"Never play a note you don't believe"
His name sounds like one of an antique Scottish Highlander but he rather looks like an old seaman with a tanned face carved by the sun, salt and winds of the ocean. Born in 1946 in New York, he grew up in St. Louis where he started to play guitar. Affected by a bad stutter, probably caused by child abuse, he discovered that singing helped him to overcome his handicap. So he started to sing too. He later joined the Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. On one of his off-duty time, he met a one-eyed country bluesman from Toano (Virginia) named Ernest Banks who taught him two principles that guided his life as a musician : "Never play a note you don't believe" and "Never write or sing about what you don't know about."
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| With George "Harmonica" Smith |
Once discharged from the Navy, he moved to Los Angeles, where he met his second mentor and close friend George "Harmonica" Smith, and played with legendary bluesmen Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Lowell Fulson, Big Mama Thornton... He later relocated in Memphis where he now resides.An extremely talented song-writer, or more properly a master story-teller in the original tradition of the blues, MacLeod has written over 300 original songs so far, among which many have been covered by numerous blues greats (Albert King, Albert Collins, Son Seals, Tabby Thomas, Joe Louis Walker, Coco Montoya, James Armstrong, Chris Thomas King, Billy Lee Riley…), and has put out an impressive discography of some forty studio & live albums since his first one in 1984. He also won a no less impressive list of music awards. As if it wasn't enough, he also co-wrote with Debra B. Schiff a mystery novel, "Murder At The Crossroads: A Blues Mystery", which came out in March 2022.
Two closely linked themes, the flying of time and death, stand out in tracks like "Horse With No Rider", the sorrowful "This Old River" with its "Midnight Special" gospel twist, the "The Long Black Train" boogie (a new version of the song released on his very first album "No Road Back Home"), the dark "The Demon's Moan", "Long Time Road" or the soul complaint "I Respectfully Decline".
The torments of love, a classic blues topic, also appear in the stomping "The Addition To Blues", the excellent out-standing folk "That Ain't Right", the swinging "Coming Your Brand New Day" and the heavily strummed "What You Got (Ain't Necessarily What You Own)". "Sheep Of A Different Color" is a protest-song in the 1960s style, while "Where You'll Find Me" has a biblical twist a la Dylan.
A real jewel of an album, trust me.
Oh… yes, I was about to forget this ! The man gives each of his guitars a name : "Spook", "Buckwheat", "Mule" and "Dubb" (his Resonator guitars), "Little Bit" (his Gibson), "Biscuit" (a Taylor 712), "Moon", "Scrapper"... ! ■
About Resonator guitars
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| "Spook" |
● "Resonate: A Guitar Story", a 90-mn documentary feat. Doug MacLeod, Mike Dowling, Catfish Keith and Bob Brozman : https://youtu.be/k7Nw8dQWL4c
Interviews
Songs from the album, different live versions
Live concerts videos
(where one discovers MacLeod's talent for story telling)
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| Center, with Pee Wee Crayton |
● The good ol' times, with Pee Wee Crayton, Big Mama Thornton, Charles Brown, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Pasadena City College (California), 1982 :
● In Geldermalsen (Holland), 2017 :● Benefit concert for the Sarasota Community radio : ● Several versions of the famous song "The New Panama Limited" ● At Cafe Boogaloo, Hermosa Beach (California), 2002 :
● At Spagettini's, Seal Beach (California), 2000 :● At Sacred Grounds, San Pedro (California), 1992 : https://youtu.be/q4O_K8J09K0
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The Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye,
on the western coast of northern Scotland,
where MacLeod's ancestors hail from |
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