Iowa native bringing music to Cedar Rapids

Jake McVey has opened for some of the biggest country stars on the country’s biggest stages, but coming home to Iowa always is special for this southeast Iowa native.

“It's super fun,” he said, coming to his “old stomping grounds.” And he’s built up an Iowa backing over the years. “It’s great,” the singer/songwriter, now 42, said by phone from his home near Columbia, Mo.

His folks still live on the farm near Dodgeville, where the Mediapolis High School graduate grew up driving tractors and baling hay. So the farm scenes in his popular video for “Never Give Up” ring true.

Never-give-up days can be big or small, he said, not limited to the years he was building his career.

“There’s always those times. It doesn’t matter where you’re at in your career — there’s always those moments that you’ve gotta dig down deep and keep pushing through. We’re still fighting the good fight, enjoying music and loving entertaining. There’s (never give up) moments throughout the whole year from time to time,” he said with a laugh.

He’s in a good place. About a year ago, McVey left Nashville, and is enjoying life with his wife and two children in Missouri. Known as a “road dog” for performing more than 200 gigs a year, he’s also making more time to be home to celebrate family birthdays and events.

The pandemic also gave him time to shut down and consider his options. He focused on writing and recording, and expects to release a new single in the early spring. He’ll be showcasing a musical mix, including new material, Saturday night at North Point in Cedar Rapids, then Feb. 2 and 3 at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel near Tama.

Career path

McVey grew up in a musical household, jamming with his family band, which became a springboard for his career.

“My dad played drums, my mother played piano, and music was every Sunday. We would break out the records and listen to everything,” he said. “It was very, very musical, with lots and lots of instruments.

“It was around 8 or 9 when I first started playing guitar. Before that, I was playing on a bass because nobody else wanted to play bass in the family band.”

He knows more than just his way around a guitar. He also knows how to build them. When he graduated from high school in 1999, his parents encouraged him to follow his interest in making guitars, by searching out luthier schools to study the craft. He found one in Phoenix. He also was in bands playing locally, then regionally.

“That fall I just said, I’m going to buy a bus, hire a band and hit the road. In time, you need to do that, and play five, six nights a week and tour all over,” he said, adding that he’s still busy with the other sides of the business, including social media. “Most everyone’s doing their Thursday, Friday, Saturday runs.”

His music education took a big leap when he landed in Nashville around 2008 or 2009. Those were learning years, putting him in recording studios and hitting the road with Blake Shelton, Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Lady A, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley.

Those experiences taught him “more than anything, just being true to who you are, what you do, and try to just focus on that,” he said. “There’s so many influences along the way that you pick up.”

He was on the road with Justin Moore for 10 dates last year, and even though McVey likes to play the small halls and bars, he loved being alone on an arena stage with his guitar, performing his music for thousands.

“Larger places are super fun,” he said. “Just go out there — just you and your guitar, your years of experience and just get them in the palm of your hand. It’s a blast. Of course, the bar scene is always fun to do,” noting that he likes both equally.

Rubbing elbows with established stars taught him “just everything,” he said, “from the inside of the whole aspect of the business, from writing, recording, collaboration. listening and watching, learning — and being in the inner circle of knowing how things were rolling and which way they were moving. You learned a lot about the industry and actually how that works.

“When you first start out, you’re playing local bars and whatnot. You’re playing every cover tune you can think of — the Top 40 stuff. Then eventually you move more towards creating new songs that are about you and your life or things that you’ve experienced or that represent you. Next, you started having a collection of songs, and now you’re building a career.”

The journey from playing covers to creating your own music is “just working hard to push that envelope as an artist,” he said. And he credits his Iowa upbringing for giving him the necessary work ethic to “keep on grinding through.”

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