however. The Mane Stage saw a last-minute early addition, and a welcome one at that. Sean Patrick McGraw, a “Nashville Star” semi-finalist (and, as he specified, “not related to Tim, so I didn’t pull any strings to be here”) scampered in at the last minute to ply a zeitgeisty brand of country-rock that confirmed why he did well on the show. His tenor is strong and befitting of the bar-brawler ruckus that so many of his younger peers are working in right now. (It doesn’t hurt that he kind of looks like Dwight Yoakam to boot.)
His early contender of a hit, “A Dollar Ain’t Worth a Dime,” is one of the first of what will surely be many recession-themed laments, but unlike John Rich’s “Shutting Detroit Down,” McGraw keeps his sociology enticingly vague, warning that “People do desperate things in desperate times/ if a man don’t turn to Jesus, he’ll turn to crime,” but it doesn’t feel like Christian proselytizing — more an acknowledgment that neither course of action is likely to help in the long run.
But it’s not all doomy warnings — in between song banter, McGraw welcomed the occasion to be in California, where he could “let his freak flag fly” and indulge in our lax botanical pharmacopeia laws, which is our kind of country music philosophizing. As far as unexpected visits go at Stagecoach, McGraw can swing by any time he likes.
-August Brown
Photo credit: Getty Images
On the road with Toby Keith has been a great ride so far!!….and thanks to ya’ll who gave “Cowtippin’ ” a standing ovation last night at the Verizon Ampitheater in Charlotte,N.C……you know how to keep us rockin’ the house!!! We sure appreciate everyone’s support!
-we are ON for this Saturday’s MOOSEFEST in Gowanda, NY. Should be HUGE…we start at 9pm. Info at www.gowandaharley.com -also we are ON for RIBFEST in Warren, PA on Sunday from 3-5pm. Sponsored by our dear friends at WHUG fm, this is gonna be BIG as well. Info at www.warrenribfest.com -also we are ON for RIBFEST in Warren, PA on Sunday from 3-5pm. Sponsored by our dear friends at WHUG fm, this is gonna be BIG as well. Info at www.warrenribfest.com -next THURSDAY, July 23rd we’ll be on the floating stage at Bemus Point, NY at 6pm in a benefit concert for the Chautauqua Pops. Info at www.bemuspt.com -next SATURDAY we return to AMERICA’S TOUGHEST TOUR w/ TOBY KEITH AND TRACE ADKINS in Philadelphia, PA at the Susquehanna Band Center, Tix/info at www.livenation.com lastly, for those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it on CMT, watch my video for ‘DOLLAR AIN’T WORTH A DIME:” here; http://www.cmt.com/videos/sean-patrick-mcgraw/381527/dollar-aint-worth-a-dime.jhtml until next time PEACE sean
**WE CONTINUE TO TOUGH IT OUT THIS WEEK
ON TOBY KEITH’S AMERICA’S TOUGHEST TOUR!!**
Thursday July 30-Memphis,TN.
Saturday Aug.1-Dallas,TX.
**for more August dates with Toby,please visit EVENTS page**
on the bike again
It was one of those things: yer hangin’ out havin’ a few pops and somebody asks if you’d be interested in doing something that at the time might not seem so crazy-I’ve committed to going bungee-jumping and skydiving in the past while under the influence and when reminded later—when stone cold sober– I denied ever having consented. I’m sure you’ve done that, right? Hasn’t every body?
So I was at the Cowboy Palace and Jeff Yapp asks me if I can ride a motorcycle-and I can, it’s just been a verrry long time-and I say (truthfully) “I grew up on one,” Which is accurate and it’s also accurate to note that I have not sat on motor-driven cycle of any kind (outside of an ATV which I nearly killed myself on in Canada in 2002, but that’s another story) in many, many years and I have never held a license to do so.
But Jeff is riding to/at Sturgis w/ Toby and maybe some of Toby’s business people and this (at least come tax return time) would be a business trip and would I like to go?
Under the influence of a few Budweiser’s “HELL YEAH.”
