Doug MacLeod is a blues singer, songwriter and guitarist from New York, United States, born in 1946. He is known for acoustic blues rooted in the older blues tradition, with a style shaped by storytelling, fingerstyle and bottleneck guitar playing, and a rhythmic right hand built around his National guitar.

Early life and influences

MacLeod grows up with a difficult childhood and a severe stutter, and he turns to the guitar and singing as a way of finding his voice. He later lives in St. Louis, where segregation also shapes his outlook and playing. He learns from older blues musicians and carries that tradition forward in his own work.

He plays with and learns from George “Harmonica” Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. His formative approach is also guided by Ernest Banks, who teaches him to never play a note he does not believe and never write or sing about what he does not know about.

Playing style and songwriting

MacLeod is recognised for guitar skill, warm soulful vocals, wit and live performances that mix songs with stories. His songs often bring characters vividly to life, from ordinary people to well-known figures, and his style combines acoustic blues with elements drawn from jazz and electric blues. Before focusing on solo work, he also develops experience as a blues bass player.

Recording career

His debut album, No Road Back Home, appears in 1984 and includes “It’s the Blues”, with a spoken introduction from George “Harmonica” Smith. Over 24 years he releases 12 studio albums, several live records and two DVDs.

He releases his third album for Black and Tan Records, Where I Been, in 2006, along with the instructional DVD 101* Blues Guitar Essentials on Solid Air/Warner Bros. Black and Tan issues the live concert DVD The Blues in Me in 2007. His 13th album, The Utrecht Sessions, is recorded in the Netherlands over three days in February 2008 and features mostly MacLeod alone with his National Delphi guitar, an old 12-string Stella, spare percussion and double bass from Arthur Bont and Jasper Mortier.

Recognition and collaborations

MacLeod’s songs are covered by Albert King, Albert Collins, Coco Montoya, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy. They are also used in several TV films and in the series In the Heat of the Night. Blues musicians including Charlie Musselwhite, Carey Bell and Janiva Magness appear on his albums. Honeyboy Edwards praises his playing, and MacLeod also recalls complimenting Big Mama Thornton in 1972.

Broadcasting and writing

He hosts The Blues Highway, a weekly four-hour radio show for EuroJazz, from 1992 to 1994, and later presents Nothin’ But The Blues, a 10-hour weekend blues show on Los Angeles station KLON-KKJZ, from 1999 to 2004. He also serves as the voice of The Blues Showcase on Continental Airlines, contributes slide guitar to the Los Angeles opening of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, and writes the regular column “Doug's Back Porch” for Blues Revue Magazine.