The Doug Macleod appreciation thread

Howlin Wolf, Smokestack Lightening. Crappy recording, the real deal.
Get  "Rockin Chair"  Digitally fixed up so the sound is much better. A must in any serious blues collection. Watch some videos of his performances. The guy was a high wire act. Look into his bio. He was also amazingly progressive.

I love Doug Macleod! He carries on the tradition in a superb way.
I saw him live at the Blues Night in Heerlen many years ago. It was a wonderful evening. The program also included a young Carmen Gomes, later in the evening I saw Macleod and Gomes talking, she was listening to every word he said with utmost concentration. Judging from her recent albums I think she has put whatever advice he gave her to good use.
By the way, her albums are on special offer this week at https://www.soundliaison.com/
Check out ''Sings the Blues'' and the One microphone recording " Don't you Cry'' lovely to hear the tradition of ''low key'' blues being carried on.

Doug MacLeod is a bona fide living breathing Blues Legend! The Blues is so totally in his veins I have played his music for people then when they asked showed em the album and then watched their reaction when they saw he's a white guy. Because such killer down home blues, got to be black. Ha! Talent knows no color. The Blues knows no color. We all get the blues.

His AudioQuest records are fantastic, marred only slightly by their trick of using all AudioQuest wire in the recording chain. So it has that slightly thin leading edge hyped lack of warmth and palpable feel and overall HiFi sound that is so AudioQuest. Which of course means some will love it. And anyway is pretty cool, as the albums are a heck of a lot cheaper than the cables and a whole lot easier to hook up too! Lol!

Sound quality-wise, and maybe music quality as well, my favorite is the Reference Recordings double-LP 45 Exactly Like This. One night browsing UTube found myself listening to Serious Doin' Woman. Now most songs I need to hear a couple times to really get into it. Very seldom come across one where the first time it really grabs me. Even on a high end system. Just hardly ever happens. Serious Doin' Woman though, the conversational intro, the beautifully paced story-telling, that gorgeous National (?) guitar, craftsmanship positively oozing out of it as if the man is fine tuned down to his fingerprint ridges effect on the strings, man it just draws me in and holds me in its spell. 

This was around this time last year and put me on a mad scramble trying to buy the last copy as the combination of low-volume pressing and Christmas shopping had them running out everywhere. Very long story but I wound up with two copies! Did I send one back? No way! 

The man is some kind of musical genius. Totally feels it, and the feeling comes through in the performance. Find Your Right Mind, that last note for some reason, the way it holds off or something, who knows but that one freaking note it just tears at the heart.

So anyway yeah, great idea for a thread! 

Thanks!

MacLeod fan here...genuine heartfelt music with a nice singing voice

One of the reasons that I started this thread is because I think Doug is a tremendously talented musician. Playing blues guitar myself, I have a great appreciation for his talent and his skill set on the guitar. To add his killer vocal ability and you have something quite special, imho.

If we would all only listen to "the real deal'' (and the real deal meaning dead and gone) the music would vanish. Doug is keepin the tradition alive in a superb way. Another younger example is Kelly Joe Phelps.

Btw I am a big fan of Howlin' wolf

Doug MacLeod is The Man. The blues master. Songwriting, guitar playing, vocal talent, the man has it all. 

Really clean recordings. I enjoy Macleod and Harry Manx for the original and best in acoustic blues.

I know this thread is aging fast.  What a great thread though.  I just had to pop in late to the Doug MacLeod party.  

I bought a $10 Doug MacLeod video guitar lesson a year ago.  It was amazing.  Because of my skill level, I scooped up about 3-4 things that are now metabolized in my playing--despite the fact that he dosed out 3-4 hundred nuanced guitar moves.  

He seems committed to the passionate principle, Believe every note you play.  

Now, to the sound quality.  Wow.  His records sound gorgeous.  Robert Johnson would've killed for this sound quality. 

It's 3 months later and I'm still hanging out here alone in the Doug MacLeod appreciate thread!  At least I have him playing over the hifi.  Cheers!

@jbhiller   Not alone! But unfortunately also not in a crowd, by the look of it....too bad. I had hoped this thread might have been a bit more popular, but I guess it jives with Doug's popularity...which is IMO...a shame!

@daveyf , good!! It’s interesting how well he’s recorded too.
I’ve tried to play slide guitar, in particular in the Delta style. I’m not good. I do know a resonator sounds and Doug MacLeod’s records have those types of tones and timber-matching nuances that sound realistic and tasty to my ear. Plus he’s a monster player.

@jbhiller  Yes, Doug is a monster player... There are a few out there, not getting much attention these days. Funny how some monster players still keep flying under the radar. I know a few myself. 
BTW, I am listening to Ed Sheeran right now...he's a monster player who gets a little of the recognition he rightly deserves, IMO.