INTERVIEW
The combination of the soulful vocals and guitar work of Jimmy McGee, with the songwriting and musicianship of producer Big Change, creates powerful, top tier music for the world to hear.
Jimmy McGee has just released his newest track called “Bottom Line,” along with a music video showing scenes of Jimmy at local bars and then in the artistically historic area Mount Vernon, Ohio.
“The song is about life, man,” said Big Change, who not only wrote the song, but also plays all the instruments aside from McGee’s lead guitar on the track. “Everybody doesn’t have it so easy, and even people who do have it easy, they have hard times. Whether it be parents not being there or whatever it is, everybody’s got issues in life. This song is a ballad about life. That’s what it is. It’s simply that. It’s about my life, your life, Jimmy’s life. It’s about everybody’s life.”
Big Change said that the “bottom line” pertains to how you are going to persevere and get through those tough times. He loves the sound of the track because it is not overproduced, and allows listeners to hear the words and the instruments while not being distracted.
“We kept it kind of simple production-wise, because it’s also a ballad,” Big Change said. “But when you listen, it’s got everything in there. You’ve got strings. We’ve got bass, drums, nice breaks. There’s a lot of sounds in there and you just got to listen, but it’s going to be hard to because you’re going to be listening to his words.”
McGee added, “One of those things that I’ve always dug about working with Charles (Big Change) in the studio is the way he captures my voice.”
McGee’s voice has a majestic sound, akin to greats like Marvin Gaye or Barry White, and he sings about the struggles of life and working your way up to success.
The music video starts with a shot of a local bar, with McGee sitting down getting a drink poured for him. Instruments and a chair are set up for him to play at in a corner of the bar, and there are shots of the tough neighborhood outside with a mattress in the streets and a dilapidated house.
It pans to him sitting in the chair with his guitar, and he starts belting out the soulful, meaningful lyrics that will hit just about anyone.
“I had a hard time getting here
Listen, What you want to hear
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.”
The video then shows McGee sitting on a stoop singing, while flashing to boarded up homes, alleys and someone getting mugged. The visual imagery of the tough life overlaps his vocals, where McGee sings:
“I know I got to stay on my toes,
Even if we’re friend or foe
Do-si-do, around we go
Even though they’re hating on me
Love is out there waiting for me
Show me mo’
Get that dough”
He then sings, “On my grind, getting ready, in position, and I’m taking what’s mine… bottom line.”
Throughout the rest of the video, people are shown in prison and struggling, but this moves on to people working their way to the top at a high end bar smiling and sharing laughs. Ending the video in the Mount Vernon area, and all that it has to offer, was “really symbolic.”
“It showed how life is a lot better than how it started at the beginning,” Big Change said. “That’s what the song is really trying to get through. Just don’t stop. Keep going. Through all the trials and tribulations of life, you’ll end up okay.”
McGee started playing guitar at 11 and was in a band writing material at the age of 14, but he knew when he was just a toddler that he wanted to be a musician. He grew up in the church and was surrounded by music. Every Sunday there was some kind of instrument being played. He came from a talented musical family in Ohio, where he still resides.
“We’re all descendants of the Sam Cookes, the Bobby Womacks, and the Jonny Taylors,” McGee said. “We’re the torch carriers. Charles (Big Change) is my partner. He’s a driving force in my life to keep this going forward. As an artist you have to have a team, someone who believes in you.”
Big Change said it is a great relationship, and they have the knack for putting out high quality, timeless music. He explained that he ran into McGee one day at one of his gigs and they kept in touch to work on music. He asked him to do some guitar licks on some songs of other artists he had been working with, and it dawned on Big Change that McGee had never put out a solo album of his own. It was a no brainer to start putting one together, and the two have been working on this project for the past two years now.
“It took off,” Big Change said. “We started doing song after song. We’ve got probably 20 songs and we’re just slowly letting them out. We don’t want to give them up all at once because everything’s got its own style or own time to shine.”
Big Change said he tries to write about something that everyone can relate to, and McGee agreed, saying he focuses on things he sees in everyday life. They said it makes for a better, more universal song that can be felt by more people. McGee said Big Change always calls him “the backwards walker,” which Big Change agreed with saying McGee is on a “planet all by himself.” But the duo puts together magic when it comes to lyrics, vocals and musical production.
Jimmy McGee and Big Change will be releasing songs single by single, and it will eventually become an album titled Macknificent.
“It has songs about pain, about love, about fun, party songs,” Big Change said. “The album is a full array of everything that life is about.”
Check out the new single “Bottom Line” available on all platforms.
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