What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1210788
38 WHAT'S UP! FEBRUARY 9-15, 2020 Lost And Found "Songwriters mainly just want people to hear their songs," Sean Harrison says. "An introvert like me will force himself out of his shell to attend an open-mic or a showcase and fight through the fear of singing in front of people — so that his songs get heard. And if somebody says, 'nice job,' oh my gosh, that is such a reward." (Courtesy Photo/Denis Seyer) BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette S ean Harrison was raised in the heart of a creative environment. His dad was novelist William Neal Harrison, who established the Creative Writing Program at the University of Arkansas. "I grew up in an artsy household and an artsy town — Fayetteville, in the late 1960s and '70s — around a bunch of fiction writers and writing students," he remembers. "All of that brought other artists into my family's orbit, from musicians and painters to actors and film directors. I suppose it gave me permission to try my hand at it. It provided encouragement, and maybe some ground rules for how it's done. … "Fayetteville has always been home. And the arts, especially literature and music, were always a kind of home, too. The literature from my father, and the love of music from my mom." Harrison went off to college in Texas, but he dropped out and joined a country band, he says, playing "in some great historic Texas venues and events, like the main stage at Kerrville (Folk Festival). Then I sort of got lost for a while." Lost meant too much drinking, he says, and no solid career path, so he finished a journalism degree and worked as a newspaper reporter for several years, including a stint at this newspaper's predecessor, The Morning News. Then he went into public relations. "But I always wrote songs, and I played in bands here and there, and I recorded a bunch of my songs, but I never released anything until now," he continues the story. "Everything in my whole history, good and bad, successes and mistakes, played a role in my songwriting. So, while sometimes I might briefly regret that I stopped playing music full time when I was young, everything else led me to where I am now, and I'm in a real good place." Harrison has come full circle, having just released his first solo country album, "Halfway From Nashville." The title comes from being born in Tennessee's country music capital and "if you'll indulge me in agreeing I'm halfway through my life, well … there you go, it's a timeline, a life journey," he says. The sound? "It's not really for me to say what genre I'm in," he demurs. "I say Singer/songwriter returns to fated path FAYETTEVILLE