On Friday, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys were inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. At the induction, the Kentucky natives performed the band’s song “Larger Than Life” with the help of Joshua Turner and Carson McKee, whose bluegrass cover of the pop song went viral. Staff writer Trevor Lenzmeier spoke with McKee, a UNC senior, about the performance.
THE DAILY TAR HEEL: How did you first get introduced to making music?
CARSON MCKEE: I come from a very musical family, particularly my dad. He has played guitar and sung for a long time, and all of his brothers play and sing too, so every time we would go and visit my grandma for Christmas or Easter, all the uncles would always gather in the living room after dinner and bust out their guitars and play and sing for hours. That was always something that enraptured me as a kid; I grew with the sense of community that music offers, and listening to them play into my preteen years, I realized I wanted to do that, too.
DTH: What went through your head when you first heard the offer to play with the Backstreet Boys?
CM: I was actually in a World War I lecture for one of my English classes that I had to write a paper on when I get a call from Josh about halfway through it. I thought he was just calling to check up on me, so I let it go, and then he texted me. His text said something like, “I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but you need to call me.” I thought maybe there was some tragedy or something bad happened — it seemed really urgent, so I got up and left and called him. He delivered the news, and I freaked out for a good five minutes. I saw one of my friends on campus and forced him to listen to the whole story, I called everyone I knew and sprinted back to my house — completely forgetting about the lecture — to tell my housemates. It was a feeling of elation, surprise and absolute wonder.
DTH: What was it like performing with members of the Backstreet Boys?
CM: It was incredible. I was definitely very nervous — it was the biggest event Josh and I have ever played. It was really next level for us, so I was definitely nervous, but I was more excited than I was nervous. They’re extremely talented guys with great musical ears and great voices, so the experience of actually being on stage and performing with them was awesome.
DTH: What was it like interacting with Littrell and Richardson?
CM: The stereotypical star jaded by show business — the complete opposite of that is what Kevin and Brian were. They were very nice and supportive the entire time, and they made Josh and I feel very comfortable. They even made sure to tell us how honored and thankful they were that we were there, but Josh and I felt like the thankful ones.
