John Lee Hooker, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, Barry White, Al Green, Tom Waits, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Jeanne French, Regina Spektor, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Bobby Womack, Nina Simone, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Violent Fems, Aretha Franklin, Old gospel music, Cash, Dylan...
Resonant, robust and resolute: the voice of Sean Rowe is deep, distinct and endearing. A sound so soulful, you would never imagine it came from a Caucasian man.
“As thick and sweet as molasses, Sean Rowe’s baritone is one of those rare singing voices that will leave you forever changed. Like Al Green, Van Morrison, or Gil Scott-Heron at their best…” -Metroland Magazine
Hailing from Troy, New York, Rowe has been writing and performing music for the last decade, perfecting his earthy baritone singing and street-beat inspired guitar playing. His percussive acoustic guitar technique mimics the downbeat of a kick drum, the backbeat of a snare drum, and the harmonic support of a bass player. This large repertoire of sounds coupled with the bottomless power and charming sensitivity of Rowe’s dynamic singing voice make his live performances explosively sparkle.
With his second release Magic (April 21, 2009/Collar City Records), Rowe’s lyrics are objective and passionate, each song portraying a feeling and mood by way of scattered imagery and events. Purveying a wide range of emotions, Magic is filled with life’s most sad and joyful moments. Rowe’s songs bear visions of impressionist paintings of struggle and pain, truth and beauty - undeniably a balance of dark and light. Oftentimes dreamlike, Rowe’s stanzas consist of non-linear glimpses that affect you in a visceral and instinctual manner. In the end, Magic communicates an idea that is emotionally affecting, while still leaving room for subjective interpretation and an element of mystery. There is no mystery, however in the love and admiration of Sean Rowe fans, as the production of Magic was entirely a fan-funded endeavor.
“Listening to Sean Rowe’s Album, Magic, it is hard to decide what is more magical-the dream inducing songs or Sean’s powerful, emotional voice. The big, deep and rich sound pulls on your heart almost to the point of breaking.”-Chris Wienk, Program Director at WEXT-FM
Rowe's official debut album, 27, was re-released on November 2004. The record earned several awards including the prestigious New York Foundation of the Arts Artist Fellowship Grant for music composition.
In the fall of 2005, following the success of 27, Rowe was chosen out of 1,000 American acts to tour throughout the UK for a month under the management of Contemporary Music Events and Artist Services (CMEAS). In late 2007, Rowe was one of four finalists chosen from a pool thousands of songwriters in the Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition produced by Jezebel Music. Rowe was also selected to perform a showcase event for the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
PRESS QUOTES
"When Rowe gets in front of a microphone, he is transformed into a wizened and grizzled old black griot. He summons up a voice from deep within that begs comparisons to such genre-bending innovators as funk-jazz master Gil Scott-Heron or the late beach bum turned philosopher Ted Hawkins." [Don Wilcock - The Troy Record]
"It seems almost impossible that a performer so slight and Caucasian could produce sounds so bottomless and soulful." [The Skidmore News-Skidmore College]
"Rowe has the uncanny ability in live performance to mimic a 3-piece band."[Metroland Magazine]
“[Rowe has] the grainy, coarse, pulverized and yet full and lumbering voice of a blues singer or an understudy of Tom Waits mixing with the slick, agile, lyrical folk rocking command of a soft-spoken young urban singer/songwriter.” [CD Baby- www.cdbaby.com]
I added "Wrong Side of the Bed" to my Profile Playlist of MySpace Musician friends. I also really like "American" and several on the sampler of which I don't know the titles.
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