Justin McCormick a New Local Country
Full Circle Moments for Justin McCormick
Justin McCormick is a Country music singer-song writer who is both on the move professionally and “on the go” personally. In 2019 before Covid hit, Justin McCormick Band went on the road. He opened for Dylan Scott’s band in Marion, Kansas, and traveled to Hillsborough, Missouri, to open for the Rodney Atkins Band. He went to Nashville twice a month where he worked with other song writers to create Country music.
Music for Justin began with his grandfather. “Surrounded by music from an early age it wasn’t long after he learned to talk that he began to have jam sessions with Grandpa who played the steel guitar.” justinmccormickmusic.com
His grandfather played with the band Flipside, often at the 308 Legion in Osceola. “I’d go down into the basement and start singing with him while he’d be rehearsing and getting ready to play.” Together they went through the whole Brad Paisley album. Little Justin would be wearing a cowboy hat and tiny boots like Grandpa’s. Grandpa has since retired. Says McCormick, “Grandpa sat in with my band here at Smith’s in Mishawaka. Then he said, ‘That is my last time playing.’ “McCormick’s song “Bentley, Paisley and Chesney” is a tribute to those singers whose songs his grandfather played. They recorded that song in Nashville and brought his grandfather to Nashville to play the steel guitar part.
“So now I have his playing and have him with me always.”
McCormick’s career has developed quickly, he says, because he has a good grasp of social media. He would post his music online and as a result, he got lots of contacts. In 2019 people in Nashville had seen his video and saw that he was growing his following. He received a call from Development PCG. They wanted him to come to Nashville. At the time he was a junior at St. Joseph High School. Everyone at the high school was supportive and he was able to go to Nashville twice a month to learn and write music.
His music progressed. He began touring. Success grows success, and he wanted to give all his time to music. Because he had to be gone so much touring and going to Nashville, he made the difficult decision to complete his senior year with IU online school. Then, he says, “I had a full circle moment.”
McCormick himself had had a whole year to come to terms with not having a commencement and graduation. But after Covid hit and everything shut down in March, high school seniors didn’t have much of a chance to come to terms with not having their graduation ceremonies. He got on Zoom with one of his co-writers Doug Kahan. Within two hours they’d written, “Can’t Take That.” They wrote it for the seniors at St. Joe and for seniors everywhere. Afterwards, McCormick contacted everyone he could, and students from all over the country sent photos. Even though he had chosen to finish high school online, St. Joseph High School let him come back and record that song on the football field. Many of the photos that seniors across the country sent him are part of the U-Tube performance of “Can’t Take That.” It is a very moving song about the enduring values of friends and love “that won’t fade.” He addresses Covid as “you” and sings that “you” can’t take away the important things.
In 2017 McCormick attended a concert given by the Rodney Atkins Band – a show in Warsaw. After the show he spoke to Atkins and said, “Some day I am going to open for you.” Two years later he found himself in Hillsborough, Missouri, with his band. They were opening for Rodney Atkins. He told Atkins, “Here I am, just like I told you.”
“Sometimes,” McCormick says, “You speak it into existence.”
Only the night before our interview, the TV show The Voice had chosen a winner. I asked if he was interested in such a project as appearing on The Voice. He has had a couple of meetings with producers of that show. However, he is not after “instant fame.” The problem with The Voice is that people are fans of the show, not of the singers. The singers are seldom heard of, after they are on the show, even the winners. He prefers a steady build of his fan base that fosters a lasting connection. This respectfulness of his fans is another aspect of treating others as being on the same level with him.
“The cool thing about country is the stories and the real people in the songs.” Stories and real people, too, are part of treating people as being on his level. In the Nashville system songs are co-written, the goal being that after four hours of work the singer records, with only guitar and voice, a basic version of what has been written. These songs are sometimes pitched to another singer by the writer(s). For instance, as soon as he heard “Running Back to You” McCormick knew he wanted to cut it. Additionally, co-writers Jimmy Yeary and Jesse Alexander wrote “Just Another Song” whose lyrics mean “this is NOT just another song.” And the song, “Not about A Girl” also has this twist. Toward the end, a deep voice clearly says, “It’s always about the girl.”
He is currently writing a song entitled “Make A Girl Cry.” He walked into St. Joseph High and saw “a girl being broken up with, by her boyfriend.” It gave him the idea for “Make a Girl Cry.” It means, “Don’t make a girl cry.”
He enjoys this kind of twist, from the title to the actual meaning. In addition to this song, he goes to Nashville each month to work with other writers, and he is recording his next album. He will be a co-writer on everything he records on this album. When he goes back on tour, he will have all new material to play. And no doubt, many more full circle moments.
