About Me
MAC ARNOLD
A Life at the Center of
The Changing American Music Scene
MAC ARNOLD's musical career has placed him in the center of the many of the most significant places and events of the American musical milieu of the 1960's and 1970's. During the 1950’s and 60’s, the rural blues of the deep south were re-emerging in new forms which were often referred to as "electric blues" and "Chicago Blues"; and the "Chicago Blues" scene was increasingly impacting the rapidly shifting sounds of Rock and Roll Music. By the mid 1960’s, young musicians from both America and Europe were digging the electrified Chicago blues and coming to Chicago to experience the music first hand. Emerging Rock and Roll stars like Eric Clapton, Eric Burdon, Mick Jagger, and others were incorporating the roots-based electrified blues sounds of Chicago in to their own music. The years 1966-7 found MAC ARNOLD right in the center of it all as he lived and worked as a full-time musician in Chicago, playing with top notch bluesmen including MUDDY WATERS, JOHN LEE HOOKER, and OTIS REDDING.
By the end of the sixties, the “new†sound of Rock and Roll had emerged and the blues-influenced sounds of R&B, Soul, and Funk Music were at the top of the charts. Television executives in Los Angeles were quick to capitalize on the emerging sounds and in the early seventies SOUL TRAIN, which featured live in-studio performances by the top artists from around the country, quickly emerged as one of the top television shows. Always on the cutting edge, MAC ARNOLD relocated from Chicago to LA and was soon working as part of the SOUL TRAIN team. Mac’s life and career in LA kept him at the center of the popular culture and his time in California included work as an Engineer for ABC Television, work with the popular television program SANFORD AND SON, and playing music with BILL WITHERS (of “Lean on Me†fame).
From Chicago to Los Angeles, MAC ARNOLD was directly involved at the core of some of the most influential bands, recordings, and television programs which had a major impact of Popular Culture of the 1960’s and 70’s. When Mac “retired†and returned home to South Carolina his musical life and musical friendships across America gave him a unique insight into American musical history. But….Mac’s musical career was not over yet. At age 64, MAC ARNOLD is still performing and recording Blues Music which is reaching new audiences and new generations of music fans across America. Mac writes, sings, and performs with gripping emotion and passion, which have been part of "blues music" for almost a century. He possesses a natural charisma and stage presence which continues to create new fans of all ages. In addition to his musical prowess, Mac Arnold is intent on “giving back†and “planting seeds for the futureâ€. As his stage and recording career continues to ascend, Mac enjoys going into the schools and using blues music to connect with a new generation of young students, encouraging them to work hard, stay in school, and pursue their dreams. For Mac remembers his life as one of 13 children growing up on a rural farm in South Carolina. As Mac tells the school children, he is proud that he stayed in school, got his education and was able to confidently and successfully pursue his dreams playing blues music across America. With a musical life which began in small clubs near his birthplace in Pelzer, South Carolina and led to the pinnacle of popular music including work with MUDDY WATERS to the television studio set of SOUL TRAIN, Mac Arnold, at age 64, has a lifetime of stories to tell and is winning new fans as he performs with his band PLATE FULL O’ BLUES at clubs and festivals across our land.
Read more about MAC ARNOLD and his life in music in the paragraphs below:
MAC ARNOLDS's RURAL ROOTS and THE MOVE TO THE CITY:
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.
THE CHICAGO BLUES SCENE:
During the 30's, 40's, and 50's, increasing numbers of blues musicians from the rural south moved to the Windy City seeking to make a living. In Chicago, the rural delta blues merged with the more uptown "electric blues" to create a unique sound referred to as "Chicago Blues". As the decade of the sixties dawned, "Chicago Blues" was a well-known phenomenon and young musicians from across America and around the world began seeking out the roots based musicians who were playing the south side clubs on a nightly basis. Rock and Roll Music was undergoing a rapid transition and young aspiring musicians like Eric Clapton, Eric Burdon, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop were in Chicago seeking out blues legends like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Otis Spann. Chicago was giving birth to a new era in electrified blues-based rock and roll music in the mid 1960's and right in the middle of it all was MAC ARNOLD. In 1966-67, MAC ARNOLD was heavily involved with the Chicago Blues Scene and playing and recording with MUDDY WATERS, JOHN LEE HOOKER, OTIS SPANN and other legendary bluesmen. For over a year, Mac toured across the country as a member of Muddy Waters band and came in daily contact with the top musicians, record producers, and studio executives who were the movers and shakers in American music.
FROM CHICAGO TO L.A.
