Page 8 - Robeson Living Fall 2021

Jonathan additionally acts as the band’s manager, booking nal release, “Grandpa’s Song,” was written by Andrew Lock-
agent and promoter. They performed 216 shows in 2019, Jona- lear. Jonathan also memorializes his brother in a garden the two
than said, with the majority at the beach but also numerous started together just before Andrew’s death, a vegetable and
private events as far away as Moore and Cumberland Coun- fruit tree oasis full of life and memories.
ties — restaurants, bars, weddings, birthday parties, corpo-
rate celebrations and everything from “high-end event with Jonathan and Mark continue to write original music and perform
white table cloths to backyard barbecues.” They also perform cover songs written by other country and classic rock artists
for many town festivals and outdoor concert series, such as such as Luke Combs, Brooks & Dunn, The Eagles, The Doobie
the North Myrtle Beach Barefoot Landing concert series and Brothers, Johnny Cash and a mix of others. Their most recent
the fall Irish/Italian Festival. Similarly, they played as part of single is “Man, I Miss it,” a release for which they are currently
Aberdeen Downtown Live, Laurinburg Downtown Live and shooting. The group does not have an album released yet, but
other town events. that is in the works. All single selections are available on all
streaming networks such as iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, etc.
“I have played over 850 shows since becoming a professional
musician and since moving to North Myrtle Beach to pursue Accolades for Jonathan Locklear both individually and collec-
it,“ Jonathan noted. tively with Mark McKinney & Co. include the Carolina Coun-
try Music Awards 2018 Vocal Group of the Year; 2018 Guitarist
The pandemic brought many cancellations and another very of the Year; 2019 Entertainer of the Year and 2019 Vocal Group
unexpected tragedy, the death of Jonathan’s only brother An- of the Year; and 2020 Songwriters of the Year for the single
drew on May 9, 2020. “Anyway She Wants it.” Another proud accomplishment relates
to a recent single for which he composed the music; “Livin’ the
Mark McKinney & Co. now performs as a duo artist instead Salt Life,” that went #1 for seven straight weeks on 94.9 FM in
of the trio it once was, but Andrew’s mark on the band endures North Myrtle Beach in 2019 and a performance at the Smithso-
forever in myriad ways. For example, the group’s first origi- nian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington,
D.C. for which Mark McKinney and I were selected in 2016.

For 2021, Jonathon was nominated for the Josie Music Awards
Musician of the Year and the band for Duo of the Year and En-
tertainer of the Year. The duo traveled to Pigeon, Forge, Ten-
nessee, in mid-September to the Country Tonite Theatre for the
awards ceremony and were thrilled with the result: Mark McK-
inney & Co. won Duo of the Year.

An additional accomplishment is Jonathan’s being picked this
year to perform for the American Music Abroad program as
one of six North Carolina natives. Usually, the selection would
mean world travel and multicultural performances, but with the
pandemic still with us, the program has moved to a virtual plat-
form. The American Music Abroad Program is sponsored by
the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S.
Government and administered by the Association of American
Voices. Stay up-to-date on each tour by following on Facebook
and Instagram and by using the hashtag #ExchangeOurWorld.
Jonathan will be accompanying R&B, Soul-Pop artist The Band
Charly featuring vocalist Charly Lowry.

In his side work, Jonathan has recorded on at least 10-12 group
albums from gospel, country, and reggae artists, including Pem-
broke and Robeson County. This list includes The McNeil’s,
Rachel Martin — now in Nashville — Solid Ground Band,
Brian Daggett, Tyler Hayes and an instrumental selection of old
gospel hymns he and Andrew worked on together.

With such a schedule, you would not think a man could make
Jonathan Locklear (left) and Mark McKinney (right) free time for anything else, but yet this one miraculously does.
hold the Josie Awards 2021 Duo of the Year trophy they
Page 7 Page 8 won in September. Robeson Living ~ Fall 2021