Tim McQueen

Tim McQueen is a very guarded and blunt person. It?s not that he is difficult to talk to or anti-social. In fact it?s the exact opposite. You feel very relaxed, at ease talking with the introspective artist. He won?t tell you that he is guarded and blunt but odds are you?ll find out at some point during a conversation with him that he is. One thing the mercurial soul singer from D.C. will tell you is that he does not care very much for idle conversation about silly things. ?Small talk about nothing is a waste of my time and a waste of my day.? the lively soul singer intimates. ?My life span isn?t that long, so I?ll be dammed if someone is going to take time off of my life with their stupidity.? He says with a chuckle.
Trying to get the guarded McQueen to talk about his music is like trying to get President Bush to admit that he was wrong about the Iraq war. Well maybe not that difficult. Ask him what his vocal style is and you?re likely to get a very blunt ?It?s my style mixed with my influences.? When attempting to get who or what his influences are he only states that ?his influences are vast and far reaching, and not limited to just music. Ask him about who he sounds like you get a ?that?s not my job to tell you that, it?s your job to decipher that and tell the masses, right? ?That?s your job, all I do is singing.? He says with a shrug of the shoulders. ?I think I sound like Tim McQueen, but you?ll probably tell me that I sound like someone else. That?s ok though because for the listener it?s about identifying with the music or the delivery of the message. So if that does it for some people then cool.? He acknowledges.
I guess I?ll fulfill part of my job requirement then and critique McQueen?s vocal style. For the record, this writer feels that McQueen sounds like the love child of Teddy Pendergrass, Lenny Kravitz, Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers. It sounds crazy but when you listen to his music and his voice all of those elements hit you at different times. He is a blue collar type of artist, telling the stories of regular life, love, sadness and joy. Nothing too fancy, no shiny packaging here. No he is definitely a disciple of what McQueen likes to call ?sweaty, grimy, sexy story soul.?
If you ask him about the state of male soul singers today he?ll give you a typically short answer on the subject. ?We?re small talk.? He dead pans. ?Big asses, big cars and how big our bank account is. We?re not very creative right now.? He points out. McQueen does acknowledge that there are a few major label acts and probably a hand full of underground and independent artists in every city that are trying to re-birth the original ideals of what soul music use to be. McQueen states though that, ?There are probably too few soldiers on the front lines, and not enough recruits to win the war.?
Trying to get McQueen to talk about his past is an adventure as well. The most he?s willing to give up about his life is that in his words ?he was born a bastard child, to a 17 year old mother and a married with children, soul singing father. Was given up and sent to foster care, and was adopted by a white preacher man from Minnesota.? If you want to know more, you?ll have to gain his confidence. As I said before McQueen is a very guarded individual.
?I?ve had a strange and beautiful upbringing. I wouldn?t change a single moment of it.? McQueen says. ?It?s who I am, and why my music is the way it is. If you want to know come to me and ask, maybe I?ll tell you maybe not but I promise it won?t be idle small talk.?
You can catch Tim McQueen do his sweaty, grimy, sexy story soul thing at the R&R Lounge and Phise Tea in Washington D.C.