Now the next day the logistics of the whole undertaking seem a lil’ insurmountable, I’m in L.A. at the moment. I’m on my way to NY, and I’m a TN resident…that’s’ one consideration, the next consideration is I haven’t sat on a motorized cycle in????…the time it will take to get Sturgis is another and the cost of doing it is a biggie; actually at first it’s my biggest concern and then I’m thinking “how can I afford NOT to go?”
So I fly to NY and I get to my mom’s and I do some research on-line and make some calls and the folks atGowanda Harley in NY are very helpful but NO I can’t just get a license in NY if I live in TN and that becomes the major issue and I wonder if I can’t just be a bandit on this thing and NO, that won’t work. I can’t rent one like that and If I did and there were problems I’d lose my house so I call Boswells in Nashville and yes, they can get me licensed if I go one-on-one with and instructor and again cost is an issue and again “how can I afford NOT to go?” So I sign up for one-on-one with their guy and I call Black Hills Harley and I reserve a bike and I get plane flights and I’m all set. Or so I think.
I get back to Nashvegas late Monday night. Motorcycle school is the next morning It starts raining during the night and I’m thinking they’ll cancel class and with no time left to get a license I’ll be royally screwed: the plane, the bike is paid for (or I should say it’s been charged to my credit card) and If I can’t get certified in the next two days I can kiss my money goodbye. The weather in the morning has not improved. This ain’t heavy rain but it’s steady rain, I’m thinking the class won’t happen, but they call me at noon and say to show up at one regardless of the rain.
So, did I mention I haven’t been on a motorcycle in a loooong time?
I would have liked to have gotten in a lil bike-time time before I split NY. Randy’s buddy Bumby has a Honda he’ll let me ride, but the weather there was god awful in the days before I headed back to TN and it didn’t happen. Joe D has a dirt bike but I’m not comfortable asking him to let me play on it. So I’m getting on a big bike (or so I expect) and I’m doing it cold.
I show up to Boswell and Kelly-in-charge-of Riders-edge takes care of hookimng me up with gloves and a helmet-I could go cheep or I could go hip-I opt for hip. And I start doing the math and WOW…I better have some fun on this trip is all I know. The “hip” helmet is so much smaller, why does it cost more? And I’m not a clothes hog but they’ve got a pair of steel-toe biker boots that are just bad-ass looking and I ask to try ‘em on and they’re comfortable as hell so, what’s another buck-and-a-half?
MAN, I better have fun.
Kelly introduces me to James, my instructor. James himself has opted for SAFE in his riding attire: full face helmet, orange reflecting rain wear (very heavy duty) florescent chartreuse long-sleeve shirt that says “can you see me NOW?”
James is from California, is a musician himself and is very enthusiastic about his job. He asks me a lot of questions we talk about Merle Haggard and he and offers a lot of advice and I nod my head and say “yup” alot and we take baby steps with the throttle and the clutch as though I’ve never ever been on a bike before. It’s a matter of finding and finessing the clutch’s friction-zone while adding throttle and getting a sense for what the engine is doing. This stuff all comes back like yesterday. After a few exercises designed to deconstruct the whole throttle/clutch thing I’m allowed to get’r moving and put both feet on the pegs. Again, it all comes back like it was yesterday. I was worried that maybe I wouldn’t remember or sense when it’s the right time to shift-more like I knew it and felt it right away. And it all good, except, did I mention I grew up riding dirt bikes?
Did I mention I haven’t been on one in a loooong time?
James starts putting me through the paces out there in the rain: clutch control, brake control, balance control, and again, it’s all pretty good and pretty natural. A few times I turn the bike around tight and counterweight without really even thinking about it and its like “you’re a natural” and I end the day on a high note after hours of riding around the parking lot. The next day I return with a lot of confidence and we start off where we left off and it’s like I’d forgotten everything I’d learned the day before and now I can’t make the tight turns with out dropping my feet off the pegs and I get frustrated and tighten up and my previously great form all goes to shit. I’m trying to make these figure eights and I’m over thinking it and I know it and it’s fun either way but I’m swearing under my breath and finally I try to cut a tight left turn on a slight grade at slow speed and I lock up the front break and drop the bike right there. Signal broken. Me just fine.
