There’s a maelstrom outside – a swirling London storm of noise and engine fumes – but inside the womb-like safety of The Grace’s dressing room, there’s a stillness in Sean McConnell’s voice.
That stillness is a rare kind – it feels both hard-earned and heaven-sent. Sitting with him is like slowly tuning a Zenith 7H820 radio to a fragile frequency between grace and grit, where angels and demons whisper through the static.
Over two decades into a career built on quiet conviction and lyrical honesty, McConnell stands renewed. His latest chapter isn’t about reinvention so much as demolition — tearing down what no longer serves to rebuild something raw, spiritual, and startlingly human. From faith and fatherhood to the invisible hand of the muse, McConnell lives his songs line by line, moment by hard-earned moment.
1st 3 Magazine- It has been said that you wrestle with angles and demons alike- who or what are they?
Sean McConnell- Man, that’s a good question! I have a lot of angels in my life- I believe in ‘angel angels’, and people angles who act like angels; my wife and my daughter for sure. They’re the angels in my house, but I feel like I’m surrounded by angles, by people from the past and that they are angels looking out for us. Demons can be anything that I’m struggling with, anything that’s challenging me. I mean, it can be anything- from minute to minute it can change.
1st 3- are your wife and daughter with you on tour or are they a home? Can that feel like a demon?
Yeah, getting on the road, away from home, trying to find your equilibrium and your peace. Whatever they are, finding them can be a tall order and a demon as well.
1st 3- you’ve talked previously about a song being in every day- ‘the song in the room’. Are there times when the song doesn’t come?
I feel like these are less frequent. If I’m writing by myself or writing with someone, there can be a moment when you think; I’m trying too hard and it just doesn’t want to happen. We’ll just step away and come back and either- there it is- or, we just didn’t get one today- and that’s fine.
I believe in a benevolent love that is behind everything. It’s with me wherever I go."
1st 3- You’re a prolific song writer, you’ve been writing songs for more than 20 years. Are there times when they come to you and it’s not convenient?
I’ll typically try to write them down or I’ll whisper the melody into a voice memo. If I’m on a plane or train I’ll be quiet because I’m not that kind of guy! Rarely will I remember it if I don’t write it down: but there are some songs that are stubborn and they don’t go away.
1st 3- You have spoken of your ‘renewed’ musical journey – why did you feel the need to renew it? Was it broken in some way?
I feel like I didn’t make any choices- it renewed itself. There’s a territory I found myself in with this record- I found it was making me rather than the other way round. It had a lot to do with the other musicians I was working with and what I was going through personally. Speaking of demolition, we need to start from the ground up. Because I was doing that with my personal life, obviously it happened with my music as well. Not just the songs themselves but the process of it was so different- it felt like getting lost and then coming to- and then you have this record! It felt a little bit like going into the darkness and coming out.
I had some high school jobs (like selling ice cream), but as soon as I started bringing my PA everywhere and my tip jar, I never looked back after that."
1st 3- How did you come to that point (of demolition)? Was it a Damascene moment, drawing a line or more of a dissection of yourself – where you would look at all the bits that aren’t working and discard some of them?
I think it’s like when you’re living your life and something crops up that’s not serving you, not working…. It’s not even a moment, it wasn’t one big thing, but I turned 40 last year….
1st 3- Have you always been a musician?
I did music at uni- I moved from Boston to Georgia where I did middle and high school, then I moved to Nashville to go to college. That’s where I met my wife and a year out of college I got my first publishing deal, writing for other people.
There’s a lot of conversation to be had about the superpowers and the connectedness that come along with anybody with disabilities."
1st 3- You’ve never had to do anything else, have you? You’ve had a musical background; your parents were both professional musicians.
Right; I had some high school jobs (like selling ice cream), but as soon as I started bringing my PA everywhere and my tip jar, I never looked back after that.
1st 3- We get a strong sense of spirituality from your music. Is your faith spiritual or religious? Is your aim for your listeners to connect spiritually with the music?
