Have you been in the studio? What’s new?

Shawn McDonald: We have a new record. Yea, it’s done. There’s not a release date on it yet. I think we’re really excited about it. I am. I think the hope is always to expand as an artist and grow as a writer and yet remain faithful to the sound that you originally created. It’s always a tricky thing to be creative, but I think we’ve done it. I think we’ve got a good one.

How does it compare to Roots?

McDonald: It’s different than Roots. It’s not really any of the records we’ve done so far. It’s probably the most upbeat record I’ve created. It’s way more upbeat than all three. If you take all the most upbeat stuff on all three records, it’s probably still more upbeat. So it’s a little different in that vibe.

I tried hard to write songs that aren’t just upbeat but are what I’m feeling at the moment. It’s kind of a journey record. There are a lot of different aspects. I think there’s going to be a moment on the record that might hit different people at different times. There are different low and high moments on the record. There are a lot of moments that are for hurt and broken people and then a lot of rejoiceful stuff as well.

I’m really excited. I feel like as a writer I’m growing a lot I guess. From a songwriting perspective, I think they’re some of the best songs I’ve written. But that might just be my own feeling toward it.

You’re into Ben Harper, right?

McDonald: Yea.

Is the record that direction? Did you break out a Telecaster or anything?

McDonald: Heh. No. It’s not that direction. It’s more in a John Mayer direction than it would be in a Ben Harper direction. Kinda like Continuum. My goal in what I studied coming into this record was focusing on songwriting, and I didn’t try to make a concept record. I just tried to write each song individually as a good song. So I worked really hard on the structure of songs—the bridges, choruses, and melodies. It’ not like a regurgitated melody or anything. It has a creative side to it, but it’s still my thing that I do: creative with strings and weird instruments. That’s all still there. I feel like it has a little mature twist. We’re excited.

During tough financial times, people are more likely to turn to things like drugs and alcohol. What advice would you give folks who are jobless or feel like they’re at the end of their rope?

McDonald: Man. There’s no quick answer to hurt and pain, you know? There’s not always a perfect answer either—not always an exact right answer. It’s always different for different people. For me, it’s learning to sit in the moment and, as hard as it seems, to trust that there’s purpose in life. There is a reason for the things that are around us. I have to remind myself that there’s purpose in the hard times. I’ve gone through a lot of rough moments—probably more than I’d like to admit. But I think when you get through them that you can look in hindsight and see what those things do for you.

I heard this story that was really cool. It was about a person who was really angry and bitter about the death and war and genocide in Africa. She got bitter at God to the point where she almost left God. And then out of the blue she got an opportunity to go to Africa and be a part of helping and whatnot. While she was there, she was at a museum that showed the genocide and the stuff that had been going on there. As she was going through it, her anger started to come back and she realized just how brutal it all was. It really hit her. She prayed something like, ‘I just don’t know how I can believe when you allow this kind of stuff to happen.’ And the response she got from God was, ‘I wanted to bring you here because I wanted to show you what it looks like when people choose not to follow me.’

And I think sometimes we tend to focus on the negative rather than realizing if we didn’t have the black and white contrast we’d never know that difference. We’d have no need for anything if everything was good. We’d never know what we were saved from. Going through hard times, you just have to trust that things will get better. They might get hard again, but try to be happy and joyful and find the best in the moments you have.

In your song "Wash Me Clean" you say, "Open up my weary eyes, Move me from my complacency, And bring my soul back to life" What does this lyric mean for you? What does it mean for this generation of twentysomething Christians?

McDonald: I think complacency is something I struggle with on a daily basis. It’s easy to become complacent in a very Christian culture. It’s easy to take for granted. I’m so immersed in Christianity and Christian culture that sometimes I just feel burnt out and I don’t even know why I’m here. So [the lyric] is like, ‘Wash me clean of myself.' Sometimes I can kinda get in the way and become blah.

Here is a curveball. If you had an hour with Tiger Woods, what would you talk about?

McDonald: Heh. I would make him teach me how to hit golf balls. Or maybe I’d be like, ‘Why did you do it?!’

I am kind of a wannabe golfer, but I don’t know what I’d talk about. He probably wouldn’t want to talk about golf. That’s how I am with music sometimes if I’m just hanging with somebody. I don’t always want to talk about music. Maybe we’d talk about lawn mowers or trees or something. It’s hard to know what you’d talk about not knowing the person. Some people like to go deep and some don’t.
 

Why do you sing, write, and tour? If you had a mission statement for your life, what would it be?

McDonald: I write music because I don’t know that I could not. I didn’t really start writing because I had a dream of being famous or going out on tour. None of those things were ever the focus. I started playing music solely because I like to sing to God and worship. When I became a believer, we’d have these worship nights at my college church. When I was new in the faith, I took everything extremely literally. I still do in parts, but I see that God speaks a lot in analogies as well. I think it’s in Matthew where [the bible] says, ‘You must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.’ Instead you should go into your rooms because what God sees in secret he rewards. So I think I took that literally in my worship lifestyle. Here I was worshipping at church and I was passionate. But was I only living like that when eyes were my direction? And that’s a little of why I started playing music—this passion and these songs would start coming out of it.

As far as touring, I feel like it’s just being faithful to the gift that God has given me. I don’t know that I feel like I have anything to offer or that I’m this incredible human being. I don’t really get it to be honest. I feel like there are so many more talented people out there. I just love God, I love music, and God’s given me an opportunity.

Who are you listening to these days? What album is on repeat on your iPod or iPad?

McDonald: I've been listening to a lot of the Battle Studies record by John Mayer. That one has been really intriguing to me lately. The songwriting more than the musical end. There are a few songs that just kill me and then there are a few songs I could kind of do without.

I listen to Coldplay a little bit. Their latest record I’ve been listening to quite a bit. I still go back to Ben Harper records. I have a disc changer in the car, and I think right now I have a couple of Ben Harper records, a Mutemath record, a Coldplay record, a John Mayer record. And that might be it there.

A couple of new bands I’ve been into lately are Athlete and the new Snow Patrol. I’ve kind been more into rock music lately. But my favorites, when it gets right down to it, are things like Ray LaMontagne.

Do you remember how many times you have been to Des Moines now? What's your impression of Iowa?

McDonald: I know I’ve been here once. Maybe twice outside of this time. It’s possible I’ve been here another time. I’ve been touring for close to ten years and playing music probably twelve. I just am at the point where I remember some times and some places, but it’s shady.

Tell me something that most people don’t know about you.

McDonald: Wow. Well, I’m pretty goofy. I think people kind of take me as this really quiet, contemplative guy. And I am that. I’m kind of shy until you get to know me. But I’m also goofy.

I don’t know. I love sushi. The rawer the better.

You can keep that. All of my sushi is now yours. You can take it.

McDonald: Sweet. That sounds good to me.

I can’t think of anything crazy. I peed my pants in fifth grade. A lot of people don’t know that. Yea, it was epic. I got called Crater Lake for a couple of years. At that age it was pretty humiliating. I had this evil teacher. I even remember what she looks like. She came in as a sub and then the other teacher never came back. It was like she didn’t like her job or her life or something. I don’t know. But she’d take it out on the students. I didn’t have a very strong bladder anyways, and I went up to her and asked her three times to go and she wouldn’t let me go. And it got to the point where I had nothing else to do. I think she got fired. My mom got so angry. She was so mad. That’s definitely something not too many people know. Unless you were in my fifth grade class.

Photo by Matt Crummy