“What happened?” say James. Not mad, just patient.
“Um, I was trying to establish the performance parameters of this machine..and now I think I know what they are.”
Again, I’m overthinking. I’m trying to recall what it was like when I was such a little kid and my dad bought home that Honda 125 and set me up on it. How the hell do you teach an eight year old how to shift gears? My father would hold the handle bars for me and steady the bike as I gained speed and then LET GO. I’d ride around the field behind our cottage and when I wanted off I’d ride by and he’d grab the handlebars back and hop on.
Did I mention what a cool dad Big Bill was?
I remember him teaching me to give’r gas going up and throttle down going down. Use the back break when you have to and the front break when you need to, Listen to the engine, pull in the clutch and kick her up with the left foot when she revs and let that clutch out gentle.
I was EIGHT.
Now here I am many, many years later and there’s probably a lot that James dissected in my technique that Big Bill would have never picked apart, but then who cares if you dump a dirt bike? After hours and hours of practice James tells me I’m ready and it’s time to go through the course with the clip board and I manage to pass the test with only one li’l glitch (so I crossed the line a little on the figure- eight?) . And I take the written test and ace it and I go right to the DMV and get my license and I’m sitting here in Kansas City waiting to go onstage and I’m looking at the knap-sack I’ve got packed in the back and the helmet and the boots and that biker jacket that I’ve had forever that I’m actually going to wear riding a motorcycle, and it’s like HOLY SHIT I’m really going to Sturgis the day after tomorrow..and I’m getting on a Harley and riding halfway across Montana by myself.
I must be friggin’ nuts.
I bet Big Bill’s proud.
Seananigan Nashville
P.O. Box 160780
Nashville, TN 37216-0780
www.seanpatrickmcgraw.com
www.myspace.com/seanpatrickmcgraw
check out my new video for ‘DOLLAR AIN’T WORTH A DIME” on cmt.com NOW
Hey all!
well after a little stumble we are UP on CMT!!!!
Online that is
HERE’S the link:
http://www.cmt.com/videos/sean-patrick-mcgraw/381527/dollar-aint-worth-a-dime.jhtml
please cut and paste it into your browser and watch it AGAIN and AGAIN
(the powers-that-be pay attention to how much traffic these things get)
really
so watch, enjoy, tell friends…and smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em
PEACE and THANKS!!
sean
if you haven’t heard already, the video for “Dollar Ain’t Worth a Dime” is online at CMT.com
click here to watch
I NEED your help in bumping me to heavy rotation after next Mondays premier on the network
PLEASE visit the site and play the video, and when yer done, leave ‘em a comment:
Another deed that is greatly appreciated is to leave a comment/review at itunes regarding the song:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
p.s to all our friends in Ohio….did ya see where we’re playing at June 19th?
Cool huh?
To all our friends “nort a da border”
cool, eh?
Peace y’all
sean
I have a lot of ambiguity with contests. Insomuch as I’m not sure what they accomplish even if you win, and I’ve won a few and I got some cool stuff. When I was twenty or so I entered one of those “shred” contests where you walk up onstage with a guitar and you have 60 seconds to impress the judges. On one hand that was kinda cool ‘cause I won a guitar, and I bested some friends and got some bragging rights. On the other hand I beat out some of my own students at the time and I felt like a chump for it.
It was a long time ago.
I don’t think I entered an official competition again until I got seduced into doing the Nashville Star thing and I started out feeling like a chump getting involved in that and then when it was the regional in Nashville (you’d figure that’d be the hardest one) I won it, and there again were some bragging rights and some thinking that maybe it would kick-start my career and then I got to the TV show and it was “think again,” and I’m back to being a chump.
Whatever.
I subscribe the this web service called sonicbids. Sonic bids is one of the coolest most useful things a self-promoting musician can put to use outside of myspace. What it entails is a site that posts gig listings, publishers looking for music, bands looking for players, etc…and basically everything on the site is a contest of sorts. Some listings are more overtly contest-like than others: specifically they post a lot of songwriting competitions and they send you emails every day (sometime a bunch every day) and if the entrance fee ain’t too high, I seem to have a hard time not dropping my chip into just about everything they got.