I was raised a Catholic. As I grew up, I went on my own journey. I still hold on to part of that. God has become so big for me I don’t know what to name him or her. I started to go to other churches and the things that resonated with me have become part of my practice. Things I don’t believe in, I try to let them fall. Talking about spirituality is like dancing about architecture- how do you really talk about it? But whatever it is, it’s been there since the beginning- it pulls me into it. I try to go towards the light; I believe in a benevolent love that is behind everything. It’s with me wherever I go.
1st 3- We can feel that through your music… Thinking about ‘Shaky Bridges’, was that about the integrity of your writing (“I’ll write a song I’ll never sing…”)
The genesis of that song is: I was really into the publishing world for a long time and there were moments, songs, I wrote just for commercial purposes… which isn’t a bad thing
1st 3- Everyone has to pay the rent, right?
That song also means a lot more than that… the muse is a real thing and I don’t want to sully my relationship with her…
1st 3- Tell me more about your muse- who or what is she?
Like the angels, the muse can be a lot of things. My wife or my daughter for sure but I also think there is a muse- like God. The muse to me is an interesting topic because it used to be a metaphor and now I believe it to be a true thing. I don’t know what it is; maybe it’s the same thing as God. Talking about the craft of songwriting – which I practise every day and try to get better at- the more I do it, I feel like more of my job these days is finding a quiet place where I can receive the gift of the song: that’s the muse.
1st 3- Thinking about ‘The Demolition’, when you got rid of the ‘bad stuff’, there’s a line in that song where you ‘let the bad stuff die’. How did you change your paradigm? Was it the music or your mind change that came first?
The mind, soul and body
1st 3- So your music is part of that- a direct response to your emotions?
Yes
1st 3- You started ‘folky’ in the early days of songwriting, and then all the other styles came. But the bigger themes of love, loss, emotion, intimacy and the stories you tell are a golden thread throughout. Is there a shift between the emotions and the stories- have they moved a little bit more towards your internal experiences? Has jour musical journey been a response to anything or a deliberate shift?
It’s about the singing. It’s about what comes to me in the writing room. It’s not a direct response to anything apart from what comes natural. As for the genre changes, I feel like there’s so many I love they just ‘pop out’ and of course, you go to Nashville, you’re going to write a Country song. As for my upbringing, folk/Americana are not that far apart. Growing up with two parents who are folk musicians, the song being the bedrock; that’s the thing that doesn’t change.
Being around my daughter- the magic of it- just being near her has changed me in so many ways."
1st 3- What were your early influences?
Basically anybody that was at Woodstock! Joni (although she actually wasn’t there…) Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash – my parents’ influences.
1st 3- And your current influences?
So many people! I’ve been producing some people I’m really excited about. Taylor McCall; we’ve done a couple of records together and he’s got a new record out called ‘Mellow War’ which I’m really excited about and proud of. I’m a huge Glen Hansard fan – I’ve seen him recently and I’m always listening to whatever he’s singing… I’m always listening to music!
1st 3- You’ve famously got just one tattoo, why only one? Have you ever had a compulsion to have more? To fill the gaps?
I have had that compulsion many times! The cover of Skin has a hand on it with many tattoos. Most of those were tattoos I’ve been thinking about getting and my manager suggested I put some of them on the cover of the album. My next tattoo (if I get one) will be my daughter’s name.
1st 3- Family is clearly in everything you write and sing about- it’s the heart of your music. How has having a child with differences – there are so many challenges yet so many wonderful things- influenced your music?
Being around my daughter- the magic of it- just being near her has changed me in so many ways. I don’t know how to explain it, except despite being non-verbal, she’s very communicative. She so present. All the time. Whether that’s joy or anger- it’s a privilege, it’s living with a master teacher, in a way. There’s a lot of conversation to be had about the superpowers and the connectedness that come along with anybody with disabilities. My daughter and her friends- there’s just magic there, a presence- and all the bullshit just falls away because we’re just in this moment together, of being with this amazing person. We’re just meeting her where she is – she’s here, she’s present. It calls us to her, to that place, that moment. It’s a super power of connection. And that’s changed everything, including the music.
1st 3- That’s a beautiful place to stop- with that thought of your music being an organic metaphor of that superpower, connection.
Sean McConnell played The Grace, London on 08/102025
Support from Robbie Kavanagh
