Showing posts with label Mac Arnold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mac Arnold. Show all posts

Friday, May 22, 2026

Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues - Country Man

Album: Country Man
Size: 118,7 MB
Time: 51:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2009
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

1. I Ain't Sugar Coatin' (4:11)
2. Farmer (4:30)
3. This Ol' Tractor (3:11)
4. Country Man (4:33)
5. True To You (3:38)
6. Too Much (3:52)
7. If Walls Could Talk (3:30)
8. Holdin' On To Lettin' Go (5:05)
9. Scarecrow (4:13)
10. Cackalacky Twang (3:39)
11. Screamin' And Cryin' (3:10)
12. Mule For A Chevrolet (3:42)
13. Swing Me Back Home (3:47)

After years of playing bass with Chicago legends like Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, not to mention a stint in the Soul Train house band (he was also one of the show's producers) and a contribution to the theme of Sanford and Son, Mac Arnold moved back to his South Carolina home. But you can't keep a good bluesman down, and after his friends and neighbors kept asking him to perform, he put together his first band, Mac Arnold & Plate Full o' Blues. The musicians may be neighbors, but they're all first-rate players, and on their third album, produced by another Muddy Waters' alum, Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, they range from folky love songs and country-blues to Chicago urban sizzlers and blues-rock shuffles.

Arnold fronts the band with a warm, bluesy voice somewhere between Waters' shout and the low-down growl of Howlin' Wolf. He leaves most of the music to his bandmates, but they're up to the task. "I Ain't Sugar Coatin'" opens this up with a straightforward sardonic look at modern life, laying down the law to fathers who leave their families amidst rising prices and young men who wear their jeans so low you can see their underpants. Austin Brashier's guitar switches between rhythmic, fuzz-drenched chords and brittle lead lines. Margolin's lead guitar adds some fire to "Too Much," a blues-rock tune that sings the praises of a woman who's just too damn hot. Arnold's shouted vocal is full of gritty sexuality.

Arnold's famous for his homemade gas can guitars, instruments that have a surprisingly rich sound despite their humble origin. He plays a killer hook on "Cackalacky Twang," a bouncy dance number then turns in a short, sharp solo that showcases the instrument's high but surprisingly rich, treble-drenched sound. Arnold then does Waters' "Screamin' and Cryin'' country style, with his weathered vocal and Margolin's acoustic guitar taking things back to their roots. The album closes with the instrumental "Swing Me Back Home," and Country Man has just done that. letting the boys in the band show off their chops with Brashier's aggressive, stinging guitar and Arnold's jazzy, inventive bass playing stealing the show. /J. Poet, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Country Man mc
Country Man gofile

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Mac Arnold's Blues Revival - Live At The Grey Eagle

Album: Live At The Grey Eagle
Size: 126,1 MB
Time: 54:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

1. Gitty Up (4:15)
2. Back Bone And Gistle (5:46)
3. True To You (3:50)
4. Drivin' Wheel (5:20)
5. Ghetto Blue (6:37)
6. Screamin' An' Cryin' (6:53)
7. Sloppy Drunk (5:21)
8. Love Attack (4:54)
9. Big Boss Man (5:37)
10. Got My Mojo Workin' (6:08)

Southpaw bassist and South Carolina native Mac Arnold was only ten years old when he and his brother built a guitar out of a gas can, a couple strips of wood, a handful of nails, and some screen wire. Things just got better from there. Arnold played in J. Floyd & the Shamrocks (who frequently featured a young James Brown on piano) while still in high school, and officially began his professional career when he joined Charles Miller's band in the early '60s.

He moved to Chicago around 1965 and began gigging with saxophonist A.C. Reed before hooking up with Muddy Waters and his band in 1966. The Waters stint led to a fair amount of studio work, and Arnold played bass on several 1960s blues albums, including Otis Spann's The Blues Is Where It's At and John Lee Hooker's Live at Cafe Au Go Go.

In 1967 Arnold formed the Soul Invaders, who worked as a backing unit for B.B. King and the Temptations, among others. Arnold relocated to L.A. in the early '70s, where the session work continued (that's Arnold playing bass on the Quincy Jones-produced Sanford and Son theme song), and from 1971 to 1975 he was part of the set band for the Soul Train television show. A stretch backing up Bill Withers followed.

