Meet Jack Mckeon | Singer-Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jack Mckeon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jack, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
As a working musician, I am constantly balancing the work of growing a small, independent business, while maintaining commitments at other jobs. With the high costs of touring, recording, and promoting music, it is necessary for me to work part time and freelance jobs in between shows and tours. In the past, these jobs have felt like a punishment, or a reminder of how far I still have to go in my music career. Recently, however, I have come to appreciate this balancing act, as its caused me to think harder about what I want. Specifically, I had to realize that when it comes to financial success, I am mostly looking to be able to create as much art as possible – primarily writing and singing songs – and that success for me is being financially secure enough to maximize the time I have to create. In a certain sense, the question of a work life “balance” is off base for my situation, because so much of my life, livelihood, and identity, is wrapped up in my creative pursuits. I chiefly want to earn more money to be able to put more money into recording and releasing music, and I want to be able to comfortably pay my bills, however possible, to have the presence of mind to create.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I moved to Nashville at 22 years old with no real goal than to write songs that I thought were good. I didn’t know much about the music industry (I realized later I knew absolutely nothing) but I thought that if I studied the craft and got around others who did the same the rest would follow. In many ways, that’s proven true, even if its a slow ride that I’m still very much in the middle of. I always have been, for better or for worse, mediocre at recognizing and capitalizing on trends, and I think that served me in my early development as a writer here. The sheer and unavoidable fact that I wasn’t very good at writing commercially “on trend” songs made me learn to exam my songs from the inside, not scan them with a bird’s eye view looking to see how they meshed with a larger moment. I believe a song needs that level of scrutiny to flourish, and the edges get rounded over when you try to skip this step.

I also have tried to move towards things that excite me, and I’m lucky to live in a city with so many different scenes flourishing. In the same week, I can go to a world class bluegrass jam and sit and listen to some of the best writers on Music Row. I naturally fell into a sort of “go between” place, and I love writing and playing with bluegrass musicians while also keeping a foot over in the commercial world of Music Row. It is something that distinguishes me as a writer, though it’s mainly just a lot of fun. Both cups are very full these days.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living in a booming tourist city has a host of advantages and disadvantages. You don’t have to look far to find a complete itinerary of what to do in Nashville, but for the most part I’d say you should base your plan on doing the polar opposite of that plan. Living on the west side of town, I have a lot of beautiful outdoor spaces to go and hike, like Percy Warner Park, and we aren’t far from the Harpeth River either. Going further out of town, Kingston Springs and the surrounding area has a ton of kayaking, canoeing, and hiking that you can’t miss.

I always take visiting friends to Bobby’s Idle Hour, one of the oldest bars in Nashville and truly the only bar on Music Row. Only serving beer, Bobby’s is a Nashville institution, and a landmark for songwriters. Stop in any night and there’s no telling who you’ll see.

For bluegrass music, a Monday night at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is a must do. Any night at Dee’s is a blast, but if you’re looking to see a who’s who of today’s roots music players, stop in to Dee’s. It’s easy to romanticize scenes of the past – The Gaslight or Cafe Wha? of 1960s New York, or the Troubadour in the 70s – but I believe our little Golden Age in Nashville is centered around Dee’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people to thank and to learn from, probably as many that I haven’t met as those I’ve lived with and spent time around. I wouldn’t be doing what I do without the community of songwriters I found myself immersed in when I arrived in Nashville four years ago. People like Chris Canterbury, Vinnie Paolizzi, Collin Nash, Harper O’Neal, Ben Chapman, Gabe Lee (I could list probably one hundred more) were both inspiring and encouraging in showing me how someone can forge a path in Nashville. If I could pass any information on to someone reading this who might be curious about Nashville, I’d say go for it, and jump in headfirst. Become a part of the community and know that there are so many like minded people here excited to create and collaborate for the sake of itself. It is always going to be a hugely intimidating thing to jump into a new scene, but I was so lucky for the folks I met early on who showed me the importance of friendship and mutual encouragement, rather than networking and accruing favors, as the path forward in Nashville.

Website: https://www.jackmckeonmusic.com

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/jackmckeonmusic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackmckeonmusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHtEW7nRqB9SHO-WCfeLOMg

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/17ZEpFdf955itneqYEwJp8?si=Ejj5pvrVQECh_Ks0_eC9yA