Siblings by blood but, perhaps more importantly for roots rock Americana fans looking for a fresh kick, brothers in music, the North Carolina bred duo of Jeremiah Christian Smith and Noah McKinley Smith – collectively known as Jeremiah McKinley – camped out and had a blast in the months before the pandemic turning their parents’ basement into a makeshift recording studio. 

Founded on the fiery synergy between Jeremiah’s rhythm guitar and Noah’s lead guitar and their complementary lead vocals and picture-perfect harmonies, within days of committing to their bold, edgy and freewheeling musical dreams, they began writing the sublimely raw, wit-filled self-described “dirty folk” tunes that they’d soon share with the world via their first (and still most streamed Spotify) single “Hanging On/Creekside,” followed by a self-titled 2020 EP and their aptly titled full length album debut The Basement Tapes. The quick praise they received from Artistsounds.com pretty much sums up their unique vibe: “With a lo-fie sound they give the listener a real grungy sound, mixed with really raw and gritty vocals.”

Though Jeremiah is seven years older than Noah, the two cite a recent moment that reflects their intense  almost eerily spiritual synchronicity. Noah recently moved to Raleigh, an hour and a half away from their hometown of Kernersville (pop. 26.481), the Winston-Salem suburb where Jeremiah still lives. The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown had been out on Hulu for a week, and when the guys randomly texted each other to tell each other they were watching, they quickly realized they were doing so at the same time, only 30 seconds apart. 

The moment reminded them of some early creative camaraderie which in some ways foretold the creative connections they’d share as adults. “Growing up,” Jeremiah says, “we’d be at the dinner table, making up song parodies on the spot based on whatever we were doing that way, just to make our parents and older sister laugh.”   

While Noah took guitar lessons as a kid, aspiring to play and record music, let alone make it for a living, was the furthest thing from their minds growing up. In those days, it was all about sports, practically 24/7. When Noah was old enough, Jeremiah would strap makeshift protective clothing on him, put him in front of a “goal” and shoot pucks in that same basement. They grew up Carolina Hurricane fans and there was a rink about 30 minutes away, but shifting from roller to ice hockey was ultimately too expensive. In high school, Jeremiah played one season of basketball, then played running back on the varsity football team. He was good enough to entertain scholarship offers from Division II colleges before an injury sidelined him and forced him to reconsider his future. Noah was into everything his older brother loved, playing football, baseball, basketball and Lacrosse.  

Not surprisingly, the Smith Brothers also are pretty much in synch when it comes to musical influences. As kids, they remember their parents would never pull out of the driveway until the radio was on. Their dad Tim, an excellent singer himself who was always in demand to perform solos in their Moravian church congregation, He imparted to his sons his love of 60’s and 70’s classic rock – Zeppelin, Hendrix, AC/DC, Clapton – while their mom Marianne, a talented pianist who sang and played handbells in church, had “Brick House” as her ringtone and loved everything from funk and disco (Commodores, KC and the Sunshine Band) to Duran Duran and Hall and Oates. 

Jeremiah cites his personal inspirations as heavy blues, rock and Americana, starting with the Killers and later including The Black Keys (who “really helped me find what I wanted my voice to be”), Ray LaMontagne, Nathaniel Ratcliff, Shovels and Rope and even Amy Winehouse – all of whom impacted his current vocal style and songwriting. Noah embraced all that, just adding country, “with heavy bouts of John Mayer, while Hendrix influenced my guitar tones, solos and songwriting.” When the two were developing the sound of Jeremiah McKinley (Noah’s middle name, for those interested), they were also heavily into the blues, gospel and folk of The Bones of J.R. Jones and the one-man band blues/folk/country/rock phenom Shakey Graves. 

Though their musical leanings match up pretty well and their splendidly rough and ragged, deeply lived vocals are always in synch, Jeremiah admits that because he’s more limited as a guitar player, he relies on Noah to articulate a lot of musical ideas that he can’t find on his own. “I don’t always know the specific notes,” he says, “but I’ll hum something Noah picks up on and we’ll start a fire that leads to a song that way.” Each song comes together in a different manner, sometimes with the discovery of a specific chord progression they come up with spontaneously, but just as likely from another song that inspires them to mess with different rhythms and chords until a concrete idea starts to develop. 

Lyrically, the two have very different approaches. Jeremiah says, “Often I’ll hear a phrase while I’m reading, watching something, watching a history documentary, reading a book or listening to a podcast. That phrase will explode in my mind into a whole story, just like those dinner table parodies. As I’ve gotten older, I enjoy storytelling more and more. When I had surgery recently, I joked to Noah that I was going to use my down time to write a book and a TV show because I have so many ideas. That’s what’s always spoken to us, music that says something, that has meaningful lyrics and stories. 

