Montana musician Sean Devine brings together the rugged landscape of the West, nine original songs, and a lifetime of personal experience in his fourth album, Here for It All. Devine first met the album’s producer Josh Thompson (Cody Jinks) at a concert hall in Missoula through a mutual friend, singer-songwriter Ward Davis, who introduced Devine as “the Bob Dylan of Montana.” That off-the-cuff comment compelled Thompson to request some demos and eventually to record Here For It All with Jinks’ band at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas. Based in Paradise Valley, Devine is a fifth-generation Montanan. Devine’s reckoning with roadblocks and backsteps has manifested itself not in pessimism, but in a beautiful outlook on how to take it all on, as is very apparent on his brand new album Here For It All—out September 3, 2021. (Sean Devine, 2021)
“Here for It All means being here for the inevitable heartbreaks and the sorrow that will come with life, no matter what. You’re not going to avoid it and you’re not going to hide from it. You have to be in this with your whole heart, right? It’s that feeling of staying open and taking the risks that really matter.”
Sean Devine
Produced by Josh Thompson (Cody Jinks), the eloquent project provides a firsthand account of second chances, showing up, and seeing it through. Cowboy Lifestyle Network recently premiered the album’s title track, “Here For It All,” noting, “Sean brings an easy listening country sound to the music scene that makes you feel.” “This song is about how it feels after you’ve been blind-sided, knocked on your ass hard, humiliated, and you reach your hand up and someone is there,” says Devine. “What happens next could be the transfiguration you didn’t know you were looking for.” Fans can hear “Here For It All” now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Here For It All ahead of its September release right here.
Although Devine sequenced the nine songs on Here for It All himself, its cohesive narrative may be partially credited to the album’s producer, Josh Thompson (Cody Jinks), who mined a folder of twenty six unrecorded—and sometimes completely forgotten—compositions to make the record. “I’d never hired a producer before and I didn’t want to get it wrong,” Devine admits. “I figured maybe my best approach would be to turn it all over to him.” When Thompson offered to produce a studio album using Jinks’ band, Devine agreed on the spot. That spontaneity and collaborative spirit resulted in songs that would feel equally at home in a listening room or a country bar’s jukebox.
From the two-step feel of “Crazy Too” and “I’m Free,” to the half-time grooves of “Clay Bluffs,” “Feelin’ Like An Old Piece Of Wood,” and “Texas and Tennessee,” the work of Jink’s band, known as the Tone Deaf Hippies, is that of stellar accompaniment. “They didn’t try to force anything. They didn’t try to turn it into some new thing,” Devine recalls. “They came to where the song started, with me and my acoustic guitar. They brought out what was sweet about it – and they’ve got hooks.” But it is Devine’s tunes and the way he plays and sings them that are the stars of the show. Through his lyrics, Devine guides a listener through troubled times—some autobiographical and others fictional—without losing sight of the glimmer of hope in the distance.
Here For It All Track list:
Here For It All
Crazy Too
I’m Free
Feelin’ Like An Old Piece Of Wood
Clay Bluffs
Texas And Tennessee
The Palomino Mustang
You Ain’t Coming Home
Can I Get A Witness?
days
hours minutes seconds
until
Album release: Here For It All
SA Examiner 