Doug MacLeod came to visit us for a second time with a performance at KNKX’s new downtown Seattle studio.

While he is now an acoustic bluesman, earlier in his career he worked for many years as a sideman playing electric guitar for blues legends Big Mama Thornton, Lowell Fulson, Pee Wee Crayton and many others. He’s released 25 studio albums and is a multiple Blues Music Awards winner, including 2023 Acoustic Artist of the Year.

During the pandemic he worked with writer Debra B. Schiff to produce a “blues murder mystery” novel called Murder at the Crossroads, set in the Mississippi Delta.

As a singer/songwriter he has been telling stories onstage for decades, and for 10 years he wrote the column “Doug’s Back Porch” for Blues Revue Magazine, so this project came naturally to him. With all the things he witnessed during his time on the road with blues bands, MacLeod had plenty of detail to add to the book.

MacLeod’s guitar style is intricate and hearkens to earlier days of blues when players like Robert Johnson learned how to make one acoustic guitar sound like a full band. One teacher in particular, an obscure and unrecorded bluesman from Virginia named Ernest Banks, passed along his knowledge of blues guitar, importantly admonishing MacLeod to “never play a note you don’t believe.”

Macleod’s latest studio recording, Raw Blues 1, came out in March of 2023, and he said Volume 2 will be out soon. He was in the Northwest to do some work with United by Music North America.

UBMNA is a Gig Harbor, Wash.-based nonprofit organization that works with neurodiverse adults who demonstrate exceptional musical talent. The artists are paired with professional musician mentors who coach them to perform with the United by Music band at venues throughout the U.S.

Enjoy the music and stories of Doug MacLeod in this exclusive performance in KNKX's Studio X. Bluesy, beautiful and always honest, MacLeod's music left some of our studio audience wiping away tears.

Songs:

1. Money Talks
2. A Soul to Claim
3. Roll Like a River