Sean “Mack” McDonald

Sean “Mack” McDonald lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. That’s where the 23-year-old blues musician moved to after growing up in Augusta, Georgia. He moved to Murfreesboro to attend college, and stayed there after graduation. Now he’s gaining recognition for his traditional blues style and dynamic stage presence.

He made waves when he was recorded playing guitar in an Augusta music store, where he performed a rendition of Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom.” His mastery spans a range of styles. He performs traditional blues from the late 40s to the early 60s, with influences from Bobby “Blue” Bland, Louis Jordan, T-Bone Walker, and early BB King.

He’s enjoying life as a full-time musician, but says, “You never know what’s going to happen. Some days you do a gig where you think the pay is going to be enough for the month, and it’s not. Sometimes the pay is abundant. It’s always ebbing and flowing. It’s unpredictable, but that’s the thrill of it.”

Then he adds with a laugh, “Just not when the rent is due!”

McDonald says he comes from a musical background, but he’s the first in his family to make it a career. “They play at church, but they don’t tour. My father said to me, ‘When you’re blazing trails, the unknown is where you thrive,’ so I’m constantly living in the unknown.”

He’s been touring extensively over the past two years, and says, “It’s such a weird space to be in, when you are laying that foundation, blazing that kind of trail for your family. You’re showing people that this is possible. Nobody else in my family has done this before.”

His family might not include other professional musicians, but McDonald does reveal just how many of his relatives were musical. He notes that two of his great-great-grandfathers were musicians. One played an instrument called the diddley bow, a single-stringed instrument that influenced the development of the blues sound.

More recently, McDonald’s parents cultivated a love of music early in his life. “My dad used to play jazz for me when I was in the womb, and that is what would calm me down when I was a baby. He said I used to shuffle the sheets in my crib in rhythm, so it’s been there since I was a kid.”

It didn’t take long for McDonald to play all the instruments that were within his reach. He says he played drums when he was to, and started on piano when he was three. Harmonica was next, and he picked up the guitar at age seven.

How, then, did he decide to focus on guitar, and specifically on blues guitar?

He thought the guitar was cool—and versatile. “You can sit with it, you can move with it. You can’t take a piano everywhere, and you can’t take a drum set everywhere. And nobody wants to hear harmonica all the time! So I spent the most time with the guitar, and just connected with it. The guitar felt like an extension of me. I fell in love with it.”

Sean “Mack” McDonald is playing two shows at Lancaster Roots and Blues.