Séan McCann is tired of polarization and division. To do his part to combat it, he’s launching the Great Big Canadian Road Trip!
“The goal is to get out there and bring people together,” McCann says, from his guitar-filled home in Ottawa.
“I’m on a mission of Canadian unity. I know we have our differences but we have our sames too.”
‘I’m not a politician or a soldier or a negotiator. I’m a singer. This is how I kick back at the darkness, to quote another great Canadian singer-songwriter.”
The former member of Great Big Sea is known for that famed band’s rip-roaring, Newfoundland-inspired music. Since leaving the group in 2013, McCann has gained renown as a mental health and recovery advocate and a solo singer-songwriter.
His plan is to drive himself across Canada, playing churches and small community halls along the way.
“In a small venue you can be physically close but it’s more about the emotional connection because there’s no distraction. I’m not bringing a light show. I’m not bringing pyro. I’m bringing a little PA that I’m going to load in every night and then put back in my Subaru,” he laughs. “It’s exactly how I started and I’m pressing restart.”
A few years have passed since he first toured Canada.
“The first time I did this I was 21 and my back was a little more bendy,” he says, recalling his Great Big Sea days. “We were leaving Newfoundland for the first time and we did it back and forth, back and forth, three times in a row.”
“Our minds were just blown. People were so friendly, so supportive of us. We didn’t have any money, we were in Alan [Doyle’s] really crappy van… it was just bad but we couldn’t have been happier. Maybe part of me is romanticizing that time, or it’s nostalgia, but I want to feel that again.”
He says he’ll enjoy having some quiet miles on the road. “I have two kids, two dogs and two cats. I’m looking forward to the time alone.”
McCann also shared the road trip snack mix that will help him cover the nearly 10,000 km he has planned: “A little bit of good chocolate, we’re talking Belgian chocolate, mixed with really good, really big, salted peanuts. And a bucket of coffee. That’s fuel!”
McCann will be in Medicine Hat on May 31, Calgary on June 1, Jasper on June 13 (a fundraiser for the Jasper Food Bank) and Edmonton on June 14. Find tickets and details here.
“Stronger” by Séan McCann:
