Singer/songwriter releases Undone, a stripped-down collection of familiar songs

By Brent Thompson

Photo Credit: Becky Fluke

Since releasing his 2000 debut recording on his own label, Sean McConnell has embodied the hard-working, D.I.Y. singer/songwriter. In 2016, the Massachusetts native and Nashville resident released a self-titled album on Rounder Records. The songs from that album are now seeing a second release on McConnell’s upcoming album, Undone (September 8). An acoustic track-by-track re-recording (plus a new duet track with Lori McKenna) of the self-titled album, Undone finds McConnell taking the songs back to their original forms – performed by one man and his guitar. On Friday, September 22, McConnell will return to Birmingham to perform at WorkPlay. Recently, McConnell spoke to us by phone from his Nashville home.

Birmingham Stages: Sean, thanks for your time. How long had the idea been brewing to re-record and release these songs acoustically?

Sean McConnell: It’s always been there since we worked on the self-titled record that it’s based on. Because of the nature of the songs, I always heard it in that world as well. I felt like it was a collection that you could strip down and it would stand up on its own. I’m a sucker for acoustic records and I grew up listening to a lot of that, so it was a real treat to get to revisit the songs and see them that way.

Birmingham Stages: What did you learn or remember about these songs when you re-recorded them?

SM: The funny thing is that they sound like they did the first time because I write on an acoustic guitar or piano. So it kind of sounds the way the songs sounded before we made the self-titled record, so it kind of came full circle in a way. I play mostly solo acoustic during the year, so when we hopped in the studio I’d already played the songs about 100 times [laughs].

Birmingham Stages: You have a duet track with Lori McKenna (“Nothing On You”) on the new album. How did your collaboration with her come about?

SM: We’ve known each other for a number of years and we both come from Massachusetts – she still lives there. I was a fan first and we met through songwriting and became friends. We’ve been writing and being on each other’s records for five or six years now. It was a real honor to have her on this record.

Birmingham Stages: Are you still writing and laying down new ideas as we speak?

SM: I’m always writing and I’m definitely actively writing for the next record right now. I write a lot at my house and I write a lot on the road. It’s a bits-and-pieces thing but sometimes lightning strikes and it all happens in one moment, which is always a nice treat.

Birmingham Stages: If you will, talk about the co-writing environment in Nashville and your place in it.

SM: There’s a lot of co-writing in Nashville – people co-write every day up here. It’s very much a part of the process. I dabble in that but I do a lot less of it than I used to. For my records, I tend to gravitate toward songs I’ve written by myself.

Birmingham Stages: In this day and age, how do you reconcile the instant accessibility – and instant purchasing ability – of listeners with the over-saturation created by the fact that anyone with a website can release an album?

SM: That’s a good question. I think those are both true at the same time. It’s an amazing time to be putting out music and anyone can hear it anywhere in the world and it’s a truly powerful tool. It creates the floodgates, but I don’t see that as a negative. The more creativity the better and music has its own way of finding who’s supposed to listen to it.

Sean McConnell will perform at WorkPlay on Friday, September 22. Tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $10 and can be purchased at www.workplay.com.