Sean McCollough gathers family and friends into his 'House'

KNOXVILLE — Singer-songwriter Sean McCollough leads a double life.

By night, McCollough performs with his group the Lonetones and often in the day he can be found performing for children.

"I've often thought that it's not much different singing for a group of kids than singing for a bunch of drunks in a bar," says McCollough, sitting at his South Knoxville home with his wife and fellow Lonetone Steph Gunnoe and their 8-year-old daughter, Willa.

McCollough's new album, "This Is Our House," feels as much like a gathering of friends and family as it does a children's album.

"I play a lot of instruments, so I knew I could do it myself, but that's not what music is all about!" says Sean. "It seemed a lot more fun to have other people's personalities on there."

He says musicians seemed excited to participate. The artist roster on the album includes McCollough's fellow musicians in the Lonetones Gunnoe, Maria Williams and Steve Corrigan, as well as local greats Kevin Abernathy (of the Kevin Abernathy Band), Chris Durman (of Smiley and the Lovedawg), Greg Horne, Phil Pollard, John Myers, Nancy Brennan Strange and Geol Greenlee.

In addition, the disc features McCollough's father Dale McCollough, stepmother Sarita Rodriguez, and the Pinklets, a group made up of McCollough and Gunnoe's daughter Willa and Kevin Abernathy's daughters Roxy (10), Lucy (8) and Eliza (6).

McCollough began adding kids' concerts to his roster in the mid-1990s, spurred on by friend Nancy Brennan Strange.

"In 1999 I recorded a concert at the Laurel Theater and put out a low-key album," says McCollough. "Ever since then I wanted to put out a (kids' music) studio album. I probably play for kids more than I do adults. That probably doesn't give me much hip factor!"

In fact, more of the bills get paid from kids' concert gigs than the Lonetones shows.

"I sort of wonder why I'm one of the only people doing it in town," says McCollough. "Of course, you have to play at 8 a.m. sometimes."

McCollough says that at one point he felt like he couldn't play a children's show without having coffee first - in a weird correlation between rockers who can't do a show without alcohol or other substances.

Gunnoe says it was fun to hear Sean recording with his father in McCollough's home studio.

"He grew up playing music with his parents in the summers and just hearing him with his dad and his stepmom was really precious," says Gunnoe.

"One of my favorite moments recording the album was when I was recording the title track with Kevin," says McCollough. "He had never heard the song and he was playing along with the part about animals and listening to the words. All of a sudden I realize he's playing sounds like an elephant."

McCollough says it was important to him to make an album that adults could appreciate as well. The song "Mama Said No," he says, is almost more for parents than kids.

"I just believe in playing real music for kids. We do the song 'Mole in the Ground' with the Lonetones. It's probably a song I've sung more in my life than any other. Of course in the Lonetones' version we sing 'That railroad man/he'll kill you if you if he can/and drink up your blood like wine.' That's not usually something we sing for kids."

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