Doug MacLeod
“Like all great blues men, MacLeod lives his music, and the songs are not just on the tips of his fingers and tongue, they are one with his being.”
– Blues Music Magazine
MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of a Doug MacLeod performance is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life.
Doug is a multiple Blues Music Award winner, most recently the 2017 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the Blues Blast Music Award for Male Artist Of The Year.
He is an international touring artist who writes and sings original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. He learned from the old masters and carries forward a valuable tradition.
As a youth Doug overcame abuse and a crippling stutter by turning to music. After picking up a guitar, and singing – he found his voice.
MacLeod’s playing landed him sideman gigs with George ‘Harmonica’ Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. Over 30 years, 21 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar instructional DVD and a live performance DVD, MacLeod has consistently earned raves. His songs have been covered by many artists including Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy. MacLeod’s songs have been featured in many TV movies and the hit show In the Heat of the Night. August Wilson requested his soulful slide guitar playing in the Los Angeles opening of “Gem of the Ocean”.
Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod’s music expresses life and times through an intangible, elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. Doug’s music, stories, and philosophy provide a healing that has helped others overcome the hardships of their lives.
Doug subscribes to the philosophies he learned from country bluesman Ernest Banks of Toano, VA. “Never play a note you don’t believe” and “Never write or sing about what you don’t know about.”
Walter Parks
For ten years, musician and writer Walter Parks toured the world and recorded as sideman/guitarist to Woodstock legend Richie Havens. Parks, a Florida native, presents a creative mix of swamp blues, folk and jazz delivered sometimes in an ambient style and sometime in a gritty-rootsy style. Parks’ repertoire is half originals and half covers that he performs on acoustic and electric guitars. As a solo artist Walter played the U.S., Canada, Germany and Spain. As guitarist for Mr. Havens, Parks played the entire world with notable concerts at Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall and The Glastonbury Festival in England. In 2014, Walter performed at Lincoln Center with Judy Collins for the Pete Seeger tribute concert. For fans of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen this would be a recommended show.
“Walter Parks is an extraordinary singer whose songs can break your heart as well as get you dancing. Lyrical and political, personal and otherworldly at the same time, transcendent as well as down to earth, Walter is a musical treasure, an artist of the highest caliber. To hear him is to be lifted into a mystical sphere. I adore him.” – Judy Collins
“A listen to Parks’ soulful Americana rock is to be immersed in warm guitar melodies, smoky vocals and troubadour narratives that gather strength with age.” – WNYC