By the 1980s Arnold had tired of the road and moved back to South Carolina, settling in his hometown of Pelzer, where for all practical purposes he retired from the music business. A group of local musicians kept after him to start performing again, though, which led to Arnold eventually fronting his own band, Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues. In 2006 the group released the self-produced album Nothin' to Prove, officially credited to Plantation #1 Productions. /Biography by Steve Leggett, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Live At The Grey Eagle mc
Live At The Grey Eagle gofile

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues - On A Mission

Album: On A Mission
Size: 56,7 MB
Time: 24:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2025
Styles: Blues
Art: Front, back

1. Blues All Over You (2:44)
2. Dance The Blues Away (2:30)
3. I Am The Blues (3:38)
4. Love Story (3:17)
5. On A Mission (3:18)
6. Slider (2:47)
7. Swamps Of Louisiana (2:51)
8. Won't Tell The Truth (3:21)

Necessity is the mother of invention; Mac Arnold arrived at that realization early in his career. When he was a mere teenager, the Upstate South Carolina native fashioned a guitar out of a gasoline can, a broomstick and wires. He did so when is father prohibited him from buying a proper instrument. Fast forward nearly 70 years – a time in which Arnold played with James Brown, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann and John Lee Hooker – and he’s still doing things his own way. A champion of the indie and DIY aesthetics long before those terms were in common use, Arnold has self-released albums featuring him and his long-running band Plate Full O’ Blues.

Recipient of myriad awards from the Blues Foundation and other institutions, the 82-year-old Arnold has scaled back his activities to some degree, performing a bit less often than in previous years. But he’s still managed to turn out a fine new album, On a Mission. Featuring mainstays Austin Brashear and Max Hightower on guitar, the album – Arnold’s first in quite some time – serves up eight new original songs. With the assured musical firepower of his two guitarists plus the rhythm section of Mike Frost (bass) and drummer Rick Latham, for On a Mission Arnold sets aside his trusty gas can guitar, focusing solely on vocals. /Bill Kopp

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

On A Mission mc
On A Mission gofile

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues - Nothin' To Prove

Year: 2005
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:42
Size: 112,3 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Blues For You (5:17)
2. Nothin' To Prove (5:27)
3. Call Mac Arnold (3:31)
4. I Don't Know (3:10)
5. (Get On) Back To The Country (4:15)
6. Ghetto Blue (4:34)
7. Going Back Home (4:08)
8. The Truth (3:58)
9. She's So Mean To Me (8:57)
10. (Get On) Back To The Country, Part 2 (Live) (5:21)

Although he had played with some very renowned blues names back in the 1960s (and later served as the original associate producer for Soul Train), bluesman Mac Arnold did not get around to issuing his own album until 2006, with the arrival of Nothin' to Prove. Unlike his next album, 2008's Backbone and Gristle, Arnold sticks mostly to singing here (with some bass work as well), as his trademark "gas can guitar" does not make any appearances.

But for expertly played modern-day blues-rock, Arnold (along with his backing band, Plate Full O' Blues) has automatically leapfrogged to the front of the line with this inaugural release. Arnold also proves to possess a truly authentic blues-worthy voice, as heard on such standouts as the title track and the autobiographical "Ghetto Blue." Arnold has learned the blues first-hand by some of the genre's all-time greats, and his musical lessons have not been forgotten, as evidenced throughout Nothin' to Prove. /Greg Prato, AllMusic

Nothin' To Prove mc
Nothin' To Prove zippy

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues - Backbone & Gristle

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 75:01
Size: 171.7 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[ 7:12] 1. Love & Relations
[ 4:33] 2. U Dawg Gone Right
[ 4:55] 3. Backbone & Gristle
[ 3:30] 4. Blow Till You Blow
[ 4:09] 5. I Refuse
[ 6:27] 6. Gas Can Story
[ 4:37] 7. Gitty Up
[ 4:16] 8. Things I Don't Need
[ 5:41] 9. Buster
[ 4:39] 10. I Can Do Anything
[ 4:36] 11. The Garden Song
[ 4:41] 12. Wrong
[ 1:22] 13. Where I've Been
[ 5:59] 14. Mean To Me
[ 8:18] 15. I Can Do Anything (Live)

As the years pile up, we seem to be losing more and more authentic bluesmen. But one remaining virtual blues goldmine is Mac Arnold, a gentleman who over the years has played with the likes of John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters (and even has ties to soul/R&B, having played in a high school band with James Brown). Despite his impressive musical résumé, Arnold had never issued an album of his own until the arrival of 2006's Nothin' to Prove. Perhaps making up for lost time, he promptly issued a follow-up two years later, Backbone and Gristle. Like its predecessor, Arnold's sophomore effort features a backing band that sounds more akin to such blues rockers as Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jeff Healey than the aforementioned early blues icons. Case in point, such tracks as the title track and "Gitty Up," among others. Also of interest is "Gas Can Story," a voice/guitar ditty which sees Arnold recount how his "gas can guitar" was created (a picture of the instrument can be seen on the front cover of the album). Overall, Backbone and Gristle proves to be an interesting merger of both modern day and authentic blues sounds. ~ Greg Prato

Backbone & Gristle