Seán Griffin shares heartfelt new holiday single ‘I’m in Love for Christmas’
17 November 2025
Newsdesk
Veteran rocker and songwriter Seán Griffin returns this winter with ‘I’m in Love for Christmas’, a warm, fiddle-laced reflection on love, hope, and holiday magic. Released on the 7th of November, the track offers a tender glimpse into Griffin’s world, and serves as a fitting prelude to his forthcoming solo album, arriving March 2026.
Written two decades ago, the song captures the moment that would change Griffin’s life forever. “I wrote this song in December of 2005, just after meeting my wife. I was scheduled to play live on WFUV’s Irish show that morning and ended up writing ‘I’m in Love for Christmas’ about an hour before going on air. We’d only met that October, so it was our first Christmas together, full of hope, chaos, and magic. We were married the following April, and now, two decades and six kids later, the song feels even more special. It’s a little love letter to that first Christmas, and to every one we’ve shared since.”
“The Christmas song isn't the first in the collection of songs. We have released ‘People Are Mad’ from the album. I also took some inspiration from The John Lennon Christmas song ‘Merry Christmas War Is Over.’”
‘I’m in Love for Christmas’ feels instantly classic, a song that captures the glow, chaos, and heart of the season in one breath. Sleigh bells shimmer over acoustic guitars, a fiddle weaves through the melody, and a gentle rhythm section anchors the warmth. There’s a hint of country twang, a trace of Irish trad, and that unmistakable Griffin storytelling spirit at the centre of it all. Think The Pogues with a wink of Americana, rooted in tradition but entirely his own.
The single is Griffin’s first release from a rich collection of songs recorded at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, New York, with Grammy Award–winning producer Kenny Siegel (Langhorne Slim, The New Pornographers, Low Cut Connie) and engineer Matthew Cullen (Sean Lennon, My Morning Jacket, Black Lips). The forthcoming album, mixed by Paul Kolderie and mastered by Greg Calbi, finds Griffin revisiting the melodic roots of his punk-infused past while embracing a mature, reflective sound shaped by life, love, and family.
Best known as the frontman for beloved Irish punk outfit The Ruffians, Griffin spent 25 years fronting the hard-touring band that shared stages with Shane MacGowan’s Popes, Black 47, Enter the Haggis, Gaelic Storm, and others. Born into a large family in Danbury, Connecticut, Griffin was steeped in Irish traditional music via his barbershop quartet-singer father and his accordionist/step-dancer mother. A fixture of the Northeast rock scene, he’s long balanced his Celtic influences with punk energy and melodic songcraft. As Black 47’s Larry Kirwan puts it: “Back in the ’90s, Sean and the Ruffians were a glory to behold — a souped-up Celtic Oasis teetering on the edge,”
With ‘I’m in Love for Christmas’, Seán Griffin invites listeners into that story, one that began with a song, a spark, and a December morning that never really ended.
