So has McLaughlin really become the piano man he envisioned as a child? You bet. Listen to the first track on his album, Indiana, and you’ll hear just where his musical roots are: vibrant piano mixed with a little southern flare (Connick), lyrics filled with emotion and poignant insight (Joel), a poppy undercurrent (John) and just a hint of grit (Folds).
He describes the album as a compromise, though, but for the better.
“Me being a huge Ben Folds fan, I wanted the album to be this dirty, terrible, like crappy-sounding piano. I wanted to go real dirty, real rootsy and I think [my producer] Jamie Houston had more of an idea that that wouldn’t fit these songs best. So we compromised sonically and stylistically, and it came out a lot better, I think.”
Over the last year or so, McLaughlin has been sharing his music nonstop on the road, sharing the stage with such varied artists as Sister Hazel, O.A.R., Live, Susan Tedeschi and Marc Broussard.
But he’s still found time to expand his repertoire to the screen as well. “Beautiful Disaster” was featured in the Jane Fonda/Lindsay Lohan film Georgia Rule; “Another Layer” was included on the Bridge to Terabithia soundtrack; “Human” was played in an episode of Scrubs; and McLaughlin makes his on-screen debut this fall in Disney’s animated-and-live comedy Enchanted.
So what’s next? Whatever it is, McLaughlin is likely to stick with what he knows best: his heart.“I just want to keep writing songs about my life and my beliefs and just be honest,” he said. “I want to keep writing songs about how I feel. I want to do that and stay true to that. And hopefully people will relate to how I’m feeling and learn things about themselves from what they hear—and hopefully, some good, positive experiences will come out of that.”
Article comments
1 - A.L. Harper
Great Interview Jon!