MISSISSIPPI MACDONALD
MacDonald knows tradition. He’s been to Al Green’s church and heard him preach. Been to Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios in Memphis, where the great records on the Hi Label were recorded. He’s seen Jerry Lee Lewis kick over his piano stool, met B.B. King and Pinetop Perkins, Otis Clay and Sam Moore. Big Joe Turner told him to listen to Albert King. In 2008, MacDonald was a prime mover in finally getting a stone for the previously unmarked grave of soul legend O.V. Wright.
He’s been nominated three times in the British Blues Awards, and hit the top spot in the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association’s charts more than once. He’s had the support of Paul Jones on BBC Radio 2. He’s had the thumbs-up from Blues Magazine in The Netherlands, and from the Washington State Blues Society.
Previously Mississippi has made six albums: Devil’s Chain (2014, with The Cottonmouth Kings), American Accent (2015, with The Cottonmouth Kings), Dress For The Money (2016, with The Cottonmouth Kings), With The Soul Fixers (2017, with Steve Bailey and The Soul Fixers), Shake ‘Em On Down (2018, with Steve Bailey), This Is How It Is (2020).
Together they chart his evolution as a musician and his ever-broadening musical palette. He sings, and plays acoustic and electric guitar. Currently, his band is Phil Dearing (rhythm guitar – he also produces MacDonald’s studio recordings), Elliot Boughen (bass) and Mark Johnson-Brown (drums).
MacDonald has arrived at the centre of a potent musical crossroads – where blues and soul meet. Not only is his thinking along the lines of The Black Keys, his whole ethos is simpatico with the roster of Jack White’s Third Man label – a thrilling present symbiotically drawing from the past.
Of his latest album Do Right, Say Right Macdonald says “It’s modern, it’s not musical archaeology,” says London-based soul-blues stylist Mississippi MacDonald of his music. “It celebrates a fantastic tradition. It’s soul-blues, and you’ve got to put your best into it.”
- Album Do Right, Say Right has so far achieved –
No.1 IBBA chart – November, and is no. 15 in the IBBA most played albums of 2021.
No.1 RMR UK Album chart (3 weeks Dec-Jan)
No.7 RMR (US) Contemporary Blues Chart
No.12 RMR (US) Blues Chart
No.18 Living Blues (US) Chart – Dec 21
No.8 Blues in The South – in the top 20 albums of 2021
No.7 Rush on Rock – in the top 10 Blues Albums of 2021
No.10 Australian International Blues Chart – Dec 21
N0.9 HRH Rock Show Albums of 2021
- Press: Blues in Britain Magazine feature / November 21. Reviews have been in Blues Matters, Blues In Britain, Rock’n’Reel, Blues Enthused, Living Blues (US), MNPR, Rock’n’Load, Rock and Blues Muse, Rock at Night, Get Ready To Rock, Rawramp, Blues in The South, De Blueskrant (NL), HRH Blues.
