No shocker here as I yet again unleash a soul, folk singer/songwriter, but this time I promise he is an American citizen. Folky musician Sean Hayes is not to be confused with the Will and Grace actor who goes by the same name. Sean Hayes is not a new artist by any means, with his first album on tape debuting in 1999, but he is relatively fresh, due to the soul and folk genre quickly growing.

Sean Hayes’ most popular album is Run Wolves Run, which holds his number one claim to fame— his song Powerful Stuff being on a lovely, sentimental Subaru commercial. And I will admit that I found him after Shazam-ing the song while watching television. Yes, it seems to be true that I find all of the music on my iPod while sitting on the couch, stuffing my face and watching some tv, instead of the normal way, listening to the radio.

Big Black Hole and the Little Baby Star is Hayes’ 2006 album that focuses on his softer folk side with Politics, and pedantic song about grandmothers, lions, homeless men, and somehow politics. The song is accompanied by a softly strumming guitar, and that’s about it. Similar tracks, Calling All Cars, Angel, and Boom Boom Goes the Day all feature simplistic music backgrounds, though Boom Boom Goes the Day throws us a curve ball and includes a trumpet.

Sean Hayes’ 2010 album, Run Wolves Run, is his most fiercely soul cd, which contains soul shaking tunes featuring Hayes’ almost growling voice. The album has some of Hayes’ best songs, along with the worst, and unfortunately most popular Powerful Stuff from the previously mentioned car commercial. Hayes shows a sensitive, yet passionate side in his song, When We Fall In, professing his love for his wife, but not saying the word “love” until the last line, which would make and soul-loving girl wait in anticipation for Hayes to profess his love for her. Or perhaps, that’s just me. Choosing the second best song on the album is continuously debated by myself, in my head because the album is such a cohesive piece of work, with all the songs perfectly fitting into each other. And I could go on about this one album for forever, but I’m trying to gain frequent readers, not creep them out with my obession for Sean Hayes’ album, but I will quickly mention that One Day The River, So Down, and Garden offer fun, playful, and deep songs on Run Wolves Run. 

Finally, as I figured out that I wanted to feature Sean Hayes as my next victim of sorts, I conveniently realized he released an album this Semptember that I can get just as passion at about as Run Wolves Run. The 2012 album, Before We Turn to Dust, is a combination of his two styles; it is not the simple, stereiotypical banjo-playing folk, nor is it the fanatical, almost rock, but mainly soul that his previous albums were. Before We Turn to Dust  has Hayes fusing his two genres together. Hayes somberly singing as well as passionately playing a tambourine, while singing about his wife and newborn in, Miss Her When I’m Gone. The album also features a sultry side of soul, that eventually picks up into a more rapid tone with Lucky Man. 

All of Hayes’ songs are a delight— minus the aggravating Subaru commercial featuring two dimwits getting together again at a high school reunion, all with the credit of their wondrous cars. Hayes’ videos are yet another work of art, though somewhat confusing, horrifyingly random at times, but always slightly humorous. With every album Sean Hayes makes, he creates an organic, raw sound that every artist attempts to achieve, but so little do with the finesse that Sean Hayes does.

And just for funzies:

http://youtu.be/3DVObB0n9kQ