in 2001, mckee independently released his first album, "nocturne". that same year, he was placed third at the national fingerstyle guitar competition in winfield, kansas. in 2003, mckee toured in taiwan with jacques stotzem, isato nakagawa, and masaaki kishibe, and earned first place in the "miscellaneous acoustic instrument contest" of the "new jersey state fiddling and picking championships" with a ron spillers harp guitar he purchased from stephen bennett in 2002. the instrument can be heard in a number of his songs on later albums, such as "into the ocean" and "gates of gnomeria". only 1,000 copies of "nocturne" were ever produced and the album is now out of circulation.