This Album Changed My Life: Lewis McKee on ‘Parking Lots’ by Mia Dyson

Lewis McKee is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and showman hailing from Central Queensland, Australia. Born in the Central Highlands and raised in the Beef Capital of Australia (Rockhampton), his style lends from a diverse background and broad range of musical influences across rock n’ roll, blues, country and pop.

After a decade of playing in pubs and clubs, Lewis released his long-awaited debut single Into My Soul earlier this year. 

Recorded at Pacific International Music in Hervey Bay, and produced and engineered by Robert Mackay (who also played bass and electric guitar and harmony vocals), Into My Soul features guest musicians from both Australia and Nashville including Dave Francis (acoustic guitar), Tex Austin (drums) and Sarah Koehler (harmony vocals).

Lewis says, "I wrote this song after what started as a night out with mates in Brisbane. I met a lady that, honestly, if there was a Vegas style marriage celebrant around, I reckon we probably would have ended up hitched that night. I never saw her again, didn’t get a number and to this day (embarrassingly) I can’t remember her last name, so could never track her down. Anyway, I’m grateful for the fun-filled night and for the lyrics that emerged thereafter."

To get to know Lewis better, we asked him to tell us about an album that has changed his life.

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Lewis McKee on ‘Parking Lots’ by Mia Dyson: 

"I’m sure most musicians will agree that answering a question about what has been the most influential album in your life thus far is a pretty bloody difficult one.

While I can say that there have been countless tracks across a broad spectrum of genres that have impacted my taste in music, from the greats to the not-so-well-knowns, there is one complete album in particular that I will always happily go back to and fall into a real sense of nostalgia and reverence whenever I do.

Mia Dyson’s Parking Lots, released in 2005, was undoubtedly one of the coolest things I had heard up to that point and I still revere it as an absolutely phenomenal album.

For what sounds to me at first like effortless and incredibly smooth blues tracks, you can tell that there is a whole lot of creativity, incredible musicianship and some sincere artistic prowess that went into Mia’s work.

I remember loading up an mp3 player to go on a trip to Victoria (driving from Central Queensland) and playing this album on repeat for nearly the entire journey. As a true fan, I also had the album on CD, so you can bet it also got a run on the car speakers so that I could belt it out with Mia for the enjoyment of everyone else in the car... 

All of that aside, one of the main things that stood out to me listening to Mia was her fantastic song writing and an inherent ability to deliver a sincere message through each of her lyrics. The combination of spoken word and soaring choruses that the best blues musicians seem to be able to master, Dyson has in spades.

I love all of her other work as well, of course, but this album always stands out as a real favourite of mine and has significantly impacted the way I write since hearing it."

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For more of our This Album Changed My Life series, go here.
And keep up to date with Lewis McKee and follow him on Facebook here.