Biography

-2011-

MAC ARNOLD has had an amazing career. Starting out in South Carolina in a band that sometimes included James Brown, he made his mark in the 1960’s as a Chicago Bluesman, playing and recording with giants like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Tyrone Davis, Otis Redding and B.B. King. In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles where he worked with his friend Don Cornelius on Soul Train, played bass on the Sanford & Son TV show, and branched out to do production, camera and editing work at major studios. In 1990 he moved back to South Carolina, where he took up organic farming and eventually hooked up with the musicians who would become Plate Full O’Blues.
In April, 2010, Mac and Plate Full O’ Blues kicked off their fourth annual Collard Greens and Cornbread Blues Festival to benefit their ICanDoAnything.org Foundation, which supports music and art in the schools. They started with some of the band’s original songs, before bringing up Muddy Waters Band alumni Bob Margolin and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and Fabulous Thunderbirds singer/harpman Kim Wilson for some deep, classic blues. The crowd was exhuberant, the musicians were having a ball, and the spirit of the Blues was a palpable presence in the room. LIVE AT THE GREY EAGLE is a record of that magic night.