Jack White’s wise words bounce around in my head as I stare at the photo of Mac Arnold on the latest issue of the Take5 music newspaper here in Asheville, North Carolina. Mac’s holding one of his famous gas can guitars on the cover, this particular one appears to have a bamboo neck. Yes, that’s right, I did say gas can.
Who says you need to buy a guitar? Indeed. Jack was right!
For those of you have not seen the documentary film, It Might Get Loud, there is a scene at Jack’s farm in Tennessee where he demonstrates how to create a makeshift guitar out of a block of wood. I’d guess that it’s the resourcefulness and mojo of the players down here that eventually lured Jack away from his home in Michigan. Unlike some city slickers who need a high-priced axe to prove their worth, the simple desire to play is all that many rural folks need to drive their creative passions, and where there is a will there is a way. Even an amplifier can be built from scratch if you know what you are doing. Just make sure it’s well grounded and keep your rubber boots on!
Mac Arnold merges music with organic farming in his 4th Annual Mac Arnold Cornbread & Collard Greens Blues Festival. I will be catching the first leg of the touring festivities at The Grey Eagle here in Asheville tomorrow night. I wish you could all be here, but it’s a pretty small venue – a place you must visit if you are ever in town. Great food, music, and local microbrew beers.
Mac Arnold’s 4th Annual Cornbread & Collard Greens Blues Festival
The Muddy Waters Revue, featuring:
Rhapsody said..”As front man for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Kim Wilson has proven to be a consummate performer and devoted blues lover. But it’s in his solo work that he truly shines. A musician’s musician, many consider Wilson to be one of the premier blues harmonica players in America.
“Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin:
Blues guitar player and singer, carrying on the “old school” Chicago Blues style and creating original music today. From 1973-1980, he played guitar in the band of Chicago Blues legend Muddy Waters, touring worldwide and recording, and learning to play Muddy’s powerful music directly from him. In 1980, Bob started his own band and he’s still on the road and recording.
Willie “Big Eyes” Smith was born in Helena, AR in 1936. At the age of 17 he ventured to Chicago where he heard Muddy Waters for the first time. Willie was hooked on the blues and the attraction to the music persuaded him to stay in Chicago. One night in 1968 Willie decided to go out and listen to Muddy. Rediscovering his desire to play, he asked to sit in with the band. The next day Muddy asked Willie to rejoin his band. Willie played in Muddy’s band till 1980 and appears on all of Muddy’s Grammy-winning albums.
Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues:
Mac Arnold’s musical career began far from the busy streets of Chicago or the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. Like most influential blues masters, Mac grew up in the rural south and “lived the blues” while working the fields and farms from his youth. As a young ten year old boy, Mac got his first taste of making music when he learned to play a handmade guitar, which his older brother had crafted from a gas can. Like other well-known blues musicians, MAC ARNOLD saw music as a door of opportunity and by his teens, Mac had begun a performing career in local and regional clubs. Playing in various band Mac developed a top-notch reputation and shared the stage with various regional musicians including JAMES BROWN from just across the state line in Georgia. As the mid-sixties approached, Mac was ready for new challenges in his life and in his music. While visiting Chicago, he realized that for a young twenty-four year old blues musician, Chicago was THE place to be and he returned to SC, packed his bags and headed north to seek out new musical adventures in the Windy City of Chicago. Mac quickly found himself becoming a central figure in the rapidly changing blues scene of that era. After playing with A.C REED for a while, MAC ARNOLD received an invitation which would bring him even closer to the center of American music of that time; legendary bluesman MUDDY WATERS contacted Mac and invited him to join his band as a bass player……and MAC ARNOLD was soon playing in one of the nations premiere blues bands of all time. As bass player in Muddy Waters band, Mac traveled across the country performing at the top clubs and festivals in every region, and learning from Muddy at every step of the way. Mac’s successful career with Muddy Waters opened up numerous doors for Mac and gave him the opportunity to record and perform with other blues legends such as John Lee Hooker, Otis Spann, and Otis Redding.
Also performing are Blonde Blues and the Asheville teen sensation, Skinny Legs & All.
