Peterborough is going to get a rare taste of authentic Memphis blues when the Daddy Mack Blues Band performs in the Nexicom Studio at Showplace Performance Centre on Thursday, January 29th. Led by inspirational singer and guitarist “Daddy” Mack Orr, the band has been delivering no-frills urban blues for over 15 years.
With his raw but soulful vocals punctuated by sharp guitar leads, Orr has drawn inevitable comparisons to his musical hero, the iconic blues guitarist and singer Albert King. Brothers James and Harold Bonner (performing on rhythm and bass guitar) form the experienced nucleus of the band: born and raised in Memphis, the Bonners grew up immersed in the city’s R&B and blues sounds and have performed together for over 30 years.
Memphis, Tennessee was critical to the evolution of the blues. In the early 1900s, blues composer and musician W. C. Handy (known as the “Father of the Blues”) played at clubs on the city’s legendary Beale Street. In 1912, he published the song “Memphis Blues”, which codified the 12-bar blues style so prominent in popular music today — some even consider it to be the first blues song. Many legendary blues musicians originated or settled in Memphis, including B.B. King, Albert King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Little Milton, Memphis Slim, Mississippi John Hurt, and many others.
Born in Como, Mississippi in 1945, Orr was one of nine children. As a boy, he worked the cotton fields and never made it past the sixth grade in school. Although he always had a love for the blues and listened to Memphis blues guitarists on the radio, he only flirted briefly with the guitar when he was young.
“I had an old guitar and would mess around with it a little bit,” Orr recalls. “We’d go round to different people’s houses playin’ and they’d dance and gamble.”
At the age of 20, he moved to Memphis where he found work in construction and later as a heavy equipment operator. He also got married (he and his wife have since raised four children), taught himself how to fix cars, and opened his own auto repair shop — Mack’s Auto Repair on Jackson Avenue in North Memphis.
After many years repairing cars, Orr began to wonder if there was a better way of making a living.
“It was gettin’ kind of tough, all these new makes of cars,” he says, chuckling. “I tell you, figurin’ out what’s wrong with them cars sure will give you the blues.”
He was finally inspired to buy a guitar in 1990 and to learn how to play the blues — at the age of 45.
He quickly became a proficient player and, within three years, was performing around Memphis. One day, he was invited to play with the well-known Memphis blues band The Fieldstones. They were the house band at Green’s Lounge, the last great juke joint in Memphis (it burned down in 1996).
“They were playin’ at Green’s Lounge and they needed a guitar player,” Orr says. “I played with them that night and it was just a one-night deal. Then the next Saturday night, they called me on the phone and asked ‘You wanna come and play with us?’ I said okay, and I get down there and they say ‘We want you permanently’.”
Orr performed with The Fieldstones until the band disbanded in 1994, after which he formed the Daddy Mack Blues Band — along with ex-Fieldstones James and Harold Bonner.
All the while, he kept up with his day job at his auto-repair garage. It probably wasn’t uncommon for audience members to see the remnants of engine oil on his hands while he played.
In 1998, the Daddy Mack Blues Band became the house band for the Center for Southern Folklore on Beale Street (the centre relocated to Main Street in 1999), where they performed for locals and thousands of tourists. The band has since toured across the United States and Canada, including major blues festivals, and has played in Europe.
The band has recorded six well-received albums, including Fix It When I Can (1999), Slow Ride (2004), Bluestones (2006), Bluesfinger (2010), Pay the Piper (2012), and their latest, Blues Central, released in June 2014.
One of the highlights of Orr’s musical journey was an impromptu jam session with members of The Rolling Stones. The Stones were playing a show in Memphis in April 1999 and Howard Stovall, executive director of The Blues Foundation in Memphis, arranged a party for The Stones’ road crew at the infamous Rendezvous Restaurant (it also happened to be the birthday of Lil Gary, the Stones’ tour manager). Stovall invited the Daddy Mack Blues Band to play at the party. Orr and his band were on stage when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood walked in.
Now in his late sixties, Orr was most recently honoured with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker ceremony in 2011. In 2008, director Jim O’Donnell made a documentary called Plain Man Blues — Daddy Mack Orr’s Inspiring Story of Struggle and Triumph and, in 2010, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) magazine ran a feature story celebrating Orr’s musical success later in life.
Whether it’s learning how to fix cars, learning to play guitar, or learning a new language, Orr is an inspiration for everyone who wonders whether it’s too late to pursue their dreams.
“I was old when I started playin’. I was 45. But I always say better late than never,” he says. “You can do anything you want to do. You just got to put your mind to it.”
Despite his musical success, Orr remains true to his humble beginnings.
“I don’t believe I’ll ever get rich playin’ the blues,” he laughs.
Don’t miss this chance to give the Daddy Mack Blues Band a warm Peterborough welcome. After all, Orr already has a soft spot for Canada.
“I like Canada,” he says. “We were in Edmonton and we stayed for a week. Some places I like more than others, and Canada is one of them.”
