J. P. McKelvey

J.P. McKelvey lives in an historic town chock full of authors in the Piedmont of North Carolina between the coast and the mountains. It could be said the author's writing career started right at the bottom as a Detroit Free Press paperboy. The early morning route on a bicycle included 90 daily papers and 130 heavy Sunday papers.

After college at Eastern Michigan University a cub reporter job was obtained working for the Ypsilanti Press. Every couple of weeks a concert review was assigned that had to be no more the 250 words which is roughly one page double spaced. Reviews included the Neil Young and Crazy Horse "Rust Never Sleeps" tour, Bob Welch, the Marshall Tucker Band, Dave Mason, Bonnie Raitt and Sippie Wallace, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Those tear sheets from my first published work were sent to the international weekly Variety in New York City, NY. That resulted in being hired as a stringer for Michigan by that international publication. The author hardly ever missed a monthly paycheck from 1979 to 1992. Many concert tours started in Michigan which were covered for Variety. This was a time when the review or news item had to be driven to the airport to be flown and picked up at the airport there in New York City to meet the Tuesday deadline. The type for Variety was set by hand one letter, number or space at a time.

Concert reviews were done for Variety but then interviews after those concerts were published as features in the Detroit Free Press in Detroit, Michigan, the FACE in London, England, the Detroit Metro Times in Detroit, Michigan and U Magazine in New York City, N.Y.

Highlights of this time period with Variety include when B. B. King sent a official telegram invitation via Western Union to the author to attend a prison concert in Jackson, Michigan, on February 20, 1981. It turned out to be King’s thirtieth prison show, and each time he invited the press to the event. The day of the Jackson State Prison show, the entourage of reporters went deeply into the prison right along with the King band that also included speakers F. Lee Bailey and Congressman John Conyers. Before each door opened, everyone was searched, but upon going through, there would be another door. This process went on for seven or eight doors with a search done at each. Each time the door behind us would slam shut loudly and only then would the next one open.

The only front-page newspaper byline the author wrote was for the Detroit Free Press, thanks to Neil Young. After talking backstage it was all arranged to talk to Willie Nelson and another research project was started on the formation of Farm Aid. That meeting turned out to be a three-hour interview on Willie Nelson’s bus while sitting at the table behind the driver. It became the basis of three features in the Detroit Free Press the weekend of the first Farm Aid in 1985. One was on the front page of the paper below the fold on Thursday September 19, 1985, another was on the front page of the entertainment section above the fold, and third was a Q&A style in the middle of the entertainment section on Friday, September 20, 1985.

The biggest writing project before this book was when the author turned his full attention to researching and writing on the life of Aretha Franklin. Two benefit concerts in Ann Arbor and Lansing, MIchigan impressed the author so an assignment was obtained from an editor. After speaking with all of her living immediate family members and dozens of her influential musical friends at length, the author was granted an interview with Aretha Franklin for fifteen minutes. That turned out to be a three-hour interview on her entire life. The resulting feature was published all over the world in The Face which is based in London, England.

Moving to North Carolina a shift was made from writing to photography. From 1992 to 2022 over 160 concerts were attended and photographed. This resulted in three CD covers and the cover of a download by Ollabelle and Friends at Duke University. Darrell Scott’s “Live In NC,” John Cowan’s “8745 Feet,” and the Piedmont Melody Makers featuring Alice Gerrard’s “Wonderful World Outside” had covers photographed by the author.

Over 4,500 images from those 160 concerts are stored in the “James McKelvey Collection” at the Wilson Library at the Southern Folklife Collection that is part of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. 150 images can be viewed online with the rest seen in person.

Be sure to check out the equinox sunrise video taken of the Big Pinnacle at Pilot Mountain State Park from the Little Pinnacle on March 20, 2023. The music is a tribute to the prehistoric burials on the mountain with a solo guitar version of "Auld Lang Syne" that is just over two minutes long in real time. The video is located just below the "Product Details" section of the book, "Faces of Pilot Mountain: Intriguing Journey into the Deep Mysteries."

The book homepage with videos and links about Pilot Mountain State Park and the author is at:

https://www.facesofpilotmountain.com/