At just 18 years old, Timmy McKeever is making quite the name for himself virtually. At the time of this interview he had racked up 6.4 million streams, 1 million of which were just in February. His social media has skyrocketed in the short time since he moved to Nashville. Timmy recalls going from around 8000 on TikTok and 13,000 on Instagram to 80K plus on both platforms. “I’m really grateful for everything that’s done for me in my career. Streaming has been awesome. I think one stat that really means a lot to me is that I’m streaming more per day right now then I was doing a year ago every month”. Crazy.

Growing up in Huntingon, California McKeever started his musical journey at age nine after hearing his third grade teacher play worship songs after class. That intrigued young Timmy so much that he picked up a beginner guitar they had lying around the house and started playing around. From there it blossomed into writing music and playing shows. “My whole childhood I would play 2-3 shows during the weekend and go to school during the week. Write music after class. I just fell in love with it” he shares.

McKeever got offered a development deal with Jim Cantino over at Droptine Records. After about a year Jim told Timmy he thought he was ready and encouraged him to move out to Nashville. “I didn’t really have anything tying me down in LA so I said let’s do it. I switched to online school and moved out here. It’s been great.” He graduates in May, and is excited to be able to pursue music full time after that.

McKeever just released debut album “Devils and Angels” last month, and it’s been getting good feedback. “Devils in Angels is an album that follows all the aspects of love from the beginning to the end and the aftermath. All the highs and lows and in betweens. It’s very personal to me because the title track was the first song I ever wrote where I thought this is something really special to me.” He adds that he saved the son for the past two years because he wanted it as the title track of his debut project.

Delving further into the album he tells us “I think all the songs follow that format of contradiction and love and heartbreak.It also has some special tracks such as “Lightning Speed” which follows the life of a musician, all that comes along with that. It’s a really special album to me and I’m happy the fans connect to it.”

The focus track is “I’ve known Better” because it had the most traction on social media. Now they’re pushing “Lightning Speed”, which has received radio spins. “‘Lightning Speed” is my favorite song off the album so it means alot that the fans are digging it and connecting with it” Timmy says, adding that it’s a lot heavier production wise.

He’s already opened up for some cool people such as Cody Johnson, Dylan Scott, Ashley Cooke, Lee Greenwood, Chris Jason, Drew Baldridge, and Adam Doleac. “Growing up in the music scene I try to go as many live concerts as I can. I sit and I take it all in. Analyze what they do and the crowd reaction.” He adds that Cody Johnson is at the top of that list. “Just to see him have the fans in the palm of his hands and keep that energy going the entire night. I think that is very special, something very few people have. I try to bring that into my own live shows.”

As for music influences Eric Church is #1. Eric hosted a panel with Jelly Roll at CRS the same day of this interview and he was really excited to be able to attend. “I’m really interested to hear from both those guys.” He also went to Tucker Whetmores panel “Cycle of a Song” and thoroughly enjoyed it. “It was awesome hearing how his career exploded, him and his team. It was great to have some insider knowledge about all that.”

The music video for “I’ve Known Better” just dropped this week. There will be one for “Lightning Speed” coming soon, as well as new music. He will be joining Tyler Farr on the road for a few dates, as well as hitting the road himself later on. Top choices for an artist to open for is Koe Wetzel and Hardy. “Those are two guys that have beeen on my playlist for awhile and their live shows are great.”

McKeever dreams big. “My goal is to be the biggest artist I possibly can be. I want to be a global name. The thing about me is I’m never going to be content with where I am in my career. I’m always looking for the next thing.” He believes that playing sports helped give him that motivation to keep striving. I joke that basically he wants to be a rockstar like his song and he says yeah, laughing. We believe this star is shining bright and we wish him all the best!