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fresh tracks
new music talk with Wendy Rose
Shantyman Séan McCann
“MY LIFE IN MUSIC has taught me that a song has the power to
change the world... one mind at a time.” Séan McCann delivered this impressive line to an interview with Memorial University in 2014, and in 2021, it still packs a pensive punch.
The first Great Big Sea show took place at McCann’s alma mater Memorial University in 1993, and nearly 30 years later, the legendary Shantyman continues to create. On September 6, 2021, he launched his latest musical offering. Shantyman is a full-length album of collected sea shanties, recorded with a stellar crew of internationally renowned musicians. The album opens with “Shantyman’s Life,” with heavy electric guitar riffs immediately dispelling any ideas of what you think you might know about sea shanties. There’s a different kind of heaviness to this opener – not the usual sadness one may associate with folk ballads of the sort. 36
November 2021
Next is a classic song for the seafaring folks, “10,000 Miles Away.” It has it all: nautical terminology, broken hearts, long-distance love, immeasurably hard work and shore leave excitement. The album’s third track, “Rolling Sea” surprisingly has a reggae vibe – perhaps a direct influence of Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, a best-selling Canadian reggae-rock band. Johnson mixed the album and threw in some electric slide guitar to boot. Chugging along, simplistic whistling melodies get this song stuck in your head immediately. “Deep Blue Sea” brings softer vocal stylings, traditional fiddle and a merry musical interlude. “Chariot,” meanwhile, feels like more of a fun, funky singalong song that you’d hear in 1-888-588-6353
