McKee had progressed to writing her own music by the time she was twelve. By fifteen she was performing on her own and had produced her own six-track EP. This material, re-recorded, formed the core of her first major label album, Trouble, released on September 28, 2004.

McKee's first major brush with national exposure came in the March 7, 2004 "Shoot the Moon" episode of the American Dreams TV series, in which she portrayed Janis Joplin. Her song "Somebody" was featured in the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, garnering enough notice to cause her album to be released ahead of its (previously delayed) schedule.

She toured with Ryan Cabrera in 2005. In 2006, her management company, McGhee Entertainment, reported that a new album is in the process of being written and recorded.

In the non-fiction book "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson, McKee is used as an example of how the internet, specifically Yahoo's Launchcast service, forced Reprise to change how they mar