As the host of Radio Free Current, which airs from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday nights on 89.3 The Current, Saint Paul resident Sean McPherson loves the fact that he not only gets to introduce his listeners “to a lot of cool stuff,” but also stretches his own musical boundaries.
“I learn so much. It’s given me a ton of faith in music appreciation,” McPherson says. Of his role each week, he says that “for some people, there is music they ask me to play to make super-special moments happier. Others are just looking for great music on a Saturday night.”
When asked about his go-to holiday music choices, he doesn’t hesitate. “There’s a jazz organ player named Jimmy Smith who has an album called Christmas Cookin’—my brother introduced it to the family,” says McPherson. “When I hear that, I know it’s Christmas.” Another family favorite is a song that McPherson says isn’t strictly Christmas, but definitely sets the tone: “I’ve Got a Mind to Give Up Living and Go Shopping Instead” by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
McPherson says the Current staff compiles a playlist for the continual stream of holiday music they feature on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. “I would say that Christmas has almost every holiday beat when it comes to music,” he says. And in McPherson’s opinion, “River,” the classic by Joni Mitchell, gets an even better treatment from Corinne Bailey Rae.
“It’s a melter,” he says.
&
More on McPherson
Coming in 2017: The 20th anniversary of Heiruspecs for which McPherson is the bass player. Watch for a new four-song digital EP from the band around the holidays. Learn more at heiruspecs.com. Find out more.
