⬇️ MAC ARNOLD ⬇️
(6CD)
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 1965, having already established himself back home as a bass player, playing with J Floyd and 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.
(6CD)
BIOGRAPHY
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 1965, having already established himself back home as a bass player, playing with J Floyd and 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.
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”.
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 and Plate Full O’ Blues begins.
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 and 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.
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