The screeching guitar, the chime of snares and the gritty blues sound that is all too familiar to the American southland has arrived in Whistler once again.
Wes Mackey is not a household name in North America, but perhaps soon it will be. After almost 50 years of jamming on a blues riffs around the world, Mackey is finally emerging as one of the premier blues musicians today.
“You know, I’ve been playing blues for a long time and my career really only picked up when I was 65,” said Mackey in between sets at Whistler’s Mallard Lounge.
“Now I’m busier than ever playing at festivals in Europe and in all the hotels here in Vancouver and the states.”
Born and raised in South Carolina, Mackey has spent most of his life traveling with music. He originally started off playing small gigs for 50 cents and a chicken sandwich.
It was clear early on that Mackey wasn’t your run of the mill blues player. After hooking up with great bands that backed John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed, Mackey soon took to another path that would lead him to move north and to a career he could have never imagined.
“When I first came to Canada it was a much different blues scene than it is nowadays,” said Mackey. “So as time went on I had to come up with new sounds that people, mostly young people, were into. I mean, I’ve played it all country, jazz, soul and lately mixing into the rap and R&B. But throughout my career I’ve been able to travel everywhere and make all kinds of different music. “
Mackey’s career started to take off in the later half of his life, and he found himself playing in hot clubs and five star venues in European countries such as Russia and Iceland.
In the early 2000s Mackey returned to his original sound and dedicated all of his time to blues and soul music, which culminated in the cart-topping Second Chance album. He released another album in 2005 called Mr. Blues, which sent him on a worldwide tour, catching the eyes of many fans throughout Europe.
His latest release, Beyond Words, has launched Mackey into the limelight and has turned him into a global sensation.
“Just last summer I got a call literally in the middle of the night,” said Mackey. “It was my agent from Europe and he said ‘Wes, you have to get over here right away.’ There was this festival in the south of France and the headliner had taken sick, so they wanted me to play for this town’s festival.
“I played one show and they ended up keeping me for five more shows. Once I got back my agent called me again and said that the town where I played the festival loved it so much that they wanted me to write them a theme song for their town. It was Lamanon, France.”
Mackey indeed wrote the theme song for Lamanon and they made him an honorary citizen at the Des Alpilles L’am Du Blues festival.
Mackey has left an imprint of his music everywhere he has been and shows no signs of slowing down.
Most recently, Mackey collaborated with one of Canada’s breakout rap artists, Cityreal. They released two original songs on Cityreal’s debut album The Beginning, which has been nominated in the Best Hip-Hop/Rap CD category at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
Catch Wes Mackey’s blues sounds tonight (Thursday, Feb. 10) at the Mallard Lounge in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. His sets run from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to midnight.
Stay tuned to www.westmackey.com for future Whistler gigs at the Mallard.
