Read This Interview with Jamie MacDonald
Justin:
We are loving your new song Desperate that is all over Joy FM right now. And I have heard that you have spent years quote “behind the scenes,” honing the craft. It’s almost like an origin story. Like we’re watching a Marvel movie or something.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah, let’s go.
Justin:
But writing background vocals, supporting other artists. I don’t even think people realize how much of you they’ve actually heard, but they just didn’t know it was you.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. Actually, that’s true.
Justin:
So we tabulated it up. We looked it up. So just on Joy FM songs, background vocals on My Jesus by Ann Wilson, When You Speak by Jeremy Camp, I Got You by Danny Gokey, on other songs from Zach Williams, Chris McClarney, Pat Barrett. You’ve written songs with Joy FM artists, too.
Kim:
Yeah. Austin French, Matt Maher and David Leonard.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yes.
Justin:
Come on.
Kim:
Amazing. Why do you think now is the right time for you and your voice and what you bring?
Jamie MacDonald:
I feel like for a lot of years it was important for me to kind of heal from a lot of my past and really kind of have God work on the inside before I was ready to shine on the outside. Yeah.
Justin:
There’s a line in a Johnny Swim song. It says, “Sometimes flowers grow on the soil of ashes.” And it’s a line that stuck with me for a long time. Because I think we’ve all been through those seasons where it was completely burned down. It is nothing but ash. But somewhere along the way a flower starts to bloom. Do you feel like that’s happening now or has been happening for the past few years? We’re just starting to see it?
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. So like you guys said earlier, I’ve been doing a lot of backgrounds. And really just, it was the perfect amount of using my gift where I was getting to see what it was like behind the scenes. Singing with Ann Wilson at the K-Loves. Different things like that where it’s just like, okay, this looks really fun and it doesn’t have to be scary. And just even meeting people and realizing I don’t have to have all the answers or be perfect to be a Christian artist. I could show up just as I am and write songs from the place that I’m at that people are going to need. But what really ignited my love for singing again, was, I started doing prison ministry. And then I got invited to sing in a women’s prison, and that just kind lit me up. I sang with this huge choir. I started writing songs with them every week and just really built a very solid relationship with these women, life sentence girls in Georgia Prison.
Kim:
So I was at home with the flu last week, and I kind of was scrolling through Instagram, took a deep dive through God behind Bars.
Jamie MacDonald:
Um-hmm.
Kim:
Oh, my gosh. The ministry that happens and hearing people who may not realize that they really are a child of God, saying about being a child of God. It’s just… It’s incredible.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah, it’s been life changing. And the way that they respond to Christian music and Christian radio, even. Just to see how these women are… That’s how they stay sane, singing the words that all these Christian artists are writing. And so the way that it impacted them, I just thought, “Okay, if I could get a song on the radio, I could reach all the prisons at one time.”
Kim:
Oh, my gosh.
Jamie MacDonald:
And it was just kind of that nudge I needed. Like, “I’m going for this.” And it was just the vision that kind of all clicked. And I thought, “All right, I’m going to go sign a record deal.”
Kim:
Holy cow. That’s incredible.
Justin:
It can’t be anything but God for a group of women who are serving life sentences to give you such life. And this breath of fresh air into what is now the launch of the first radio single and new album to come. I mean, look at God. Seriously.
Kim:
And I love that. Clearly your heart is about reaching people. And so the music is the tool, but it just shows your heart, and that’s really exciting. It’s cool.
Jamie MacDonald:
So I feel like I’m kind of doing this for them in a way. And I’ve been back to visit and just playing the songs. And it’s like they’re such a big part of this that yeah, I’m trying to do a big video with them in it. And they’re really talented musicians.
Kim:
Speaking of songwriting, I was chatting with David Leonard, and he told me that you guys, I knew you co-wrote Good Lord. But he said that song was actually for you, which we heard from him on Joy FM.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah.
Kim:
But talk about that a little bit.
Jamie MacDonald:
Okay. So I was living in Nashville right before the pandemic hit, and I started talking with record labels. And so I was writing, being set up on Writes Weekly with all of the best writers and best producers that are writing all these songs that we’re listening to on Christian radio. So one after another, I just was getting put in the room and looking for the sound that was me and looking for something that works. And it wasn’t necessarily a partnership yet with any labels. It was just like, “Let’s explore and see what we get.”
Kim:
Yeah.
Jamie MacDonald:
And I think it was right around the time that the pandemic… I think it was a few months before the pandemic. And so I was kind of not sure what I wanted as an artist, and I had a lot of unresolved issues with my family. And so I kind of just decided to walk away from all of it.
I had collected quite a few songs, and at the time it was being said that I sounded a little too much like Lauren Daigle. And so that was another thing. They’re like, “Ah, we got to kind of maybe change your style a little bit.” And I’m just like, “Man, it’s taken me my whole life to find my voice. I don’t want to change my sound.” And so I think so much has changed, even just with radio, and in five years. I think it’s just the timing. I don’t think it’s so much about how I ended up walking away from those opportunities. But just like God wanted me to have that season with my dad, and so everything was on pause for me. So yeah, a lot of my songs got recycled and one went to Lauren Daigle.
Kim:
Really?
Justin:
How about that?
