From Ayr to the land of dreams for Little Fire Jamie
When Jamie McGeechan was laying down the tracks for his goodbye album to Ayr, he did so with hope in his heart.
The troubadour, a man renowned for his positive outlook on the world, signed off his second record in Scotland with words from Dr Martin Luther King.
The“Pursuit of Happiness”is three minutes and seven seconds of the famous‘I Have A Dream’speech of 1963.
“I saw it as the perfect message to end the album with,”says Jamie, who swapped Ayrshire for St Louis, Missouri in December.
“It’s pretty surreal that those words have never been as important as they are now.”Little did Jamie know how prophetic the choice of track would turn out.
Less than six months later, the world is grappling with its conscience again as racial tensions erupt from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Jamie admits it has been a culture change to see the bitter divide up close in the States .
“As a Scot coming in from the outside, my eyes have been opened to a lot. America is a fantastic country and is the land of opportunity. But the recent events have exposed what many see as a clear divide which remains to this day. I think what saddens me the most is that, in this day and age, we still have a world where racism exists. Hopefully these events can challenge people to engage positively and we can all move on for the better.”
Jamie, 34, who performs under the stage name Little Fire, is enjoying a new life in the States after marrying wife Sara in February and added: “It’s been an amazing experience to come out here and have a totally different way of living.
“Before coronavirus struck, I had planned to do a lot of gigging at Scottish festivals out here in places like Oklahoma and LA.
“But I’ve been keeping busy working on a podcast with the American Scottish Foundation - trying to explain to the Americans what our wonderful country is all about!And hopefully it won’t be too long be fore we’re back to some kind of normality.”