Doc MacLean
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 1971 | AFM
Music
Press
Saturday night’s performance was a skillful weaving of songs, humor and stories into a spell binding traditional tapestry... The tools of the trade were some pretty old guitars (an old old Stella and a National Steel), blues harp, and washboard. Doc’s slide of choice was a 11/16 inch Mastercraft Socket Wrench... It was an excellent show and it had what I always appreciate in a performance, music that had room to breathe. (– Ron Wilson, 29 October 2012) - Wilson Review
For one night, the doctor was in the house, and, though there were only a handful of barflies to take in Doc MacLean's mojo, those who did left the Dakota Tavern with a musical remedy that traveled deep down to their souls... For more than 30 years, MacLean has spread the Delta-Blues gospel. He carries this musical tradition from town to town and summons the ghosts of Son House, Muddy Waters, and Blind Willie McTell. His long grey goatee, matching ponytail, and all-knowing eyes symbolize this journey.
Through his songs and his stories, attendees journeyed to a time before the cassette tape, a time before the eight-track. A time, if you will, even older than vinyl. The final destination: the heart of the Delta and the small town of Hollandale, Miss. For one night, the bluesman made you feel like you were there - standing on a street corner back in some Depression-era sleepy town south of the border, listening to one guy and his two guitars. This traveling musician, who keeps the blues alive, deserves a wider audience.
– David McPherson, No Depression, 7 March 2013 - No Depression
He asked for a straight-backed wooden chair, placed two guitar cases on the choir pews, and pulled out a six-string acoustic and a six- string resonator guitar fashioned from nickel-plated steel. With no microphone, no light show and no backup, the stripped-down visual alone set serious blues fans on the edges of their seats. Spiced with blues biography and youthful reminiscence, wrapped in gritty guitar licks and chords, MacLean’s full-voiced
lyrics evoked ghosts dancing around a slow southern fire...
His storytelling rambles between songs were those of a man unhurried by the pressures of the next soldout concert or the corporate expectations of the greedy few. After shaking hands with concert-goers as they left, MacLean packed up his guitars and headed down the blues highway, into the night.
– Susan Lowndes, Kelvington Times, 28 October 2013 - Kelvington Times
Part of longtime friend and producer Colin Linden's genius is accompanying MacLean's National Steel with mandolin, fiddle, bass and percussion to enhance these uncompromising performances. When MacLean sings about living the blues he knows what he's singing about... Larry Taylor, Stephen Hodges, Fats Kaplin and Michael Pickett are all on board, you should be too. (10/02/2006)
http://www.torontobluessociety.com/0610johnspicks.htm - Toronto Blues Society
A 10 track, all original album that from beginning to end is absolutely wonderful! (10/2006) www.mbblues.mb.ca - Manitoba Blues Society
Obviously, he resonates with the weird lonesome sound of the old country- that old country being the Mississippi Delta. As it should be, he presents a skipping and shuffling beat and his guitar seems bent on shaky, cool rhythm hooks while his voice projects like a distorted record player...
MacLean deftly captures the cool and realizes how to mysteriously grasp the spooky vibe that eludes many- a quality like channeling... Bring the dark night, rain, whiskey and some friends to enjoy Doc MacLean. (29/10/2006) - The Morning Star
Doc MacLean will be at the Gallagher Centre as the Trans Canada Blues Tour makes a stop. This is the blues of smokey backrooms, and mourning, and is the base of what the genre is all about... He is a contemporary artist who has remained true to the music he cut his blues teeth on. Narrow House is a CD well worth a listen. (09/2006) - Yorkton Enterprise
Narrow House is a love letter to the dirty blues of the southern USA.
Together, producer Colin Linden and Doc MacLean have a long history of playing the blues. Listening to their latest collaborative work (note: MacLean is the primary composer) conjures up images of Mississippi and blues joints built on foundations of toil and hardship...
A fine testament to the blues, a genre that needs to be recognized and revered. Four stars for a blues fan; a cautious three for a blues virgin. 10/18/2006
- The Manitoban
Art of Darkness: Edgy songwriting and rural rhythms from a Delta blues veteran.
MacLean revels in his shadowy National Steel guitar on a set of 10 originals that stroll down the sinister side of the bayou, combining blues, country, and a voodoo vibe into a murky, pungent stew... It's like an audio version of the movie Sin City, a flick that could of used any of these tunes on its soundtrack... MacLean is comparable vocally and musically to John Hammond Jr., But his strongest suit is an evocative, visual style of storytelling that captures your imagination in the same way Tom Waits' older material does. The elements congeal to create an emotive, blues-based album fans of Delta music's darker edge will love. - Blues Revue (April/May 2007)
Doc MacLean will be at the Gallagher Centre as the Trans Canada Blues Tour makes a stop. This is the blues of smokey backrooms, and mourning, and is the base of what the genre is all about... He is a contemporary artist who has remained true to the music he cut his blues teeth on. Narrow House is a CD well worth a listen. (09/2006) - Yorkton Enterprise
An exciting acoustic countryblues which will not quickly become tiresome... a balanced cd of top calibre blues work- there are not many which can rival it this year. MacLean has given the blues a new impetus which will stand the test of time. Someone to watch closely!
(Rootstime, January 2007) - Rootstime
This great-titled release has been a long time coming for one of the hardest-working men in Canadian blues... MacLean forges a moody, minimalist, Delta fog of traditional blues spliced with a modern twist... gutbucket rhythms, simple yet seemless instrumentation... MacLean is obviously a road-seasoned student of the acoustic masters and his thick-thatched arrangements and homegrown lyrics are proof of his authenticity. (Eric Thom, Penguin Eggs, January, 2007) - Penguin Eggs
Doc MacLean's Narrow House is a masterpiece of delta-style blues. The lyrics sound as if they were written 100 years ago and are gut-real. The music is truly moving and inspires you to dance, or just lie down and think about life. Doc is the real deal and this cd is a real keeper! I have played it every show since it arrived.
(Ron Dickenson, Buff Blues, CFRC, January 2007) - Buff Blues, CFRC
An exciting acoustic countryblues which will not quickly become tiresome... a balanced cd of top calibre blues work- there are not many which can rival it this year. MacLean has given the blues a new impetus which will stand the test of time. Someone to watch closely!
(Rootstime, January 2007) - Rootstime
“Appealing arrangements of harmonica, mandolin and steel guitar. MacLean tells great stories... Raw vocals... A road warrior with a weather-beaten larynx. He might not have the likeable voice contemporary blues artists exhibit, but MacLean is the real deal.”
– Erin Harde, The Leader-Post, 13 January, 2007.
- Leader-Post
Discography
Live with Big Dave McLean, CD, 2009
Narrow House, CD, 2006
Memphis Town, 45, 1989
Be What You Are, 45, 1987
Sam Chatmon & His BBQ Boys, LP, 1979
Photos
Bio
Son of a civil rights lawyer and a fiddle player, MacLean was by his early teens playing harmonica and washboard in coffeehouses and festivals, and on radio and television. In 1972 he formed a duo with Colin Linden, (now Grammy nominated producer and recent Dylan guitarist) and became a frequent opener for Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, Muddy Waters, and John Hammond. Famously, they traded a guitar for a 1948 Dodge, and set out to explore America– never looking back.
In his early travels Doc met many older musicians including Son House, Tampa Red, and Robert Pete Williams. “Who I am, what I do and what I carry, was gifted to me by the grandchildren of slaves,” says MacLean. “I’m a small link in a big, unbroken chain.” Youthful work included tours and performances with Peg Leg Sam the Medicine Show Man, Blind John Davis, Sunnyland Slim, Rev Pearly Brown, and Sam Chatmon. Recordings from this period were released on Chicago’s Flying Fish label.
In 2006 Doc MacLean released the critically acclaimed CD, Narrow House. Produced by Linden, the recording featured bassist Larry Taylor (Canned Heat) and drummer Stephen Hodges (Mavis Staples), who at that time were the core of the Tom Waits band. Driven by MacLean's distinctive vocals and bare fingers National guitar, Narrow House plotted an emotional remapping of contemporary, Delta rooted music (see Press). “Angola Prison Rodeo,” has since been covered by bands around the world.
During the last decade, MacLean has performed 200+ road dates annually– his National Steel Tour playing all parts of all ten Canadian provinces, two territories and 25 US states. In the process, the Tour itself became legendary. Ice roads to the arctic. Crazy, burning highways through the desert wilds. Hard travel, wrecks, and tough North American weather. And now, way over 1000 shows later, the Tour is reaching Africa. "No venue too large, too small, too grand or too humble." Even places lost in the folds of the map.
Appearing most often as a solo performer, Doc likes to say that he “tells songs and sings stories.” Over the years his storytelling has become a popular part of his show. Forty-five years ago Doc was playing Charlie Patton songs in Son House's living room. Today he's a blues vagabond, a traveller writing from the dark side of the highway: his resophonic, finger style slide guitar paying sonic homage to Patton, House and Big Joe Williams, his Lincoln more of a small home than a big car, his songs a celebration of a life lived fast and large on the Blues Highway.
2016 sees Doc back in the studio with Colin Linden producing, and a busy tour schedule now spanning two continents.
His legendary travels are well documented-
http://bigxblues.blogspot.com (2015)
http://vagabondblues.blogspot.ca (2014)
http://gotluckyblues.blogspot.com (2013)
http://bluesemergency.blogspot.ca (2012)
http://badboybluestour.blogspot.com (2011)
http://darkerwaysbluestour.blogspot.com (2010)
http://centurybluestour.blogspot.com (2009)
http://nationalsteelblues.blogspot.com (2008)
http://bigroadbluestour.blogspot.com (2007)
http://www.transcanadabluestour.blogspot.com (2006)
The National Steel schedule has included club and concert dates with Guy Davis, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, BB King, Duke Robillard, Downchild, Libby Rae Watson, Los Lobos, Johnny Winter and others. In Canada the Tour has seen him pair with Big Dave McLean, Michael Pickett, and Morgan Davis for headline theatre, concert, and festival appearances (to hear a live track, play "Jimmie Lee Jackson's Blues").
MacLean is equally comfortable at a festival workshop, priming a rowdy blues crowd, or telling a story in a hushed theatre. Radio and television appearances have included national programming on CNN Today, PBS Morning Pro Musica, BBC Earl Grey, CBC 90 Minutes Live, Touch the Earth, Morningside, Canada Live, and Saturday Night Blues.
Sonicbids calendar is not updated. Please visit the Tour blogs and https://www.facebook.com/docmaclean.deltablues for the most current tour info.
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