Libby & Jamie MacDonald are just too great together! Check out their chat and learn about Jamie’s hit song “Desperate” and why she’s spent so much time in prison! For real…
*The following is a transcript (using A.I. via Restream) of the interview between Libby & Jamie MacDonald
Hello, Libby. Hey. How are you?
Oh, thank you. Can I be long ways like you? Is this better? Long?
Oh, yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. You look adorable too. I love your fit, your hair, your bangs, everything.
I look back at pictures of me with long hair, and I’m like, yeah. That there was no sass. It was just looking average. So we’ll keep the sass.
It suits you. It looks good. It looks good.
Well, we wanna welcome singer songwriter, artist behind the song Desperate, Jamie MacDonald to LifeSongs. I’m so excited to get to know you and for our listening family to get to know you more as well. So let’s start with the obviously important facts. You love sardines. You’re from Michigan. Right? Anything else we need to know upfront?
How many dogs do you have?
I have one, big greyhound black lab, and she’s old and gray, and she’s so sweet. And Aw. We’re we’re pals. We’re inseparable.
Oh, awesome. So there’s only room for one in your heart right now?
Well, we have, I live with a roommate who has a dog too. So there’s a tiny little hairy dog. I forgot what it’s called. Yorkie.
Yorkie. Okay. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. It’s it’s not your dog. So, you know, whatever.
Yeah. Right. Right. Something else running around over here.
Okay. Exactly. So you love dogs. Love music? It’s clearly God’s calling on your life, but it’s been more behind the scenes until recently. Can you tell us a little bit? Share some of that journey with us?
Yeah. So, I mean, for the past five years, I kind of haven’t released any music. So this is all kinda happening very suddenly. It’s been really, really exciting, but I had a kind of a hard five years laying down music, looking after my dad who was in the final stages of dementia and Parkinson’s. Kind of reconnected with him over the pandemic after years of not having my dad in my life. So it was just an interesting, but really beautiful plot twist in my life where I just thought, okay. I never imagined I’d be living with my dad and helping look out for him.
Sometimes he didn’t know who I was. A lot of the time he didn’t know who I was, and it was just some really hard things that we walked through together in the hospital and having falls and, you know, just I didn’t have any friends or family in Georgia, so it was really just my dad and I, and I hadn’t ever cared for anyone with a mental illness, so there was just a lot happening.
But God did an incredible work in my heart and, during kind of the final few months of his life, I got invited to sing in a prison, and it was kind of the first thing of me stepping back into doing music. And I thought, okay. This feels safe for me because I’m really broken and I know these women are also really broken and so I don’t have to show up with any, you know, amazing like best foot forward, I can just show up and be myself and sing and share my gift and so that changed my life. I showed up and they were, there was a choir of women who all have a life sentence, and they had rehearsed one of my songs. And so, as I was coming down the hallway to meet them, I could hear, you know, a song playing in it live, and it was my song. And so I walked into all these faces singing my song back to me with so much joy, and I just break down crying, and it was the most hope I had felt in years. And so from then it was just like, okay, I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be and, I never wanted to leave after that.
I mean, I started, we did a wonderful performance after rehearsing for about a month, right there in the prison. And then after that, it was like, well, I can’t stop coming now. I’ve been coming weekly. And so I ended up joining staff there, as a volunteer to teach songwriting weekly. And just these girls became my closest friends, and a lot of them are my age and had been in there for almost twenty years already and just completely filled with the joy of the Lord and so much strength.
So they were actually the ones who walked me through losing my dad and, you know, I thought I was showing up to give them something and they were pouring into me and carrying me this whole time. And so, when I saw, you know, the result of Christian music on them in the prison and how much they live and breathe on Christian radio and Christian music. I was like, okay. This is huge and it’s this is so important. And if I could get a song on the radio, I can reach all these prisons at one time.
And I just kinda saw this new purpose in, music, and it felt really just kind of God was breathing on it. And I thought, I don’t have to ask God if this matters. I know this matters. And so I I was like, let’s go sign a record deal and let’s get a song on the radio. And, and now, like, you got it. Let’s do this. And then now it’s not much later. And it doesn’t always happen that way, but I just kinda in my head, that’s how it happens. You sign a record deal, and then you’re on the radio. And I guess it that’s not always how it goes, but this time it was. So God was like, well, this is what she expected. And so I guess I’ll I guess I’ll do that.
Oh, it’s so beautiful. I but you’re so right. You know, the power of music, it’s it’s really it’s so healing, you know, just talking about your dad. And I bet music was able to … my mom’s in the early stages of dementia as well, and there’s something so powerful about music, reconnecting memories, and kinda restoring some relationships and firing those neurons that haven’t, those muscles that haven’t been used in a long time. And Yes. Gosh. I just think that’s so powerful to go from that with your dad to then being in the prison with these women who were having life transformation. The power of music and how God’s using you is just awesome.
Thank you so much. And I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. Oh, lovely. Do you guys do you guys ever have moments where you’re listening to music together and it’s just kinda, like, activates, like, more in her brain? It unlocks something.
It really does. Yeah. It’s incredible. And it it’s amazing to watch because it seems like how can that possibly, how can that possibly be? But it really it really does.
Yeah. Yes. I saw the same with my dad. Sometimes I couldn’t have a normal conversation with him. Most of the time, I couldn’t. And Yeah. I would put on a song, which he hadn’t heard all of his favorite music in years because he just you know, with the mental illness, he forgot about all his music. And I still remembered from when I was a kid, the songs that he liked from the eighties and, like, old Christian songs and, I don’t know, Petra and Michael W. Smith. And so I’d pull up one of his old favorites and suddenly, he’s just you know, Jimmy was back, and he could remember things. And he wanted to talk about his boxing career and then talk about, you know, being married and having us kids.
