As a rhythm and blues guitarist and soulful crooner, Jimmy McGee says music is just his passion and it never stops.
“I just keep going,” he says. “And I’ve been doing this a few years. I love it and it’s taken me to a lot of places that, had it not been for the passion, I would have never gone. Money might not be as plentiful but I have a lot of experiences and adventures that music has taken me on.”
Born and raised in the heart of Ohio, McGee grew up in a household filled with music, and in a Black church where the gospel tunes and swaying congregation helped spark his love affair with music. His own father earned a college scholarship to play the tuba, and McGee was exposed to a variety of music at home; everything from soul and funk artist Frankie Beverly, to composer and conductor John Philip Sousa and gospel singer and musician James Cleveland.
“As a child coming up in the church, we always had a drummer, an organist and a pianist but my favorite Sundays were when somebody was visiting and they brought a guitar,” he says. “Just the chime of the guitar was like wow for me. And so I asked my mother for a guitar.”
From the age of 11 on, the guitar became his faithful companion. He learned his first chords from a friend’s father, who also played the instrument and played Fats Domino and Lloyd Price for the kids.
“I’d visit them after supper and he’d pour himself a cocktail and we’d be there playing in the bedroom with our little plastic army men and I said hold on when I’d hear him run his fingers down the piano keys,” McGee says. “He showed me my first music forms and my first guitar chords and then I applied those to the church music I was hearing every Sunday.”
Another friend, who was a jazz aficionado and now is a professor of jazz studies at Ohio State University, showed McGee scales and how to properly pick the guitar.
“I had great mentors is what I’m saying,” he says. “I was just a sponge all through life. I’m still learning.”
From the church stage to the smoky bars in his hometown, and through the highs and lows of the music industry, McGee carved out a space for himself––and his voice, which became something of a beacon of hope for others. He played for gospel quartets, and then with local and regional R&B bands, and then he played guitar for Don Carlos and the reggae group Black Uhuru and has worked with other reggae legends including The Wailers and Ziggy Marley. One of his teenage friends, Joseph McCreary (better known as Foley), even went on to play piccolo bass with Miles Davis
“There was never a reason for me to doubt that I have a place in music,” McGee says.
Now McGee is reminding everyone of his talents as a singer and musician with the release of his new single, “Bottom Line.” His producer and songwriting partner Charles Brown crafted the song originally, and then the two headed into the studio to capture McGee’s take.
“It’s a life ballad, that’s what we agreed,” he says. “It’s a ballad about life and so it was easy to internalize the lyrics and bring forth the emotion. When you’re doing something that isn’t everyone’s gift or everyone’s passion, whatever it is you’re doing, you’re going to meet opposition and it’s just about perseverance and resilience but the song represents different things we go through in life. I thought that was my cat; I thought that was my girl; I thought… You’re catching pushback from those you thought had your back and your best interests in mind.”The song has already garnered more than 30,000 plays, and McGee promises “we have more and more” to release in the near future.
Working real hard and it seems like my time to shine
I had some long, long days, changing up my ways
I’m ready, I’m ready.
Feeling like I hit the lottery, things are what they’re supposed to be
Things are in line like they’re written for me, by design
A custom made life, things are alright
“You want to hear some real solid Midwest R&B and soul? Stay tuned,” he says.
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