Jamie MacDonald might be a new artist, but you’ve already heard her voice on numerous songs you love. MacDonald has contributed background vocals on albums from Anne Wilson, Zach Williams, Danny Gokey and others. Now, the singer-songwriter is stepping out front.
Growing up in Michigan, MacDonald endured a challenging childhood after her father left. As a deeply troubled teen, MacDonald turned to drugs and a lifestyle that led to destruction at every turn. It was only after she surrendered her life to Jesus that the gifted musician had the courage to discover her true voice. A season of prison ministry solidified her calling, and now, after more than a decade as an indie artist, who successfully wrote music for film and television, MacDonald is finally realizing her lifelong dream of becoming a major label recording artist. Yet, when she performs her debut radio offering, “Desperate,” the faces of the women she met behind bars are the ones that instantly come to mind. The soulful plea, meanwhile, has swiftly resonated with listeners from all walks of life. Ready to take her big voice and bold message to the masses, she’ll open for Seph Schlueter on his headlining “Counting My Blessings Tour” in April.
K-LOVE recently sat down with MacDonald to chat about “Desperate,” the advice she’d give her younger self and the retro glasses she always wears.
K-LOVE: When people hear “Desperate,” what do you want them to know?
Jamie: God met me in times when I didn’t think there was a way out, and I’m here on the other side; so I just like to remind people that there’s hope and they’re going to make it.
K-LOVE: You have this very soulful gospel vocal. Who are some of your musical influences?
Jamie: So, I would say, rewinding back, one of my favorite singers when I was younger was Lauryn Hill. Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. Big vocalists. I would kind of train singing along with them, but then when I gave my life to Christ in my 20s, first thing I found was like CeCe Winans and Natalie Grant. I like a lot of indie Christian music, too. I like Madison Ryann Ward—I’m a big fan of hers—and more throwback music, I love. Even now, if I’m picking the music for a hangout party, I’m picking Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, a lot of the old soul.
K-LOVE: Think back to when you were a teenager. Those were some rough years for you. Looking back, what would you tell 16-year-old Jamie now?
Jamie: I would just say, “God has a plan for your life, and you’re actually going to get where you’re going.” There were so many times when I was younger that I just never thought I’d get anywhere. I just kept hitting a wall and kept falling down. And it’s almost like you can’t imagine succeeding because you’ve failed so many times. So, I would just say, “There’s going to be an end to the dark days, and it’s all going to be worth it.”
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K-LOVE: Music requires a great deal of confidence and belief in yourself. Do you feel like you have that confidence now that you, maybe, didn’t feel you possessed when you were younger?
Jamie: I do, yeah. I feel, of course, stronger than ever just because of all that God’s brought me through. But I also feel a strength in knowing what my mission is and why God’s calling me to do this. I spent a lot of years really asking God why music matters and why it’s important to tell my story. And now, I know my why. My why is the souls that are on the other side of the music, people that need to hear my story, people that need a map if they’re going through something hard. That’s my why; and that’s stronger than any fear or any insecurity.
K-LOVE: How did prison ministry help you find your why?
Jamie: I spent a lot of years trying to find my sound and developing my style and finding that I didn’t always fit in certain Christian markets because of that. And it was kind of stifling me, just trying to stay true to this certain sound that I thought was “my sound.” But in the prison I realized these women are surviving on Christian music, and they need the words. They need the message. And it’s not so much about how it’s packaged. They just need the truth. And so for me, it just all kind of shifted where I was like, it’s not so much about being understood as an artist and having my style be perfectly portrayed. It’s about letting God use me, and that’s when I realized I wanted to reach as many people as I could with the truth. So it just kind of took all the pressure off, and it took all the complication out of it. I knew if I could get a song on the radio, I could reach all of these prisons at one time with the message of truth. And so that’s what kind of clicked for me. Singing with these women in prison was life-changing for me, and so I just want to maximize that impact and write songs for them.
K-LOVE: You’ve already earned the respect of a lot of songwriters in town that you’ve either written with or done background vocals for. How important do you view songwriting on the scale of what you do?
Jamie: The most important. Because without great songs, I’m just making noise. I mostly wrote by myself until moving back to Nashville. I have a lot of unfinished songs, so I would say co-writing is amazing for a girl who doesn’t always finish an idea. Also, just writing with the best people in the world has helped me grow so much as a writer. Now, when I go sit alone in my room to write, I feel like I have even more tools, simply from writing with incredible people. I’m always going to write from my truest self. I feel like people can always expect to get honest music from me—either from something I’m living or something I really believe in.
K-LOVE: Your aesthetic feels so cool and retro. Tell me a little bit about your personal style.
Jamie: I am a thrift shopper. I kind of always have unique clothes that most people don’t have. I like color, and I like one-of-a-kind things. I’m really into vintage throwback styles, ’70s style.
K-LOVE: If you have a free day at home in Nashville when you’re not on the road, is thrifting your go-to activity?
Jamie: Yeah, I would say it is, because there’s some kind of special peace that I get when I walk in a thrift store. It looks like chaos in there, but it’s something about the smell. It’s got this old antique smell, and it reminds me of my childhood. My dad used to be an antique dealer. After a career in boxing, he really got into antiques, and so he would take us to a lot of antique stores; and there’s just something about that smell that really calms me and gives me peace. I guess it reminds me of my dad. And then I’m really great at finding treasures in a thrift store. To me, it’s like a treasure hunt. You’ve got to look through a ton of ugly stuff to find the one cute thing.
K-LOVE: Do you mostly thrift clothing, or is your house also decorated with a lot of thrift store finds?
Jamie: Yeah, my bedroom is definitely like a ’70s green retro good time. My retro background [in one of my press photos] is actually the rug in my room now. And I kind of built everything around that. I have these matching leopard lamps. They have a gold base. They’re really nice and tall, and they’re from that antique Victorian era. And then the shades just happen to be leopard print, but they’re leopard on the inside only. So, when you turn the light on, then it glows leopard around the shade. It’s very subtle and very classy and very beautiful. So, I’m mixing that with the green funky goodness.
K-LOVE: Your glasses are definitely a signature retro style accessory. Where do you get them?
Jamie: I’m always going to be wearing crazy glasses. I’ve pretty much been wearing funky glasses for years just because I got bored with having to wear glasses every day. So, I just thought, well, if I’m going to have to wear glasses, I’m going to make it cute and fun. As soon as I found Zenni Optical—the website—I just kind of got hooked on buying glasses, because you can design them yourself. You pick out the frames. And then you pick whatever color tint you like; and I just got carried away, so I have over 30 pairs now.
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