Blues In Britain profiles and interviews Doug MacLeod before his UK tour:
“Doug’s storytelling has been honed on long shifts as a blues DJ and, later, in his award- winning column ‘Doug’s Back-porch’ in US magazines. His songs have real content and he makes no apology for the time he spends placing them in context; the introductions are sometimes longer than the songs – and twice as funny!
We have no recordings of the ‘patter’ of Doug’s blues precursors – but have his, to give us an insight into how blues songs and stories were once one and the same.…
…‘When I do my shows I say that this music was founded by singer-songwriters, these guys were the original singer songwriters. … and I’m a throwback to what they were, I just use one guitar and I pick with it and I bottleneck with it and that’s what the old guys did. I was doing a gig down in Kansas City and I’ve got a Honda Accord – I like it, it’s a nice comfortable car. It was one of those gigs were I had to bring my suitcase in to change clothes and then, when I got done with the gig, take off the clothes and put them back in the suitcase. The organiser came up to me and said, ‘Man, you’re just like the old guys; one guitar, one case – just like the old guys!’ I said, ‘Not really, that’s a Honda Accord out there, those guys were hopping trains!’…
…Doug always eagerly anticipates his tours to the UK, finding the audiences particularly knowledgeable, and looks forward to his shows here in November. He’s particularly looking forward to showcasing his excellent latest album Break the Chain and keeping alive the troubadour tradition.”
See the full interview in the November issue of Blues In Britain