“When we started Jeremiah McKinley,” he adds, “one of our missions was to create songs with narratives that matter. There has to be a reason for the song to exist. While a lot of our songs emerge from personal feelings, most of what we do is observation based fictional stories about outside things and other people. They’re about the way people and feel and why they do what they do.” 

Noah’s lyrics are on the more introspective side. “I write more personally, often conveying my feelings of social anxiety and to express things I struggle to say otherwise,” he says. “A lot of my songs are about breakups and feeling that I’m not enough. The name of our upcoming EP Almost Love captures these feelings well, and while the title track has us observing people’s behavior in a bar, it’s also about the personal longing for a meaningful relationship. Outside of the classic ‘Get Together,’ a great cover which our producer Danny Jones suggested for us, the tracks all kind of weave a story that fits into Jeremiah McKinley’s continuous narrative of each other.”  

Before they began taking music seriously, Jeremiah and Noah took very different educational and career paths. Signed to play football at Georgetown before his football career abruptly ended because of the aforementioned injury, Jeremiah explored other sides of his creative impulses, majoring in painting and drawing at West Virginia Wesleyan College, which, he says, “had a lot of kids who played at Pen State or the University of Florida who flunked out after a year.” He didn’t finish college and after some years following in their dad’s footsteps as a carpenter and construction worker, currently works a steady civil service job. 

Noah, on the other hand, found his niche as a double major (English/Sports Administration) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he worked for a time in the athletic department. Inspired by ministers he met years earlier attending summer camp, after graduation he went on to pursue his master’s degree at Morovian Seminary School and became an ordained minister himself. Part of his job as head pastor of a small church was engaging in a lot of end-of-life care. 

As an empath, the job affected him not only mentally and emotionally but physically, taking a toll on his health in many ways, and he left the position after a few years. He now teaches special ed at a public elementary school in Raleigh. “In this capacity,” he says, “I feel like I still work in empathy, using my same gifts without holding people’s hands as they’re dying. I’m finding that some of the songs I write reflect feelings I have shared from the pulpit.” 

Though Noah was the Smith brother who followed a calling to the ministry, both he and Jeremiah’s life, values and musical sensibilities were shaped by growing up and still being part of the Moravian Church, one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity. It dates back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th Century and the original Unity of the Brethren founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia, 60 years before Martin Luther’s Reformation. (And who knows, maybe that’s the history that inspired Freddie Mercury’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody”!) 

Noah jokes that in addition to adhering to six essential doctrines relating to the Lordship of Christ and living out one’s faith through service, evangelism and a strong commitment to Christian principles, the Moravian church is famous for their molasses cookies! 

The brothers acknowledge the Nicene Creed but have long appreciated the fact that in many ways, as Noah says, “our doctrine is in the music, and what we believe about faith is shared in what we sing. 70 percent of the services is singing hymns, and then there’s a ten-minute sermon. While they play brass instruments at Christmastime, in many services the music is guitar playing contemporary worship songs, and sometimes it’s an organ playing the hymns. Our faith emphasizes that everyone is born to develop special gifts, and while it took me and Jeremiah a while to find it, ours was always destined to be music.” Jeremiah adds, “In church, we’ve always had a soundtrack to our life. Hearing certain songs or hymns can produce a feeling that can help you when you’re feeling down and out.” 

Though Jeremiah McKinley has self-released a batch of singles over the past few years and their second full length collection Hot Mess in 2023, their fortunes recently received a boost via the exposure they received at Springboard Memphis, one of a series of events by Springboard, branded as the world’s most innovative conferences and music festivals featuring panels, showcases and intimate discussions between artists and music professionals. Created by industry veteran Barry Coffing, these events place musicians in front of industry experts, allowing them to draw top emerging and established artists. 

Holding court at the Rum Boogie Club, after Jeremiah and Noah gave a raucous performance of “Juarex, MX” from Hot Mess and their infectious new song “Almost Love,” they connected immediately with Danny Jones, a producer, engineer, songwriter, drummer and respected educator who has vibed/worked with legendary figures like Bo Diddley, Allen Toussaint, The Beach Boys, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rufus Thomas, Michael McDonald and Pitbull. Jones produced the six powerhouse tracks on their upcoming EP Almost Love. Their plan is to release five singles leading up to drop of the full EP.

Jeremiah says, “Pursuing a career in music involves a struggle at times, not only to gain recognition and make a living, but also internally as you see your friends hitting more conventional milestones, buying houses and raising families. But that’s not what I’m after. Music is our true calling and feels like something Noah and I need to do. I don’t know if what we’re saying in our songs is always important but we want people to hear it. Among our big milestones are the great responses and encouragement we got from Springboard, and from Barry and Danny in particular. Those energize us and show us that we’re definitely making progress and that there’s always something potentially exciting coming along as we venture boldly along the path.”