And it’s not like it’s a total waste of time—I think. Through sonicbids I’ve gotten accepted to showcase at NACA (national association for campus activities) a couple times, and that’s lead to some gigs and some money and that’s cool. In fact, I’ve gotten a bunch of gigs from the site—a few of them even paid something, I’ve gotten in magazines and on a few CD compilations. Maybe that’ll all lead to something somewhere…I have faith.
I approach the songwriting competitons about the same way I did Nashville Star. I mean, I have made a living as a songwriter (emphasis on past-tense) and I have had a few cuts (not that they’ve made big $$) and most of these contests are for amateurs (since I don’t make a living solely from writing or at least can’t claim more than 20% of my income by their defintion, I qualify) but, like I said, my ego does want to show the next guy that I’m better than he/she is.
That’s the American way. Dammit.
And so far I’ve had some success with the song-competition thing: I was a finalist at the first (and last) Riverbluff competition ( I didn’t go). I was co-winner at Mountainstage NewSong (it was a good excuse to go to West Virginia and they gave me three hundred bucks and a discount on pressing my last CD) I won the Great American Song competition (I think I got an online gigs subscription and some magazines for that) was a finalist at the International Songwriting Competition (got beat by some real pros with big cuts) at the Mid Atlantic awards ( got some strings?) Won November at Song-of-the Year (think I got magazines for that) won the 2006 Independent music awards (got a free musicians atlas for that–I use the thing a lot–and they put me on a sampler…and I think I got magazines) and oh yeah, there’s that chart over at garageband.com…and I was in the top five on that forever and I don’t think it meant a damned thing to anybody.
Really, the only contest (other than the grammys, maybe) that means jack to a songwriter is the contest that goes on every time a producer takes an artist into the studio without enough songs to make a whole record. That contest is won when your name is on the bottom corner screen of the video and the ASCAP check comes in and it buys more than just your groceries.
No one seems to give a damn if you win any of these amateur trophies, no matter how brilliant your song is, but you write a nugget like “Wink” or “Watermelon Crawl” and it goes #1 and your artist sell a lot of records… hell that impresses somebody–maybe not somebody like me–but somebody with a desk on music row absolutely.
(And don’t get me wrong–I would LOVE to be able to say I wrote “Watermelon Crawl.”)
Anyhow.
So, the sonicbids thing sends me these emails all the time and one came in a couple months or so ago and I couldn’t resist and I entered a song in it and forgot all about it. Then, maybe a month ago I get an email congratulating me on being selected as a finalist and they’ve picked five people out of I-don’t-know how many and I should be proud….whatever, I’m like “great, maybe I’ll get a box of strings, or better yet some more magazines I won’t read,” And then I get some more emails regarding the thing and it turns out that they get down to me and somebody else and basically I lose by like a vote or something to this other person and it’s like whatever, they share the judges critiques with me and for the most part everybody seems to agree that I show promise I guess and it’s nice, but I’m not getting any guitar strings this time, no magazines, no 10% discount on my next CD….no the winner of this one get’s to FLY TO FREAKING LONDON TO RECORD WITH THE DUDE WHO PRODUCES STING.
I lost by ONE lousy vote!
SHIT!!!
I’ve been through
“Sorry Mr McGraw, per ( a producer who I won’t name who came on board at the last minute) your song (which a BIG artist had kept on hold for months…telling my publisher that it was a “career” song for them) has been passed on (the day after the session on which they kept on swearing they were going to record the song)”
“And the first contestant we’ll be sending home is” (my name)
“Sorry guys (insert name of mega star county dude) had decided to jump over to this label and that changes our budget at the label, so regarding that deal we offered you….”
“Boy, go fetch me a godamn drink will youins?”
And now this!!
Oh well
Whatever
Tommorow’s another day.
BTW. I’m up for the Independent Music Awards again
click here if you’d like to help me out with a vote:
http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima/home.asp
That Musicians Atlas is pretty cool….