Meg McRee knew at a young age that pursuing a career in music was her dream and that dream came true as she is now known for her genre-blending music, soulful voice and skillful song writing abilities.
We had the privilege of meeting up with McRee just outside of Billy Bob’s Texas, right before her performance in July. During our conversation, we delved into her songwriting process and explored her remarkable music career.
TCC: Can you start by telling me how you got to your journey in music and with that instrument?
MM: So when I was five years old, my mom had a “The Chicks” CD in her car and the song “There’s Your Trouble” came on and I was in my booster seat and I was like, “I wanna do what that is” and I pointed out where the fiddle came in the song and my mom was like okay…that’s weird. Because no one in our family ever played or did anything like that so they got me lessons for my birthday and then I just never quit. When it comes to songwriting, I did that after I graduated college, kinda put in the work and paid the dues of waiting tables, nannying, writing songs, and kind of going nowhere for a little bit.
TCC: Tell me a little bit more about your songwriting start.
MM: So I used to be an intern when I was in college, I went to Vanderbilt in Nashville, so I interned on music row and I interned for this publishing company, so publishing companies they have a roster of songwriters and they pitch songs and set you up with artists and do all that and I was like “This is a job?” like you can write songs…I just had no idea, so one time one of the writers was writing a ton with Kacey Musgraves for golden hour so I got to like hear those demos for the first time and like see all of that come to life and the life of a song just fascinated me and I was like I did this on my own but I’m afraid to show anyone and it kinda gave me the courage to take the next step.
TCC: Start to finish for you, how does that process begin and how does a song take shape?
MM: A song starts with an idea, like maybe you read something somewhere or you hear somebody say something or you just start thinking about life, I could come up with it while I’m driving down the road, and then you like write it down on your phone. So it’s kinda like the “egg” or the source is the idea and then you’re like if you’re co-writing with someone you’d throw them the idea and say look this Is how I kind of view it and you’d lay it out…and then sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just sit down and write it in 20 minutes. But then the song gets written and then it could be not touched for years before someone like picks it up or before you feel its right to record it, so a song like has it’s own kinda life that it’s not tied to one single artist. I’m opening for Marcus King tonight and actually how I met him originally was I was playing a writer’s round and he heard a song that he really liked and then you know we were talking about it and he was like “dude I love that song so much” so we connected over a song and now we’re touring so it takes on a lot of different forms.
TCC: So you get there, you’re in college, and you kinda started doing something on your own. You mentioned you worked for a publisher, what is something that surprised you and might surprise a lot of people about when you first start writing songs for other artists like that?
MM: Yeah a lot of people are like “Do you sell your songs? Like how does that work?” and you just write them and put them out in the ether and anyone can snatch them up. So if anyone wants to record your song, I mean they ask or whatever but it’s not necessarily like someone’s buying and selling songs. They record it for free and then just see how well it does and then if it doesn’t work out maybe someone else will record it or…I’ve just learned to never give up on a song.
TCC: Is it hard to write for other people?
MM: I enjoy it a lot actually so I love writing my own music but kinda getting to step into somebody else…I call it being a “chameleon” I’m like I get to be a chameleon today like what’s going on in your life, whoever I’m writing with you know I’ll write of course with a lot of female artists and we’ll talk about…we unpack it and I’m like well maybe I hear an idea in there somewhere or.. you just get to the deep stuff really quick when you’re writing with another artist.
TCC: So your first album came out in March, writing songs for a while before that, what makes you want to take the leap and I’m doing this on my own for the first time?
MM:Well my manager, she kinda was like so when are we doing a project and was like well…I’m kinda writing songs and I was singing with my boyfriend, Ben’s band, for a while and we still do that when we can, when it works out but she was like no its time for you to make your own thing and I thought about it and I was like well I do have some songs that I don’t feel good about anyone else recording but me so I guess I will and I’ll find out and then I started touring and I just fell in love with touring and playing shows.”
TCC: When you are up on stage like that, what does it feel like when you’re playing a show?
MM: Its like being on a roller coaster…the adrenaline rush of it all, you kinda get off stage and you’re like blacked out during it and you’re like “What just happened?” It kinda takes over you if you let it, I think for me, when I started enjoying performing, was when I let the music take over and decided to not be worried about what people think of me or what they think of the song or you know how I look or any of that, I just think I fell in love with communicating.
TCC: How do you go into what’s going to be the anatomy of a set? What songs are you picking? Why are you picking them? Does location play a part? Does time of day play a part? All of those things…
MM: Everything really its just who you’re opening for…you know I was opening for Lainey Wilson for a good part of this year and you know when I’m picking my songs it definitely changes versus when I’m opening for like a Marcus King or those guys that are a little more rock oriented I might play the songs a little differently or kinda go more if I have a cover it’ll be a blue cover so something I feel like the fans will like and appreciate. So when you’re learning you know if I’m playing in a city that it makes sense to play a certain song I try to slip that in there too but..
TCC: So back to your album, are you making music then with the idea of how this is going to resonate with people, obviously you’re making it for yourself and writing it but do you have in the back of your mind like this is how I want people to feel, how I want them to connect with this
MM: Yeah, and I think sometimes what I think they’re going to feel, or how I think they’re going to connect is totally different, and that’s cool too. You might think this song is really gonna work and it’s gonna be great and then nobody might be digging it. Or you just throw one in there that you’re not sure about and it becomes like, the best one of your set. So it all kinda depends on the crowd and like you said, the place, whether it’s inside or outside, or the time of day. Like tomorrow we’re playing at a festival in Arkansas and we’re playing at 1 PM so that changes what I’m gonna play too and it’s gonna be hot so we gotta figure how we’re not gonna get heat stroke out in Arkansas tomorrow…that influences the set.
TCC: Do you think it makes you a better musician, a better songwriter, that paying attention to how people are reacting and being able to kind of let the peoples’ reaction not be your own reaction or what you think it’s going to be to a song?
MM: Yeah I think I can’t let the influence of others influence how I write too much, but I think it does play a part in finding the healthy balance between feedback is important but also that when you make art, you have to kinda do it in a way that works for you and feels authentic so it comes across if you’re trying to pander to people and I think that’s what songwriting has taught me. How can you be authentic and also relatable but not too specific because you don’t want to write a song that only will ever apply to you, because that does nobody any good. But keeping in mind that probably every feeling you’ve ever had is probably something that someone else has felt at some point.
Parts of this interview have been condensed for clarity. You can follow Meg McRee on social media here and listen to their music here.