Shawn McDonald

With each new album, it seems that Shawn McDonald continues to expand his singer/songwriter sound. His last album, Roots, gave us easily his best work yet – a mature, complete collection that continued to resonate with his empassioned delivery yet explored new sonic territory.

So the exciting news? He’s nearly finished with another project and we have the inside story. We recently spoke with Shawn about this upcoming project to hear what it’s like to write under the gun of a deadline and where he goes on this new album.

Soul-Audio: I’m wondering how 2009 has been for you?

Shawn McDonald: We’ve been working on a new record. We just finished the recording end and now we’re in the mixing and mastering part of it, trying to get it all done. So that’s what I’ve been doing most of this year and that’s where my headspace has been. I’ve been writing and then doing some shows in the middle of that. Record seasons are busy seasons because you can’t stop what you normally do but at the same time, you also have to create a record somehow in the midst of all of that. So you have to squeeze in what can you wherever you can.

SA: What goes along into getting into the headspace of an album?

Shawn: Well, I’m a writer that writes all year round, so I’m always writing. I feel like it’s not just because I’m always thinking of a new record. That’s not it at all. I just happen to always write songs. For me, it’s my release. It’s the way I express my thought life and the things that are going. I’m constantly writing. So when a record comes around, I usually have quite a bit already there or ideas and whatnot. Then there’s usually some writing to do – we’re never always ready. And some songs aren’t the right ones that will fit the record.

So as far as getting my head in that space, I don’t know how much there is to do. There is some of that where I need to crunch down and write enough so that the record is complete. But I do come in somewhat prepared as well. I don’t have to do it all at once. I’m sure some artists do it that way, where they have to write it all at once, but my opinion is that it’s a lot of chance. You’re chancing a lot hoping you can write a record in a short amount of time. Well, maybe you can write one, but can you write one that can really connect.

I tend to play a lot of my songs live as I’m writing them just to get a feel from people and see how they are connecting with folks. I’ve done that since the very beginning and I think it’s helped me to understand how to connect with my audience a little better. At the same time, it also gives me a gauge of where I want to go with the record as well.

SA: So how did you know where to go with this one?

Shawn: I don’t know that I necessarily always do know where to go. I definitely have ideas and I tend to be an artist that is also pretty relevant on what is happening musically. I’m always listening to music and I’m always trying to be somewhat caught up and knowledgeable of what is happening. So in a sense, I think you can own trends. I think whatever is happening musically, you can make it uniquely yours.

But music is a roller coaster that goes all over. So I tend to be relevant in the sense of creating something that’s new but also at line with what is happening musically, just so that I don’t get stuck. I’ve tried really hard not to get stuck in a sound. I know that I have a sound, but I do try to explore a bit so I don’t get pigeon-holed, I guess.

SA: Thematically, how do you know where you’re going?

Shawn: Thematically, I tend to write about the themes relative to my life in the moment – what I’m learning and what God is teaching me. It’s what I’m passionate about. That tends to be what I sing about. So thematically, Simply Nothing was actually without a theme and it was something I wrote over six years. It came from all seasons of my life on that one. Ripen was a deep record of introspection. It was real intense concerning my relationship with the Lord, just moving through the tough questions. That was a dark record for me. Roots was a record of the reflection coming out of the deep introspect and into the joyful expression. I just tried to make a more joyful record and it was where I was at. I just naturally made that record.

A lot of people have given me a hard time with Ripen, saying they don’t understand why I went there. But I couldn’t make it to Roots if I didn’t go there. The record label, I felt this pressure to write part two of these songs like “Gravity” or “Take My Hand” over again and continue with a sound that worked. So I deliberately went a different direction with Ripen so that it wasn’t about just conforming to what people wanted or what the label wanted. I needed it to be about my heart.

The thing I’ve seen about these records is that God is using them to heal people and move in their hearts and their head. I really believe we’re supposed to be genuine in what we choose to create and I tried really hard to make a record that was real and not just about making pop songs. So Roots went back that direction but it went even further. I was able to make a poppy record, but it was one that was definitely more musically diverse.

This new record is even further out there. It’s hard to explain. It’s not like anything I’ve created before. It’s a lot more upbeat than Roots, but not in a… it’s definitely a joyful record, yet it’s also about a lot of trial and being humbled. Yet somehow it’s also happy at the same time.

SA: So do the musical differences on an album come from what you’re listening to in that moment?

Shawn: I definitely have my favorites and I tend to stay in my favorites musically. I come out of them to study and just be relevant and know what’s out there, but I rarely stay out there. I always come back to the same music. I just go outside so that I can learn and take and expand on other ideas, so that my own music is unique. I don’t want to sound like the things I listen to and love. I don’t want to be a copycat artist. I just don’t like writing the same song. It’s fine if some artists feel this way, but some artists find a sound and they love it because they feel safe in it. If that’s what they feel they’re supposed to do, then more power to them.

But for myself, I can’t personally do that and feel okay. I have to constantly be growing and expanding for my own self. I get bored if I don’t. I’m not a person that likes to be safe. I like to push it a little bit, to explore and be creative and that’s part of it for me. That’s the fun process of being an artist is being able to go new places. That’s what you’re hearing on Roots is just me trying to broaden my horizons and grow as an artist and musician and not just write the same song over and over again.

SA: Do you ever go back and look back at what you write and wonder what you would have changed?

Shawn: For the most part, when I finish a record and we say it’s done, I don’t know that I look back on it and say, ‘Oh, I wish I would have done this.’ I never really feel that way with records. In fact, when I go back and listen to them, I’m usually almost shocked because I don’t listen to them very often. So when I do go back and listen to an older record, it’s a good experience and takes me back and reminds me of things that I was learning. I don’t think I have a lot of negative thoughts.

But when I’m in a record, I’m in it. When I create a record, that’s all I listen to during that time. I’m very, very analytical and very in it. If I’m on a drive, it’s a rarity if I’m listening to anything but the mixes. I’m constantly trying to get it to where I feel like it’s at the right place and when I get it there, then I retire it. I don’t know if that makes sense.

SA: Sure does. It makes absolute sense. I wanted to ask about honesty in your music, because it seems like that is the most compelling part of a Shawn McDonald CD or what I hear about the most in reference to your music. Is this a cathartic thing for you? Is that hard to be that honest at times?

Shawn: Well, I hear that a lot, too. I hear people always thanking me for being honest. I’m always like, ‘Um, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m just being who I am.’ I just think of myself as the person God is creating me to be and I don’t know that I even think about it when I’m writing songs. I just write the songs that are in me and I have to write them. Of course, I understand it to an extent. I know that not everybody opens up and talks about their fears or discusses what’s going on. I know that is not common, so I get that part of it.

But sometimes I don’t get it when people say thanks or when they describe what the music does for them. What they are experiencing is, in my opinion, something God has taken from one broken human being and had him write songs that are somehow healing and touching another person. I don’t know man. I don’t think about it. It just is. [Laughs]

• www.shawnmcdonaldmusic.com
• www.myspace.com/shawnmcdonald

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