As the decade of the sixties ebbed, a new sound was emerging and Mac was at the forefront as electric blues, soul, and funk were becoming a focal part of America's musical vocabulary. Building on his early success with MUDDY WATERS, JOHN LEE HOOKER, OTIS SPANN, and others, MAC ARNOLD formed his own band, THE SOUL INVADERS and continued developing the new sounds were which influencing the directions of Rock and Roll throughout America and Europe. Mac Arnold and the Soul Invaders regular backed up influential musicians such as THE TEMPTATIONS, B.B. KING, and others. MAC ARNOLD enjoyed his years in Chicago but by the end of the decade, he was once again ready for new challenges (and for warmer weather!) ......In the early seventies, Mac Arnold made a move that would continue to keep him in the center of the rapidly changing American music scene. He left his successful career in Chicago and relocated to Los Angeles, California where he began working with ABC Television and LAFF records. Among his many musical adventures was playing bass on the soundtrack for the theme music of the popular sit-com SANFORD AND SON, (featuring RED FOXX). One of the most influential television programs in regards to popular music during that time was SOUL TRAIN and soon Mac Arnold was working regularly on the set of SOUL TRAIN where he encountered essentially all of the top recording artists of that time. During the seventies, Mac Arnold also began playing with BILL WITHERS whose song "Lean on Me" topped the charts and led to numerous recording and performing opportunities.
RETURNING TO HIS RURAL ROOTS:
In the 1980's, Mac Arnold had spent 15 years intertwined with the core of American popular music. His musical adventures had taken him far from the rural roots of his upbringing on a farm in Greenville County South Carolina to the hustle and bustle of Chicago and California. In the early 80's, Mac decided to leave California and return to SC and the slower pace of life he'd enjoyed as a child. He retired from his career as a professional musician and worked locally in various capacities. As the dawn of a new century approached, Mac was enjoying life on the farm. Soon, a couple of young blues musicians in SC learned of Mac Arnold and his unique musical heritage and began spending time with Mac as often as possible. Eager to hear his first-hand accounts of the blues music, blues musicians, and the music industry, they soaked up everything they heard from Mac and soon they began encouraging Mac to begin playing publicly again. Max Hightower (currently a member of Mac's band, Plate Full O'Blues) was most influential in continuing to vist Mac and encourage him to begin playing publicly again. Mac was reluctant at first but due to Max Hightower's persistence, Mac finally agreed that if he could assemble a first-rate group of musicians who lived up to Mac's high standards, he'd consider coming out of retirement for a few local performances. After several months of arduous rehearsing, Mac decided the group was ready.
A SKYROCKETING NEW CAREER:
Mac and his new young group booked a few small local gigs and were shocked at the overwhelming response their stage performances garnered. Bookings continued rapidly, and with each performance, Mac Arnold and Plate Full O'Blues confidence grew. In only a few months, Mac Arnold and Plate Full O' Blues were being contacted for performances in an increasingly wide geographic area. To deal with the increasing requests and opportunities the band hired Belinda Humphries as manager and in just a matter of months the band moved began receiving national attention and touring on a much wider geographic basis. Less than a year after the band formed, the band performed at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis TN and completed their first recording project. In that same year, Mac was nominated for (and later received) the SC Folk Heritage Award, and a documentary film on Mac's life and return to music was underway. As 2006, drew to a close, Mac Arnold and Plate Full O' Blues acquired a touring bus which proved crucial on a historically significant musical tour of the Delta region including gigs at the prestigious GROUND ZERO JUKE JOINT in Clarksdale Mississippi (owned by actor MORGAN FREEMAN) and also B.B. KINGS music club on BEALE STREET in MEMPHIS TN
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE:
As 2007 begins, work on a documentary film about Mac's life continues and his performance schedule for the year is already booking up rapidly. At age 64, MAC ARNOLD and his band PLATE FULL O' BLUES are quickly emerging as one of the top "new" blues performers in the country. Never one to live in the past, Mac Arnold is continuing to write new material, which is reaching new and younger audiences across the country. Mac is insistent on "giving back" and doing more than just playing music. Throughout his career, Mac Arnold has sought to make a difference......a difference not only in American's music but a difference in the lives of all those he's come in contact with through the years.
Today, Mac Arnold is working with state and national educators to take blues music into the schools and to encourage young students to stay in school and to explore new opportunities..... much as Mac Arnold did when he left his rural farm in SC and ventured up to Chicago some 40 years ago.
From the classroom to performance and festival stages across the country, Mac Arnold projects a positive image of hard work, good times, and the best in blues music for today's world.
Mac is now enjoying his new-found success and looking forward to bringing roots-influenced blues music to a wider audience in the years to come.
To learn more about Mac Arnold and to stay in touch with new developments in his touring and recording career, visit his website at:
www.macarnold.com
Mac Arnold
Serving Up a Mess of Blues for Five Decades
..........and counting !!!!
