pAtmacmusic

Music:

Member Since: 12/12/2007
Band Website: patmacmusic.com
Band Members:pat mAcdonald

-playful musical demons and a host of others-

Influences: ricky nelson, dr. seuss, twilight zone, LSD, hillbilly music, the ants, stones/kinks/lennon/dylandylandylan, jOHN LeE hOOKER, T Rex, jj cale, tom waits, mark sandman, chris whitley, eric mcfadden, mo rose, john parish, pj harvey

cracking his dad's codes, an adolescent bad haircut, women, an unsuspecting "jambox", sex, low notes, engineer boots, plywood, a reddish light, long loud soundchecks, sugary snaps, gibson's, hand sanded martin's, "the claw", cbg's, a drawbridge, all beautiful losers, misfits, and freaks he has known and loved.

-US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: 5/25/98

Shake, Rattle, and Please Buy My Product
Madison Avenue pays big bucks for tunes.
By John Marks-

Record company boss Miles Copeland recently invited nearly 100 songwriters to his chateau in the South of France for two weeks of music, foie gras, and fellowship. When songwriter pat mAcdonald showed up for the annual event, he was asked the same old question: Why in the name of Elvis Presley won't he let his songs be used in television commercials?

In 1986, Bausch & Lomb offered mAcdonald $150,000 for the rights to use his Top 40 hit "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" to advertise its Ray-Ban line of sunglasses. But the singer-songwriter, then fronting a band called Timbuk3, said no deal. A few years later, Clairol upped the ante to $450,000 for another of his songs, "Hairstyles and Attitudes." mAcdonald turned that down, too. And last year, the artist rejected a $500,000 offer from fast-food giant McDonald's, once again for "The Future's So Bright." The company hinted that it might go as high as a million, but mAcdonald still wouldn't budge--even though his only permanent address is a rented motel room in Austin, Texas. "I'm constantly feeling like somehow I have to justify my choice to people," says the scruffy, soft-spoken mAcdonald.

Often, the owner of the rights to the song can block its use. The family of Hendrix, for example, closely monitors the licensing of his music, frequently refusing the rights when requests are deemed inappropriate. Some, like mAcdonald, deny use altogether. This was so important to the songwriter that the last time he negotiated his contract with the Copeland Group, he had a clause inserted granting himself the right of refusal--a move that cost him other points in the contract, including money. Other artists are similarly stubborn: Neither Bruce Springsteen nor Paul Simon allows his music to be used in TV commercials.

Sounds Like: -TROUBADOUR OF STOMP-
"I've always been drawn to the lower notes on the guitar," says mAcdonald when questioned about his sound. His trademark is a unique dirtch of dark and murky blues boogie and sex-swamp. He is the epitome of an old school one man show with his custom made boot stomp box, electric semi-hollow guitar and a voice that is at once angelic and evil.

pat has the salt and pause of an elder statesmen when he speaks about his philosophy of music and life. When asked about his denial of over a million dollars in advertising, he makes a point to state that his own opinions on the subject should never condemn anyone else in their choices. "Everyone has to find their comfort zone," he says, "Music adds magic to a product being sold, but for me, the product robs magic from the music. I made a promise to myself a long time ago. It's good to keep promises you make to yourself." -Jason Broome, PERFORMERMAG.COM

-CRACK DANIELS-
Cracker Daniels (pat mAcdonald): guitar, harmonica, singin, bass, foot stomp;
Blacker Daniels (Eric McFadden): guitar, singin, mandolin, drums, hoots and hollers

About CRACK DANIELS:
What hideous whiskey-soaked love tryst begat the sons of Crack Daniels I fear to imagine. Somewhere in the backwoods of radio free America, their cracklin souls scratched out of the transistor speakers into our generation. Like time-warped Troubadours from a past with talent unlike todays, the sons of Crack Daniels have grown together in a new musical form. Cracker and Blacker create something entirely unique and apart from their own sounds. Together they create something that Morphine, Primus and Hank Williams would all hear in their waking nightmares. -recording artist Adam Mackintosh
MUSICAL SIBLINGS PAY TRIBUTE TO DEAD FATHER"Pappy liked to do him a little drinkin" says Blacker, the younger of the two half brothers.Born just days apart, "our time of conception was even closer" says Cracker, "You see ol' daddy Crack, rest his soul, and our mommas did a little partyin one night. and Blacker an' me...well, we're as close to twins as you can get, him bein colored an' all..."Blacker nods, adding "We never knew pappy, except from one old picture and the stories our mommas tell."Records show that the senior Daniels died of unknown causes prior to the birth of his sons, and the grief stricken mothers rented a Memphis flat and raised the boys together."Our mommas always spoke highly of him," says Cracker, "They say that even though pappy had a reputation for bein wild, he was a good man.

VIDEO COURTESY OF ERIC MCDONALD - Steel Bridge Songfest 4

-PURGATORY HILL-
About Purgatory Hill: (pat mAcdonald)
My mother, Heaven Williams (aka: Heaven Hill), rest her soul, was a distiller's daughter, and a tea-totaler all her life. She met my father, a rounder, a drifter, "a good client..." in the burlesque house she managed in Memphis, TN. She gave me the name "Purgatory" because it was, she said, "the nearest thing to Heaven I could find" and handed down the surname "Hill" (her stripper name) because she "liked it."

I suppose i fit the category "one-man band" because i make all the noise of a band (due in large part to the main instrument i play, the Lowebow or "Purgatory Hill Harp" built by the brilliant John Lowe, aka "Johnny Lowebow") on the suggestion of blues great Richard Johnson, and because, despite multiple identities, there's only one of me. I also play harmonica on a neck rack, and a stomp board developed by my mentor pat mAcdonald. (aka "Troubadour of Stomp")I recently recorded a CD called "The Blues of Sin" that will be out soon. (More details of my life will become available as they're created)

Record Label: SB United
Type of Label: Indie