We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie McKeogh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’m a full time musician in an Irish band called JigJam. We have recently recorded our fifth album which is called ‘Across The Pond’. We will be going on tour in the US for the full month of March playing mainly on the East coast and the Midwest. Our album represents the Irish people in the states over the years and today through original songs and traditional tunes. There is a huge Irish cohort in the US and we portray the Irish people’s journey over to the states through our music. It’s an album we’re very proud to share with the world and we’re very excited about it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Jamie McKeogh and I’m a full time musician. I’m the lead singer and guitar player in the Irish Bluegrass band JigJam. I began playing music at a young age alongside my sister in a small town in Ireland called Tullamore. I formed JigJam in 2012 while I was studying in college as a physical therapist. I worked for a few years as a physical therapist with the band as a hobby until I decided to go full time playing music in 2016. JigJam is a quartet that mixes Irish music and bluegrass music. We tour all over the world but our main market is in the US. From performing arts centers to clubs and festival our music has been described as ‘foot stomping’ and ‘energetic’. We have recently recorded an album titled ‘Across The Pond’ which we are very proud of. The album’s theme is the Irish people emigrating ‘across the pond’ years ago and today and the music tells their story through original songs and traditional instrumentals. We recorded the record in St. Louis, Missouri which is our US Homebase while we tour. The album contains some upbeat tempo songs along with some slower ballads. We go on tour in March throughout the states and we’re very excited to play our new album live and share with our listeners.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for us being artists is seeing people respond to our original songs. To be able to have a positive effect on people with music that we have created is a very special feeling and seeing certain songs resonate with people in different ways. Our music is always written to bring people together and enjoy themselves as they listen. We try to create a positive atmosphere at our live shows by playing upbeat energetic songs alongside telling humorous, lighthearted stories between numbers so seeing people respond to this is a very rewarding feeling.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The first year we started touring properly back in 2016 we were very much living on the edge financially, barely able to stay on the road. We were all so eager to play music and tour for a living at the time that we booked all sorts of shows to make ends meet. We had a Midwestern tour in the summer of 2016 and we were offered a show in Las Vegas. We had never been to Vegas before so nature being what it was as four young Irish fellas, we headed to Nevada! After our stint in Vegas we were very naive to the geography of the states as our next show was in Indianapolis and we were a little strapped on cash. Unable to afford a flight or a rental car we ended up taking a greyhound bus cross country which took three full days! We survived the journey however after some interesting events along the way so I guess that showed some resilience on our behalf!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jigjam.ie
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jigjamlive/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jigjamlive
• Twitter: https://x.com/jigjamlive
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHVoWcaRfD0UaXCWjZ-_bHw

Image Credits
Greg Belter