Upon learning about a bearded, acoustic troubadour and survivalist signed to the ANTI- record label coming to Santa Cruz to play at The Crepe Place this week, I was intrigued. After digging a little deeper, intrigue turned to excitement.
Singer-songwriter and guitar player, Sean Rowe, has spent much of the last year traveling the country with just his guitar, performing in people’s living rooms.
“It’s like I’m some kind of a bearded salesman,” he says, “Going door-to-door but instead of vacuum cleaners, I’m selling all these feelings that come with the songs. It’s a really intense experience for listeners to have me there in their homes playing. They’re not used to having a stranger show up, play music, drink their beer and eat their food. But I think that’s how we’re supposed to be. It only feels strange because we’ve made it that way.”
Sean Rowe was born and raised in Troy, New York and began playing and recording his own music at the age of 12, but didn’t record his first serious song until he was 17.
While music was a huge part of his life growing up, the outdoors was equally important. Rowe traces his obsession with the outdoors all the way back to the images of Native Americans on his bed sheets as a small child, and frequent trips to the natural history museum with his aunt.
“I would get lost in there,” he remembers. “I studied everything about Native American life and customs that I could.”
Throughout the rest of his life and career, Rowe continued to strike a balance between music and his love of the wilderness.
While recording five albums since 2004, touring with Noah and the Whale, and getting signed to ANTI- records in 2009, Rowe has also managed to study for a year at Hawk Circle Wilderness Education in Cherry Valley, NY and study under wild food author and expert, Samuel Thayer. After his training, Rowe completed a 24-day solo survival quest.
At 40, Rowe shows no signs of slowing down, recently releasing a brand new EP, and still communing with nature on 30-day wilderness treks, for which he takes along nothing but a knife and the clothes on his back.
“I feel sorry for people who are afraid of nature,” he says.
SantaCruz.com caught up with Rowe recently, to talk about his latest EP and where his next trek might take him.
You just released a brand new EP entitled, “Her Songs,” which delivers acoustic versions of six compositions written exclusively by female artists – Sade, Cat Power, Neko Case, Regina Spektor, Lucinda Williams and Feist. Was this project developed with only covering female artists in mind?
ROWE: I thought it would be a good challenge for my voice to cover female artists. Also, the artists I’m covering are ones that I find most compelling in terms of their writing and how believable their voices are.
I read that upon hearing your cover of “Soldiers Song,” on the new EP, three-time Grammy winner and country legend Lucinda Williams proclaimed, “This is the best cover of any of my songs that anyone has ever done. I am completely moved.” That must have felt good. Have you ever encountered someone who wasn’t too pleased with one of your renditions?
ROWE: I was through the roof when I heard that from Lucinda. That really meant a lot to me. I’m not sure if someone out there doesn’t like my rendition. If they don’t, they’re not telling me! I have attempted certain cover songs in the past and ended up dropping them because I felt my version wasn’t bringing anything new to the table.
Although the tracks on “Her Songs” are considered covers, the term does not seem to do them justice. You have made entirely new music, skillfully recreating these tracks according to your own vision, which is no surprise since you have been writing your own music and composing songs for the last two decades. When you were working on this project did you find it easier than starting completely from scratch?
ROWE: Oh, thanks for that! Yeah, it is easier in some ways. Less work, I suppose. You don’t have to be invested lyrically since that part is already done. The work is about the delivery. It’s taking the essence of what was there and preserving the heart of the song. I try to dig deep into it so I can feel what’s happening. I suppose it’s a bit like acting, where you are pretending but at the same time trying to be empathetic to what the song is saying. So hopefully, the listener will actually believe you when you retell the story. That’s what I try to do.
As an avid naturalist and someone who recently spent 24 days in the wilderness alone on a survival mission, do you plan to add some experience in the wilds around Santa Cruz to your stay?
ROWE: I always try to get out when I’m on tour to see what’s growing and what’s happening with the wild life. Last time I was in LA, the coyotes roaming and hunting in the backyards and porches of Silver Lake took me aback. They were probably looking for a tasty poodle or some fat, slow, house cat. Right now, I’m in Seattle where the plants and smells and birds are lifting my spirits. Nature is unbelievably fascinating, and yes, I’m gonna see what I can dig up in Santa Cruz.
Info: Sean Rowe, June 3rd at The Crepe Place. Tickets: $10. Photo: Anthony Saint James