Kim:
Well, as soon as David said that was your song, I could absolutely hear you singing it. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, that would’ve been great.” But I mean, of course we love him singing it too.
Justin:
Hearing Desperate along with that story, I mean, it feels like you lived the lyrics of this song for sure.
Kim:
That’s not just, “Let’s sit in a room and write.” You feel that song.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah.
Kim:
We feel that song.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. First off, everything I went through and what it took to get through it, dependence on God. I am never going to run out of stuff to say about that. And then just also the wholeness that God is bringing to me through it all and the healing that I’m still walking out. I’ve just got so much to sing about. And some of it’s really heavy, but it seems like people are really connecting. And I think the further along I’m getting in sharing with people and sharing my testimony, I feel like I’m healing alongside of other people. And it’s been so beautiful.
Justin:
I think everyone can relate to being in a desperate place and realizing that the situation that you’re currently in can only be fixed, solved, by God. We’ve all been there. So I think that’s why this song connects at such a deep level. Not only have you lived it, but maybe it’s a different story, but we’ve all lived some part of that desperation.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah.
Justin:
Yeah.
Kim:
I saw that your song… And just already talking to you, you probably are like… But it’s already a milestone being the most added song to radio ever. I mean, that’s amazing.
Jamie MacDonald:
It’s amazing. I don’t really have a grid for it. I’m like, is that not what normally happens?
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
No, it’s not. We’ve been doing this a long time. It’s not.
Jamie MacDonald:
I’m kind of coming out of nowhere with no idea how all of this works. And so I’m like, I think that’s a good thing. And I’m a slow processor too, so it’s like…
Kim:
Me, too.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. And I just, I’m thinking about it. And I think when I’m alone with the Lord, I can really process and feel just like, “What’s happening, God? This is so beautiful.” But when I’m with other people, it’s kind of just like a deer in headlights. “Yeah, I don’t know.” So yeah, it’s been fun. And everything’s happening fast, too. Which is, maybe I’ll get better at processing faster.
Justin:
Isn’t it like that, too? Most of the time it’s like, “Wait, wait, wait, wait… Now, hurry up and go.”
Jamie MacDonald:
Yes.
Justin:
It’s like, the past couple of years for you, I’m sure it felt like that a little bit.
Jamie MacDonald:
That’s how it feels. Hurry up and wait.
Justin:
Yeah. Hurry up and wait. Right?
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. A lot of waiting. But it’s just cool to see when God has something for you, it is just a matter of timing.
Kim:
Yeah.
Jamie MacDonald:
And like, he’s not going to let you miss it.
Kim:
Yeah. Something that we hear a lot from people and just, especially since the pandemic, is it’s been hard for people to get back into church or go to church. And the power of community is really life-changing. What does your community look like? I mean, you travel, I’m sure singing and it’s getting ready, on the road.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. I just moved back to Nashville in March of last year. And so my community has been these writing rooms. And getting in with producers, writers. And honestly, they’re the most beautiful times. It always feels almost like a counseling session, because we go right in and we’re just like, “Okay, what’s on your heart? What’s going on in your life?” And we have some of the most deep, beautiful conversations in these songwriting sessions. And sometimes I just sit back, I’m like, “I just met you today, and now I just feel like I’ve known you my whole life and you know a lot about me.” That normally takes a lot longer to find because it’s the deeper stuff, but it kind of fast tracks relationships. And so I feel very close with the writing community.
Kim:
Awesome.
Jamie MacDonald:
All over Nashville. And then my prison girls, I always say, “That’s my church.” I’m still looking for my home church in Nashville. And so for now I just say the Georgia Prison is my church.
Kim:
Yeah.
Jamie MacDonald:
And I get back to them whenever I can to have Sunday Church.
Kim:
It takes time to find a church. Both of us are transplants here. And it is, it’s hard to find your people.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah. And you can’t find it on one visit. I’m always popping in and I’m like, “It just doesn’t feel like home.” And I’m like, because I’ve been here one day. But I have to remember that and be like, okay, it takes a long time because it’s about the people. And if you don’t get to know the people, it’s never going to feel like home.
Justin:
Yeah. We have a mutual friend who said this about you. “She has a lot of people believing in her behind the scenes.” What does it mean to have the respect of people in Christian music and to just know that they’re rooting for you?
Jamie MacDonald:
It’s been overwhelming and so amazing. I think for years I was always on the outside looking in, and I just didn’t know it was going to be like that. I kind of was so intimidated by a lot of the people that were succeeding at the thing that I wanted to do. And I kind of never felt like a part of it, so I just thought, “Oh, they all know what they’re doing and I don’t.” And so, to be really loved on and just brought into the arms of people that have been doing this for years. And they just treat me like one of them. And it’s really changed my view of myself, even. And I’ve grown so much as a writer just by being in the rooms with the best writers.
Justin:
Yeah.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yeah.
Justin:
Jamie, thank you for your time.
Jamie MacDonald:
Yes.
Justin:
Thank you for your time. This has been a real treat, a real honor. I mean, since we first, Kim and I first heard this song, we’re like, “We have to get her on the show.”
Kim:
We’re so excited.
Justin:
I’m glad it finally happened.
Kim:
Thanks.
Jamie MacDonald:
Me, too.
Justin:
Thanks for being here.
Jamie MacDonald:
Thank you. I appreciate-
