Occupation(s) Musician Name Mac Arnold Website www.macarnold.com | Instruments Bass guitar Genres Blues | |
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Born June 30, 1942 (age 81)
Ware Place South Carolina, United States ( 1942-06-30 ) Labels Plantation One Productions Similar People Bob Margolin, AC Reed, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Otis Spann, Paul Reddick | ||
Years active 1965–1990s, 2006-today | ||
Mac arnold plate full o blues cackalacky twang calais 2010
Mac Arnold (born June 30, 1942), is an American blues musician from South Carolina.
Contents
- Mac arnold plate full o blues cackalacky twang calais 2010
- Tedxgreenville 2012 mac arnold plate full o blues blues
- Early years
- Later years
- Awards and recognition
- Music in schools
- References
Tedxgreenville 2012 mac arnold plate full o blues blues
Early years
Arnold was born in Ware Place South Carolina, one of 13 children born and raised on a sharecropper's farm.
His musical journey began in the 1950s when he and his brother Leroy fashioned a guitar from a steel gas can, broomsticks and wood, nails, and screen wire. His early career included working with a young James Brown in the band, J. Floyd & the Shamrocks. Arnold moved to Chicago in 1965, where he worked with A.C. Reed prior to joining Muddy Waters' band in 1966. Arnold appears on the November 1966 live recording with Muddy released in 2009 as Muddy Waters - Authorized Bootleg.
He formed the Soul Invaders in 1967, finding work backing up B.B. King, The Temptations, and others. His studio work in the 1960s includes playing bass on several notable blues albums, including Otis Spann's The Blues Is Where It's At, and John Lee Hooker's Live At Cafe Au Go Go. He performed in various session work after moving to California in the 1970s. Arnold's distinctive bass line can be heard on the theme for the TV show Sanford and Son.
His TV work also included a four-year gig as part of the set band on Soul Train.
Later years
By the 1990s, Arnold had grown weary of the road life and returned home to Pelzer, South Carolina and virtual retirement from the spot light until 2006 when he was convinced to front his own band, Plate Full O' Blues. Arnold's return to the stage was the subject of a documentory, Stan Woodwards final film, Nothing to Prove: Mac Arnold's Return to the Blues.
In 2013, Arnold opened his own restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina's historic West End. Despite much local success, he decided to close the restaurant in August 2017 to once again concentrate on music, especially after his induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Awards and recognition
Music in schools
Arnold and the band support the preservation of music education in public schools through the, "I Can Do Anything Foundation", an organization that was started following the release of a song by the same name, written by Mac Arnold and Max Hightower and performed by Plate full O' Blues.