TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Mac Arnold, born in 1942 in Ware Place, South Carolina, is a powerhouse in jazz and blues whose career spans decades and coasts. Influenced by church music, he performed in high school with Jay Floyd and the Shamrocks, occasionally accompanied by a young James Brown on piano.
A bassist, a gas can, a slide guitarist, and a singer, Arnold moved to Chicago in the mid-1960s. He played with legends like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann, and later formed the Soul Invaders. In the 1970s, he helped produce the iconic Soul Train.
Returning to South Carolina, he resumed performing, and since 2007, The Handlebar in Greenville has hosted the Mac Arnold Cornbread and Collard Greens Blues Festival. His compositions include “Ain’t Sugar Coatin’,” “Brand New Chevrolet,” “Cackalacky Twang."
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.