Mac Arnold must have known at an early age that his music career would read like a “Who’s who” of Blues/R&B Legends. His high school band “J Floyd & The Shamrocks” were often joined by none other than Macon, Georgia native, James Brown on piano. After deciding to pursue a professional music career, he joined the Charles Miller group until 1965 when he made the move to Chicago to work with recording artist/saxophonist A. C. Reed.
In late 1966, at age 24, came the opportunity of a lifetime to join the Muddy Waters Band and help shape the electric blues sound that inspired the rock and roll movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Regular guests of the band included Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, and Elvin Bishop. The Muddy Waters Band (as a unit) shared the stage with the likes of Howlin’ Wolfe, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Junior Wells, Big Joe Williams, and Big Mama Thornton just to name a few. During this time, Mac played on John Lee Hooker’s “live “album, Live at the Café Au Go-Go, as well as Otis Spann’s classic recording “The Blues is Where It’s At”.
After more than a year with Muddy Waters, Mac formed the Soul Invaders which backed up many artists, including The Temptations and B. B. King. In the early 70’s, he moved Los Angeles to work at ABC Television and LAFF RECORDS (Redd Foxx). This led to working on the set of Soul Train from 1971 to 1975 and then working with Bill Withers (“Lean On Me”) before moving back to South Carolina in the 80”s.
Mac now resides in Pelzer, SC, where at the age of ten he got his first taste of the blues when he learned to play his brother Leroy’s home-made guitar. Going back to his roots. Mac is serving up a mess of Blues with his own band, “Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues”. The band consists of Danny Keylon on bass and vocals, Austin Brashier on guitar and vocals, Max Hightower on keyboards, harmonica, guitar, and vocals, Mike Whitt on drums, and Mac Arnold on vocals, bass and Gas Can Guitars.
In 1965, having already established himself back home as a bass player, playing with J Floyd & the Shamrocks including James Brown on keyboard, Mac Arnold decided to take a trip to Chicago to check out the Blues scene. He was obviously impressed because 3 months later 24 year old Mac packed up and moved to the Windy City to expand his music career.
There was a club called the Green Bunny Club on 77 & Halstead St. where Mac first met his sax man A. C. Reed who at the time needed a bass player. Mac was the right man for the job. He played with A. C. for only a short time when he got a chance to play with Muddy Waters. He was asked to come out to Big John’s Grill on the North side to sit in with the band. Muddy asked him where he was from, he replied Greenville, South Carolina. Muddy said, “son, if you’re from the South, then you can play,” and so he did for over a year. His first gig with Muddy was the Mother Blues Club. The band’s line up was Luther Johnson on guitar, Sammy Lawhorn on guitar, Frances Clay on drums, Otis Spann on piano, Mac Arnold on bass, and Muddy on guitar and vocals. The band would play most of the show and Muddy would play the end of the set. On occasions he would play every other set. This gave the guys a chance to show their stuff. Mac had an edge because he’d been working with James Brown in the past. A lot of people had yet to of heard of James Brown, so when Mac would play that funky stuff, it got a lot of people’s attention. Mac is a left handed bass player, and if you listen to some of his early recordings, you will hear he was way ahead of his time.
The band would tour from the East to West Coast and all points in between. Cruisin’ in a 1965 Fleetwood Cadillac, all 7 band members and the driver (Bo) at the wheel. Bo could drive almost non-stop from St. Louis to San Francisco with no sleep. One time they were passing through Mississippi, they stopped in to see some of Muddy’s relatives and wound up doing a show. Mac stayed at Muddy’s cousin’s house, and when L. A. he would stay with George Smith and his family of 6 kids. While touring the West Coast, Mac fell in love with the California weather. When he returned to Chicago he told his wife “we’re moving.”
Mac talked to Muddy and told him he would give him time to find another bass player. Muddy wished him luck and said “he would have him back any time,” and that was it. Mac is one of the last surviving members of the Muddy Water’s era, and so Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues begins.
WNCW 88.7 FM at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, North Carolina interviewed Mac Arnold & Friends before the show at The Grey Eagle:
WNCW radio interview part 1
WNCW radio interview part 2
Same Old Place
Boogie Woogie
Screaming and Crying
Going Out Walking
I am the creator and site administrator at The Basement Rug. I have been collecting LP's and CD's for more than 30 years. I