Life and career
McKee played his first guitar, an Aria nylon string bought by his father, at age 13. Initially underwhelmed by his guitar lessons, McKee's electric guitar-playing cousin inspired him to continue learning, taking him out for his 16th birthday to see a guitarist named Preston Reed perform live at a clinic. McKee later bought an instructional videotape from Reed and began to learn more complex guitar techniques from it, also earning his GED that year in order to drop out of high school. He began to take influence from guitarists such as Michael Hedges, Billy McLaughlin, Pat Kirtley, and from Passion Session by Don Ross, as he self-studied the instrument.
[edit] Nocturne (2001)
In 2001, McKee independently released his first album, Nocturne. That same year, he placed third at the National Fingerstyle Guitar Competition in Winfield, Kansas.[2] In 2003, McKee toured in Taiwan with Jacques Stotzem, Isato Nakagawa, and Masaaki Kishibe, and earned first place in the Miscellaneous Acoustic Instrument contest of the Kansas State Fiddling and Picking Championships with a Ron Spillers harpguitar he purchased from Stephen James Bennett in 2002.[3],[4] The instrument can be heard in a number of his songs, such as "Into The Ocean" and "Gates of Gnomeria". Only 1,000 copies of Nocturne were ever printed and is now out of print.
[edit] Dreamcatcher (2004)
McKee released his second album, Dreamcatcher, in 2004. The album includes his cover of "Africa" , as well as "The Friend I Never Met", a song written in tribute to the late Michael Hedges. McKee used the title track to win the opportunity to perform with bassist Michael Manring, with whom he has since toured. Additionally, he placed second in the Fingerstyle Guitar Competition of the Canadian Guitar Festival that year.[5] The album was later re-released by McKee's label in response to the popularity he garnered on YouTube.
[edit] Art of Motion (2005)
McKee's third CD, Art of Motion, was released on Candyrat Records in November 2005 and earned considerable praise from established acoustic guitarists such as Don Ross, whom McKee is currently on the same label with and has noted as one of his favorite artists. Most of the songs that McKee is known for on YouTube appear on the album, which has a handful of tracks carried over from Dreamcatcher as well. During the early stages of McKee's success on YouTube in late 2006 and early 2007, Art of Motion was the only album of his carried by Candyrat Records, and saw the most mainstream exposure as a result.
[edit] Gates of Gnomeria (2007)
After his popularity due to his performances on YouTube and touring extensively throughout much of 2007, McKee returned to the studio to record his fourth CD, Gates of Gnomeria. The album contains six new songs, one of which had already been seen on YouTube ("Gates of Gnomeria"), as well as two cover songs. McKee spent the majority of 2008 on tour throughout the world, performing with other Candyrat artists and promoting both Gates of Gnomeria and his collaborative album with Don Ross, The Thing That Came From Somewhere. He released a split DVD that same year with labelmate Antoine Dufour, each artist contributing eight songs to the disc; two of McKee's from Gates of Gnomeria.
[edit] Untitled New Album (2010)
McKee announced in May 2009 that he was intending to finish touring in the second half of the year and concentrate on recording his upcoming album, which is due out early 2010. He stated in July 2009 that it will most likely be titled "Joyland", the title track of the album which originally went under the name "Music For A Vacant Amusement Park". Other confirmed tracks include an arrangement of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".
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