Sean Stemaly Applies Homegrown Grit To Musical Journey

“You can’t just come here and be an overnight sensation,” says Stemaly. “It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of discipline..."

Sean Stemaly Applies Homegrown Grit To Musical Journey
Sean Stemaly; Photo credit: Nick Swift

Sean Stemaly is no stranger to hard work. Growing up the corn-covered fields of Southern Indiana, Stemaly learned the value of hard work by working for the family business: an excavating company owned by his father and grandfather. By the age of 12, Stemaly was contributing to the business as a heavy equipment operator for his dad.

For the first part of his life, Stemaly grew up listening to 80s rock, as that was the music choice of both of his parents. As a young teenager though, he was surfing the radio waves and came across the music of Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, George Strait, and the country of the early 2000s. It wasn’t until the singer/songwriter was about 20 years old that he discovered his talent for singing — while hard at work.

“I had no idea I could do anything like that,” says Stemaly. “I was just singing along to country songs in a tractor — singing along to Brooks and Dunn songs, Alan Jackson songs, and all that, and I thought to myself, ‘This does not sound terrible.’ It was weeks and weeks and weeks of just singing, and singing along to the radio and doing my thing, and I just felt antsy and I posted vine video, and it did pretty well. I was like, ‘Okay, well, maybe I can do this for fun.’”

However, that newfound hobby soon turned into something much more. Stemaly joined the singing group at his church, and later started going down to Nashville to write songs with a friend. That’s when an idea popped in his head.

“I immediately thought, ‘I need to just try this. I love it. It’s probably not going to be as much money as I make right now, but I’m just going to try it,’” Stemaly says. “So, eight months of driving back and forth every weekend to Nashville, and I moved here.”

Once Stemaly got to Music City, he took the same hardworking spirit he learned in the family business, and applied it to pursuing a career as a country artist in a town full of incredibly talented potential superstars. Stemaly was able to work his way up the ranks by building a network of musicians and performing at shows, and landed his record deal at Big Loud Records after only two years in town.

“You can’t just come here and be an overnight sensation,” says Stemaly. “It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of discipline — if you want to make it quick, at least. Everybody always says this is a ten-year town, and I refused to believe that. I worked my way up to the point I am now — two years. It’s all about how hard you want to work in Nashville.”

Now, Stemaly has been hitting the road with artists such as HARDY, Morgan Wallen, LANCO and more. He released two songs, “Back On A Backroad” and “Last Night All Day,” in August and October, respectively, and is currently in the studio recording more new music with producer Joey Moi.