Daddy Mack Blues Band – Doctor’s Orders
13 songs; 43 minutes
Doctor’s Orders is Daddy Mack Orr’s eighth CD, released at the young age of 79. Having not made much music as a combined result of the Covid-19 pandemic, running his own auto repair business and simply getting older, Orr’s receipt of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Memphis Blues Society in 2023 prompted him to assemble a group of various musicians who had performed or played with Daddy Mack over the previous two decades and to record Doctor’s Orders.
Orr takes lead vocals and lead guitar duties, ably supported by Matt Isbell and James Bonner on guitar; Brad Webb and Harold Bonner on bass (Webb also turns his hand at various times to some excellent slide guitar, dobro and acoustic guitar); Billy Gibson and Elmo Lee Thomas on harmonica; John Gage and Paul Brown on piano and organ; Andrew McNeil, Kevin Houston, Fast Eddie Lester and Charles Gage on drums; and Charles Ponder on backing vocals. EJ Dyce and Carl Wolfe add trumpet and saxophone respectively, while Candice Ivory shares the lead vocal slot on the sassy “Finish What You Started (Don’t Stop Now)”.
Produced by Eddie Dattel, Wally Ford and Matt Isbell, the album was recorded at Inside Sounds in Memphis, TN in November-December 2023, with recording and mixing by Kevin Houston and mastering by Jeffrey Reed at Taproot Audio Design in Oxford, MS.
The Daddy Mack Blues Band has been an institution in Memphis since the 1970s and, on the evidence of Doctor’s Orders, it’s easy to see why. This is down-home and funky old-school blues, with a rawness and simple depth of emotion that is often missing from or diluted in modern blues-orientated music.
The album kicks off with the near-instrumental “Let Me Pull A Few Strings”, which acts as a showcase for Webb on slide guitar, Gibson on harp and Orr on guitar. This leads nicely into the funky, 80s-esque “Boss’s Wife”, before the slide-driven title track on which Orr humorously attributes his health to his love of blues music and how the blues can heal us all. The Memphis soul of “Givin’ Up On Givin’ In” features some great backing vocals from Charles Ponder while the acoustic “Mississippi Woman” has a gloriously warm back-porch vibe, recalling the way “Oreo Cookie Blues” stood out on Lonnie Mack’s otherwise fully electric 1985 release, Strike Like Lightning.
The Daddy Mack Blues Band’s primary wheelhouse, however, is the mid-paced shuffles of the likes of “All Over Me” and “Backup Plan”, which the band play with genuine authority. The slightly slower “Country Boy” underscores how one could easily imagine a long evening lost in enjoying this band play a lengthy set, with the focus on Orr’s Albert King-inspired guitar playing.
The album ends with the rollicking, proto-rock’n’roll of “I’ll Be On My Way”, which is a fine way to close a highly enjoyable, highly impressive release. Definitely recommended.