And it was just like the music unlocked those memories for him. And he knew every word to the songs too, which was cool to see. Because he hadn’t heard them in fifteen, twenty years and with his mental illness, none of that mattered. And he, all the words were still right there, and it was so beautiful. Beautiful.
Oh my gosh. So I guess Christian music, has that been a a part of your life for a long time? Like, do you have any old CCM jams that you rock out to or that you love?
I mean okay. So when Place in This World just made a comeback, that was, like, the best thing ever because I have loved that song my whole life, and my dad used to sing that when we were kids. And and the message has just always meant a lot to me because I’ve always felt that way. Like, where do I belong? Like, is there something I can call my own in this world? It’s just, like, it’s so fun to belt that song with all your heart, and it’s always been a part of my life. So for it to now be back on the radio, I just kinda feel this little wink, like, looking up to heaven and thinking about my dad.
Like, he’s up there jamming to this too because this has always been his favorite song, and now it’s back on the radio. And I don’t know. It just feels really special, but that’s definitely a a jam that’s always been alive for me and I love the new version. Yeah. It’s awesome.
And, you know, who knows what song might play next? Maybe Desperate, perhaps. You never know.
I love what you said about the song Desperate, which is connecting with so many people. And I think you described it like, the lyrics as giving language as a tool to help us in those moments when we feel so heavy, and things are out of our control. And it is just such an anthem. It is so powerful, and I can tell it came from a very deep well. Can you share with us a little bit about just how that song came to be?
I, like I said, I was living in Georgia and going through just, like, some of my hardest times. Lost my dad in August of 2023, and shortly after, I was offered a record deal. And so it was just, like, walking off the grief of losing my dad and just that whole five years, which was just so isolating and really, really tough. I was afraid to step into these writing rooms as a new artist because I couldn’t pretend I was okay at at that time, you know. I was in the midst of heavy grief and loss and, not to mention not having done music in five years and just feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing, and it was just cool to see God kind of breathe on all of that and say, No. That’s actually why I have you here because I want you to write from that place and I have something I’m gonna give you that, you know, is gonna help a lot of people and you wouldn’t have it had you not just walked through what you walked through.
And so now I’m, you know, walking in the writing rooms and, even still I’m processing a lot and it wasn’t that long ago. So I’m still in different phases of grief and, facing some other things in my family, but I’m not afraid to write about that stuff anymore because I’m seeing the way it’s connecting to people. And I think there’s a time coming where I’m gonna get to write about this new season I’m in and there’s gonna be joyful, songs. And I do have a few on the way that are more joyful. My next single is going to be, a bit more just like upbeat in Gospel.
And I feel like that reflects my true personality more than, some of these other ballads that I’m doing, but I just love that God is using, like, my darkest time to bring light and hope to other people. And I, I’m always gonna be bringing the heartfelt ballads because I’ve just got a lot of experiences to draw from.
Yeah, yeah, if you gotta go through the tough times there may as well be a purpose, right?
Exactly. Exactly and it’s, it’s just like casting this, almost like a rainbow over all that happened. You know? It just feels like hope. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like hope.
Yes. That’s like a song title right there.
I’m just I was just thinking that.
I’m looking forward to that one. That’s gonna be a jam.
Oh, okay. Well, we’ll make sure you get your little cut since you help to highlight this moment.
So that’s what I’m hoping for.
I know we only have a couple minutes left, so we’re running short on time. I just wanna do a really quick little Lifesongs Lightning Round. You can tell us which of these you might be more Desperate for, if you will. Just answer first thing comes to your mind. I was gonna say dog or cat, but I already know the answer to that one.
Okay. Sure. Coffee, tea, Bone broth?
Okay. Yeah. Alright. I had a feeling.
What about summer or winter?
Summer. Absolutely. Summer. Yeah.
Yeah. Beach or mountains?
Woah. That one’s hard right now.
Mountains. Okay. That’s okay. It can change. It can fluctuate. I know sometimes it’d be beach. That’s alright. Okay. Early bird or night owl?
Night owl, but I’m having to change in this season, and I’m struggling.
Yeah. That’s where the bone broth comes in handy. Right? Gets you gets you going first thing.
What about a rainy day or a sunny day?
No questions. Yes. This is a tough one. Call or text?
Text. Yeah. Okay. And do you like surprises or or no?
I think I’m growing to like surprises. In the past, probably not, but I think as I grow and heal, I’m just more open to everything. And Yeah.
That’s a great answer. Is there a surprise you can think of that you got?
Just the best? I got invited up to Capitol [Records] a couple weeks ago, and they said, we just want you to come up and high five the team, which was, like, a radio team, which is five people. And they’re like, yeah. We just wanted, come have you high five us because, something to do with your single, going to radio, Desperate. And so I show up there, and it was the whole entire staff all waiting, you know, to celebrate.
And then, you know, they let me know that Desperate made history for the most radio spins debut single of all time. And I just, there was a video of me, and you can tell I’m like, what’s going on here? Because it was just I was surprised. I wasn’t… I’m a slow processor, so I’m trying to say, like, why is everyone in this room? I thought I was high fiving five people.
I may have, like, you know, done things differently that morning. Maybe had some coffee first to be like, I’m here. I’m awake. I know what’s going on. I was like, AH. But it was so beautiful. And, yeah, I just feel so supported and loved in this season. So I think I feel like a safe place for anything.
Yeah. I love that. That’s awesome. Well, thank you for being so vulnerable and and sharing your story with us and just being a part of what God’s doing. It’s so great to see his purpose over your life and and that he’s using you uniquely you exactly as you are in such a beautiful and powerful way. Appreciate you joining us today.
Thanks for having me, and I hope to talk to you again soon.
I’ve had so much fun chatting with you. Thank you so much.
