![]() Nowak, 42, of Philadelphia, always wanted to be a songwriter. MaC partnered with Tennessee-based distillery experts who loved the idea, and he started collaborating with Nick Nowak to create Tik Pik. “If people liked the bottles, wouldn’t they like them even more with real whiskey in them?” He started selling the bottles online as if they were concert souvenirs. MaC got a friend to design a label for a fake whiskey brand that alluded to the lyrics and pasted it on empty bottles. He went for a run and was jogging through the locked-down city feeling frustrated when his fan-favorite song, “Granny Drinks Whiskey,” started playing in his earbuds. He was on tour with REO Speedwagon when the pandemic hit and venues closed. MaC has opened for acts including LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride and Kip Moore. MaC’s wife finally joined him in Nashville. In 2017, MaC signed a music and songwriting deal with Grammy winner Keith Stegall, who has produced for George Jones, Alan Jackson and the Zac Brown Band. They spent the first two years of marriage in a long-distance relationship. “I don’t want to be 70 years old saying ‘What if?'” he told her. He was engaged, with the wedding scheduled for April. In January 2015, MaC had an ill-timed epiphany. HandoutKevin MaC opening for artists including Timbaland and Missy Elliott at the 2012 Shaggfest music festival in Virginia Beach. “He went as far as he could in the country music world in this area,” Stokes remembered. The hip-hop artists called him “Country Kev.” MaC recorded his first demo in Timbaland’s then Virginia Beach studio and started regularly hanging out there as the only singer in the room with a twang. Stokes met MaC and introduced him to the area’s biggest musical names, such as Pharrell Williams, Pusha-T and Missy Elliott. “I would watch from the back and felt like this dude is a superstar.” ![]() ![]() “He was a phenomenal performer, probably one of the best performers I’ve ever seen,” said Brandon “Shaggy” Stokes, a longtime radio host and DJ for Z104. He was waking up at 10 a.m., running to the gym, surfing in the afternoons and eating steak and seafood on the Boardwalk. “I went from making $75 playing the guitar to making $400 to $500 a night,” he said.Īt 22, the singer was living a recent college grad’s dream: Rent was $300. When MaC got back, bigger venues started calling. Chesney liked his set and invited him to play at another show, in upstate New York. In 2008, the ODU junior won the Virginia Beach Colgate Country Showdown and the next year finished first in Kenny Chesney’s “Big Star” competition with the prize of opening for the country superstar’s concert in Virginia Beach. His reputation as a high-level entertainer in small-scale venues grew quickly. E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close MenuĪfter two years of community college, he moved to Virginia Beach in 2007 to attend ODU and made the rounds of open mics, low-paying gigs and cramped barroom stages.
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