Award-winning songwriter. College music professor. Road warrior. One of the most active front men in modern-day roots music, Jason Lee McKinney has spent the past decade in an absolute whirl of activity, earning an international following along the way. A rock & roll intellectual who holds a Doctorate, an MBA, and a BA in Management, McKinney’s sharp songwriting has earned his group a Top 10 radio hit in Texas (2016’s “Lisha’s Leaving”), an ever-growing number of national and international tours, and multiple industry awards- including a Josie Music Award for Male R&B Vocalist of the Year in 2019 and an Independent Country Music Association award for Artist of the Year in 2014.
We had Jason pick 3 of songs and give us his perspective.
No One Is To Blame
The original of this song is truly one of my all-time favourite pop songs. It is the first song I ever learned how to play on piano. To take this song and walk around it, shaping it into an arrangement like something D’Angelo would do was a lot of fun. I think this song is the most far off from the original.
Whipping Post
Unlike the rest of the album Whipping Post was never a proper hit but is perhaps more well-known than any of the others. It was, for this reason, why I had the most trepidations about changing it. I decided to go for it because you really can’t do that song like the Allman Brothers and come close to doing it as well as them. What I did try to do was keep the spirit of the song; the hurt, and sadness mixed with anger are still there just with a funky shell covering it.
Lovesong
Of any artist we covered for this album the Cure is by far the farthest from us. JLMB and the Cure don’t share hardly any common threads. But I have always admired the way Robert Smith juxtaposes his lyrics and the mood of the music. He does this thing where if the lyrics are happy the music is minor and sad and if the lyrics are sad the music is major and happy (save for Just Like Heaven and Friday I’m in Love). This song is in my opinion the best example of this. I wanted to see what it would be like if Maxwell’s band covered this and had Kimbra sing the lead. I think it turned out well.
