Sit Down with JT McCaffrey
On June 9th I had the pleasure to sit down with a small artist from the small town of Brookhaven, Mississippi. I went to his show a writer/ photographer and I came out with valuable words I’ll bring through life and a fan of his music.
Dive into the interview where we talk all things music, memories, road snacks, and behind the scenes.
Q: Where are you from?
A: “I am from Bouge Chitto Mississippi personally, but the whole band, we Ike to say we’re from Brookhaven Mississippi.”
Q: What genre of music do you gravitate most to?
A: “Probably an even blend of rock and country, so a lot of stuff coming out of east Texas. Like, I’m a huge whiskey Myers fan, Southall, and I know they’re not from east Texas- Southall isn’t at least- but that type of music, like country with a little bit of edge to it.”
Me: on that note, have you heard of Cadillac 3?
“Oh my goodness I love them so much! I’ve been a long time fan!”
Q: When did you start playing?
A: “I started seriously playing at 16 years old, but I started to seriously gig about 3 years ago. I got my first guitar when I was 14 years old and I fought it for two years and then finally decided to pick it up at 16 and made myself learn it.
Me: was it acoustic or electric?
“It was an acoustic- a cheap one but here I am now, it worked just fine”
Q: How did you meet your band mates?
A: “They’re all local guys in the town of Brookhaven, we all live about 30 minutes of each other. Getting into that scene, it just so happened that there was a guitar player, a drummer, and a bass player that wanted to do this, and I, a singer so it worked out pretty cool!”
Me: it was fate!
“Yeah definitely!”
Q: What is your favorite or least favorite tour memory?
A: “My favorite is probably going to be, when I was 17, I got to play the Texas club in Baton Rouge, a super big venue where all of the greats have played. They’ve got records all up the walls and just going through there and seeing my idols and all the people I grew up listening to- really gravitating to. I got to play on that stage. That’s probably my most favorite deal. I don’t know if I’m able to say my worst memory *laughs* there’s been a lot of crazy stuff happen. But I will say the worst memory I probably have is from playing at Martins in Jackson Mississippi. Everything that could’ve gone wrong for me, did. My guitar broke, I had to use my other guitar that was in a different tuning so I played a couple songs out of key, my acoustic guitar broke as well, it was just a nightmare! But we got through it!”
Me: I’m glad you got through it but I sorry that happened, that can definitely be a very stressful situation.
Q: What is your writing process?
A: “So the guy that plays guitar, his name is Tyler Frederick. He is the main song writer of the group that I’m with. He is extremely talented and I’ve learned a lot from him. I really REALLY love his approach to song writing. It will hit you down deep, it’s not a flamboyant type of writing, if that makes sense. It’s a reflective style of writing, its more personal. That really all feels home to me.”
Me: I love soul touching music, something that means something!
“Exactly! We’ve actually started writing together a lot and we’ve got an EP album coming soon!”
Q: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A: “Glenn Templeton (singer/ songwriter from Tuscaloosa, AL), we got the honor to open up for him at a super cool outdoor event. He was one of the best guys I’ve ever met, just so down to earth. He told me just always be a good person and a good human-being. That will get you further than anything else. A venue owner may not remember how nice or easy you were to work with, but they will remember if you were a pain in the butt. Being a good person will carry you further.”
Q: Favorite on the road snack?
A: “Definitely the cheddar Chex mix and slim Jim’s! Mild or original is my favorite.”
Q: What is something people don’t know about you?
A: “I’m the only person in my family that has taken up and plays music and has taken it up as a career.”
Q: Any pre-show rituals?
A: “This is going to sound weird but I have a really bad chewing habit… and I like to chew on plastic bottle caps.”
*we both laugh*
Me: that’s really bad for your teeth, but hey I’m not judging.”
“Yeaaah I know but it’s so weird, but it’s true, I like it and I don’t know why. It does help me before shows though, it somehow helps with my voice!”
Me: (jokingly) it’s the micro plastics!
*we both laugh*
Q: What are your top 3 favorite songs to listen to?
A: “Im a huge Merle Haggard fan, his storytelling and writing is a big reason why I started doing what I’m doing now- so I would definitely say Sing Me Back Home by Merle Haggard, Rose Gold by Southall Band is my number one and favorite song ever, and lastly is probably a Kings Of Leon song- I’m just going to say Wait For Me by Kings Of Leon because I’ve been wearing that song out for the last month now!”
Sing Me Back Home- Merle Haggard
Rose Gold- Southall
Wait For Me- KingsOf Leon
Q: What is one thing you hope people get from your music?
A: “That’s a really good question because a lot of people don’t think about it in that way- we got our first single out and it was such a big decision to make and it was very stressful thinking like “are people going to like this?” My hope for that single and any other music we release is that people feel and hear what they need to out of it. Because music is therapy and it is supposed to help you with whatever you’re dealing with at that time, if you can translate with it, that’s even better!”
Q: Who is your biggest inspiration?
A: “My biggest inspiration.. that’s so hard, there’s so many greats that I look up to, I gotta go with Merle Haggard. My music isn’t like his but that’s good because I don’t want to be a “Merle Haggard cover artist” so that’s fine! His music’s helped me out a whole lot.”
Q: What is your favorite song that you’ve written?
A: “Probably “County Lines” it is a song that Tyler and I wrote together, it’s definitely my favorite song that I have been able to put a lot of myself in. I can translate with it so well.”
Q: Anything new your fans and supporters should be on the lookout for?
A: “Today is the 9th of June, and this upcoming Monday and Tuesday we’re going to record our next single. It will be our second single- we will then release “County Lines” as our third single- then a 6 to 7 song EP hopefully by the end of the year! We’re super excited about it. It’s such a fun process to record as an original artist and to put your own brand on it and then send it out to everyone.”
You can find JT McCaffrey here:
Listen to his latest single here:
