Reference Recordings Signs Blues/Roots
Singer-Songwriter Doug
MacLeod
Label Debut Album, There’s a Time,
Set for Release March 12
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Reference Recordings announces the
signing of blues/roots singer-songwriter Doug MacLeod, and a March 12 release
date for his label debut album, There’s a Time.
Produced by Doug MacLeod and Janice Mancuso and recorded at Skywalker
Sound, the “baker’s dozen” tracks on There’s a Time showcase his
soulful vocals and trademark guitar sound backed by Denny Croy on bass and Jimi
Bott on drums. Acclaimed for their quality audio recordings, Reference will also
release the new album on a 200-gram vinyl two-LP set, half-speed mastered and
pressed at Quality Record Pressings (QRP), as well as on
CD.
“Making this album was different than any other one I’ve done
in the past,” recalls MacLeod about the sessions. “They put Jimi, Denny and me
on this huge soundstage at Skywalker Sound in Marin County and we sat around in
a circle where we could see each other. We played live, no overdubs, just three
guys playing some music together.
“Simply put, Jimi and Denny are two of the finest musicians I
have ever had the pleasure to make music with. I’ve been known to change
arrangements on the spot: add a bar here, take away a bar there. I go with the
feeling of the moment. Both Jimi and Denny have this uncanny ability to follow
that - even under what could have been pressure circumstances for other
musicians.”
A perennial Blues Music Award nominee, MacLeod is currently
nominated for “Acoustic Artist of the Year.” Doug is a throwback musician in the
great tradition of the traveling bluesman from the genre’s classic era, having
apprenticed with some of the best as a sideman with such legends as Big Joe
Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Big Mama Thornton and George
“Harmonica” Smith. During that time, he developed his unique, unorthodox and
powerfully rhythmic acoustic guitar style, which he puts to great use on
There’s a Time playing on a variety of guitars with such pet names
as “Moon” (a National M-1 Tricone), “Little Bit” (a Gibson C-100 FE) and “Owl”
(a National Style “O”), plus a National El Trovador
12-String.
The other element of Doug’s style is his remarkable ability
as a storyteller, another trademark of the classic itinerant blues musician.
Listening to the songs on There’s a Time is like attending a
master class on storytelling, as MacLeod weaves tales that are visceral,
insightful and often humorous (as on the songs, “My In-laws Are Outlaws,” “St
Elmo’s Rooms and Pool” and “Dubb’s Talkin’ Religion Blues”).
Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod’s songs are
based primarily on his own life and experiences, instilled with the spirit one
particular influential bluesman once told him: “Never play a note you don’t
believe, and never write or sing about what you don’t know.”
“If you’re speaking honestly, then I believe you’re coming
from your heart,” MacLeod says. “And if you’re coming from the heart, then I
believe your chances of getting to another heart are real good. If you can get
to the heart, then you can get to the soul, and I think that’s where songs like
to live.”
In a career that spans over 30 years, Doug MacLeod has
recorded 19 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar
instructional DVD and a live performance DVD. His songs have been covered by
such artists as Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy.
Two of his songs were on Grammy-nominated albums by King and Collins. He’s
co-written tunes with Dave Alvin and Coco Montoya, and his songs have been
featured in many TV movies, as well as the hit TV series, “In the Heat of the
Night.”
From 1999 to 2004, Doug hosted “Nothin’ but the Blues,” a
very popular weekend blues radio show on Los Angeles’ KLON-KKJZ. He has also
been the voice for “The Blues Showcase” on Continental Airlines and contributed
his soulful slide guitar playing to the Los Angeles opening of the August Wilson
play, “Gem of the Ocean.” For 10 years, he penned “Doug’s Back Porch,” a regular
feature column in Blues Revue, in which he shared his humorous and
insightful stories with the magazine’s readers. In 1997, he won the Golden Note
Award for his Audioquest Music album, You Can’t Take My Blues; and
in 2006 Solid Air/Warner Bros. released Doug’s guitar instructional DVD,
101 Blues Guitar Essentials.
I just received the Reference Recordings label debut, There's A Time, by Doug MacLeod. This release will be released on March 12, 2013 in both CD and half speed mastered, 200-gram vinyl. The recording opens with Rosa Lee, a light shuffle tune featuring MacLeod on an open D tuned national Reso-Phonic. Next up is Black Nights, a smooth acoustic blues and not only does MacLeod shine on vocal but also really digs in on some nice blues riffs on his Gibby C100FE. The Up Song has a Hawaiian sound to in with vocal qualities and a National El Travador 12 string. The Entitled Few is a track about using the blues handicapped parking card. Played on A National Style O, this sound terrific with vocals delivered more as a spoken shout. A Ticket Out is a Piedmont Style track in open D on the Reso-Phonic. Run With the Devil, again with the spoken track as a story, features some pretty cool slide work on the Style O. St. Elmo's Rooms and Pool is one of my favorite tracks on the release. Again delivered in a somewhat spoken manner, MacLeod's vocals suck you into this track. With light breezy guitar work this is one of the most entertaining tracks on the recording. East Carolina Woman is a traditional blues style number with updated delivery. MacLeod plays a pretty nice slide solo on this track on his O tuned to D. Dubb's Talkin' Religion Blues, another talkin blues number, is pretty cool with Cotten pickin' under the dialogue. The final track, Ghost has a eerie kind of swampy sound with vocal and guitar call and response. This is an interesting acoustic blues release that features interesting vocal styling and cool guitar work as well as some very distinct guitar sounds.
