Masterful presentation of solo blues forms with topics from the deeply introspective to the hysterically funny.

15 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Delta Style, FOLK: Folk Blues



Details:
Armed only with a metal-bodied Dobro and 6- and 12-string guitars, Dave MacKenzie's newest CD, Solo, features modern blues done old-style. "Just about any of these songs, even the ragtime tunes, could've been cut with a band, but lately I've been re-listening to a lot of Lightnin' Hopkins and Lonnie Johnson. There's something about that one-guy-and-his-guitar approach that still appeals to a lot of people; you get the chance to really hear the song and let it do it's share of the work."

Solo started out as an answer to years of audience requests for acoustic versions of some of Dave's older songs. "But I wound up recording almost half an album's worth of new material. Whenever I get ready to make a record, that's when the new songs start showing up. I don't know, maybe there's something about the studio that attracts them."

Born in St. Louis, Dave learned from musicians there and in Memphis before moving on to Chicago in the early 70's and from there to L.A. in the early 80's. "I got to do a lot of pretty cool stuff during those times. I got to meet Furry Lewis and Bukka White, I warmed up for and got to know people like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters and later I was the band-leader for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. The funny part is that I must've had 10 or 12 of my songs recorded by other people before I even thought about making a record myself."

Since moving to Nashville in '89, Dave's issued 3 critically acclaimed recordings- Rats in my Bedroom, all new Slender Man Blues, and Old, New, Borrowed & Blue. One result is that artists including James Armstrong, Microwave Dave, Maria Muldaur and Nashville blues legend Johnny Jones have all picked songs off these albums to record themselves. This added exposure has also meant increased touring in the U.S. and Europe.

The new collection of songs includes That Rainy Day's Coming, inspired by elder blues-statesman of St. Louis Henry Townsend, Two Girlfriends, based on an idea by Willie McTell, and A Better Way, a country blues gospel song in the tradition of Blind Willie Johnson. Add to that If Jesus Comes Back (as a Mexican Man), with it's combination of ragtime guitar and religious speculation and the pro-reefer anthem Two Drags, and the result is an album that covers a lot of thematic bases.

"I'm not doing this to be any kind of preservationist or historian. The reason this music is still alive is because people can hear it for the first time and understand it; the basic subject matter never changes. It doesn't matter if you're a student or a salesman or a sharecropper, when you get your heart broken it always hurts. My song Back In The Day is kind of about that; younger people have it just as tough now as their grandparents did, just in a different way, and that's why the blues keeps attracting people."

With it's old time sounds and modern day sensibilities, Dave MacKenzie's Solo proves that that the country blues is still alive and kicking because, in the right hands, one guitar is more than enough to get the groove going.