Sean Patrick McGraw, an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer, is a former ''

Nashville Star ''Nashville Star'' is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the l ...

'' semi-finalist who leads a prominent unsigned touring act. Following the 2005 release of his CD ''Songs for Saturday Night'', McGraw and his band went on tour and continue to be on the road. In 2007, McGraw played over 140 dates, from

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

to Mobile to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, garnering good reviews from critics and concert-goers alike. Describing his music as "something like

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to dat ...

singing Springsteen songs while wearing

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerable s ...

's hat", McGraw has earned respect among songwriters as well. His song "Fiona" won top honors at the 2007 Independent Music Awards, first place at the American Songwriting Competition and at the Mountain Stages New Song Festival, as well as being named finalist in the

International Songwriting Competition The International Songwriting Competition (ISC), founded in 2002, is an annual songwriting contest for both amateur and professional songwriters. There is no physical event to attend as the competition is held online, and anyone in the world can en ...

and the Mid-Atlantic Song Competition. An esteemed Music Row critic/columnist hailed "Fiona" as "The classiest country rocker I've heard all year." This cut and others from ''Songs For Saturday Night'' are featured in the short-length documentary''Ten Days on Tour'' which aired on CMT in 2006. McGraw is also sponsored by Fender Guitars, Jagermiester,

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

, The Summit Group, Harley Davidson Footwear and Gowanda. A song he co-wrote, "Dollar Ain't Worth a Dime", with David Kroll, appeared in regular rotation on CMT in 2009.Smith, William (May 25, 2009). "Former resident's song lands on CMT", McClatchy-Tribune Business News. Originally printed in '' The Hawk Eye''. During the summer of 2009, he made his national television debut on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and opened several dates for Toby Keith and Trace Adkins on America's Toughest Tour, garnering great reviews as well as expanding his dedicated fan base. Following the tour with

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. Keith released his chart-topping debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", in 1993. During the 1990s ...

and

Trace Adkins Tracy Darrell Adkins (born January 13, 1962) known professionally as Trace Adkins, is an American country music singer and actor. Adkins made his debut in 1996 with the album ''Dreamin' Out Loud'', released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since t ...

, Sean Patrick McGraw headlined his own show at the

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurant, theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll ...

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on January 27, 2010. Critics claimed that the show "Bubbled over with the Zietgeisty brand of country-rock that Sean Patrick McGraw has become known for." February 2010 brought many new accomplishments for McGraw. He was published in '' Country Weekly'', a prominent country music magazine, as a selection for their "Who to Watch in 2010" feature. Later that month, Sean joined

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released seven studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billb ...

and Josh Thompson for the 2010

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Tour. He opened six dates in cities such as Clifton Park, New York,

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

. His stay on the tour spanned from February 12 to the 25th.
On April 18, 2010, McGraw sang the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

at the

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(National Hot Rod Association) Summit Finals race in Las Vegas.
In June 2010, McGraw took part in Nashville's annual CMA Music Festival and joined several popular country acts like Cowboy Troy, The McClymonts, and

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

among others to perform on the

stage. CMA Music Festival is a yearly concert series that features performances and autograph events from both up-and-coming acts and veteran, established country artists. Also in June 2010, two of Sean Patrick McGraw's singles were featured in episodes of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

vampire series "

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" – "Drink with Hank" on June 13 and "Anyone but Me" on June 20. On July 26, McGraw delivered another national anthem performance as well as acoustic set on the home plate of US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The club plays its home games at Rate Fie ...

. The crowd numbered around 30,000 for the event, with Sean singing prior to the first pitch of the game, in which the

played the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. McGraw, a native of

Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk ...

, often appears at events in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

*
Post-journal.comCountrymusictattletale.comCountrymusictattletale.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGraw, Sean Patrick American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Living people Nashville Star contestants Year of birth missing (living people) Independent Music Awards winners People from Dunkirk, New York Country musicians from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from New York (state)