Follow along with Sean on his blog and Twitter account as he weaves and bobs through a hectic few weeks!

See also: Nippertown

Congratulations to the folks named in Metroland Magazine‘s BEST OF 2009 edition! We have plenty of friends all over this thing, but first, our own artists!

SEAN ROWE :: “Best Solo Artist”
Sure, this guy once ate a chipmunk so as not to starve, but he also opened for Boz Scaggs and the Doobie Brothers, so cut him some slack. Better yet, give his recent album Magic a spin and then try to tell us Rowe ain’t the bee’s knees. This survivalist has pretty much the best baritone around and certainly knows his way around a six-string, backing band be damned.

MATTHEW LOIACONO :: “Best Songwriter (Project-Oriented)”
Loiacono has proven to be an ace songwriter (in addition to label honcho and musician-about-town), particularly when he puts himself to task. Last year’s excellent Kentucky, recorded for the RPM Challenge in just 22 days, found the artist limiting himself to just mandolin and voice. For this summer’s Penny Riddle he used different constraints: Each of its eight songs is just a minute long. We can’t wait to see what he puts his mind—and talent—to next.

Check the rest of the listings here! Thanks Metroland!

Congrats to our favorite local radio station, WEXT for making it past the 2 year mark! Tomorrow (7/7) marks the 2 year anniversary of the launch of this excellent addition to our local community. We look forward to their giant birthday party at Valentine’s in Albany on Wednesday, featuring CCR’s own Sean Rowe, Railbird, Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned and Davy Knowles / Back Door Slam! Doors at 7PM, show at 8PM!

We are pleased to present Sean Rowe’s Magic CD. Available for the first time here in the Collar City Records Store.

As links to digital stores come in, they will be posted in this space:

iTunes
eMusic
Amazon
Rhapsody
Last.FM

Please remember the following Sean Rowe events this week:

THURSDAY, APRIL 23 – The Palace Theater // Albany, NY
Sean Rowe opens for The Doobie Brothers (!!!!)

FRIDAY, APRIL 24 – Bread & Jam // Cohoes, NY
Magic CD Release Party

Yes, there is literally ONE week until Magic is unleashed unto the world. Exciting, to say the least! Here’s a recap of all the Magic updates:

6 Weeks (cover art)
5 Weeks (live video)
4 Weeks (Magic tracklist)
3 Weeks (“Jonathan” mp3 demo download)
2 Weeks (CD release party info and tickets!)

If you’ve been following along, you’ll note that we’ve been streaming the album from Sean’s MySpace page two songs at a time for the past six weeks. Within that time, MySpace has increased the amount of songs one can stream from each individual artist’s profile to ten songs. So you the listener, wins! Listen to Magic in its entirety now through next Tuesday, the release date!

In addition to that, we’d like to share a video of Sean performing a Richard Thompson song – “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” at the Rockwood Music Hall in NYC.

Stay tuned this week to the Collar City Records Twitter feed… we will be giving away two pairs of tickets to Sean’s CD release show on 4/24 at Bread & Jam THIS week!

Click above to pre-order tickets to the Magic CD Release show on Friday, April 24 at Bread & Jam in Cohoes, NY. Not only will you receive tickets for $5 ($7 at the door), you will also receive a few commemorative surprises in the mail!

Collar City Records will be giving away tickets to the show via our Twitter account within the next two weeks. Please follow us to ensure your chances of winning tickets to this event!

For all the Facebook users out there, here is the event page where you can RSVP and receive any direct updates about the show.

All this week, stream “The Walker” and “American” from Sean’s MySpace page. Next Tuesday will wrap up the two songs a week listening party with the final two songs from Magic, and, that’s it! Magic will be here!

First, the CD release party for Magic is scheduled for Friday, April 24th at Bread & Jam in Cohoes, NY! Owner Sal Prizio will be obtaining a beer/wine license especially for the night and Sean is putting together a one-time only band to recreate some of the nuances and sounds on the album. This will be a very special evening and we will be announcing more details as the date draws nearer.

Continuing along with sharing different parts of Magic, we are glad to share with you a demo version of the song “Jonathan“. The studio version of it streamed last week at Sean’s MySpace page, being replaced with the next two songs in the track order (“Old Black Dodge” and “Wet”) for the next week. If you didn’t get a chance to hear “Jonathan” in it’s deluxe-recorded form, here is Sean’s first draft of the song and a short explanation about what you’ll hear…

This was the very first recording of the song laid down on my micro Boss BR 4-track. I had just finished writing the song which took about an hour (usually never that easy for me). It’s pretty long and on the count of it being a first draft, there are lyrics at the end that were ultimately edited out of the studio version.

Sean Rowe // – Jonathan (demo)

Finally, we would like to thank our friends at WEXT for naming Magic “CD Spotlight of the Month” for the month of April! Here’s a sketch of when the station will be playing songs off of the album –>

Starting Tuesday morning (3/31) with Dave Michaels and in the afternoon with Chris Wienk, you’ll hear each of the songs with special intros done by Sean and Troy Pohl (formerly of The Kamikaze Hearts and the recording engineer, musician, and producer of the record). Each Tuesday until 4/14, we’ll have the tracks at 7a, 8a, and 4p. On 4/14, it’ll also be in the 5p hour to get all ten songs in! Then on 4/21, the release date, be listening for a track each hour!

Thanks WEXT!

If you enjoy hearing Sean’s songs on the air, or streaming through your computer let them know that you love the support that they’re giving him. Better yet, show your support by becoming a member if you are so moved…