Esker - Bill MacKay (Drag City, 5/5/17)
Esker by Bill MacKay
I remember plopping the needle down on my copy of Inventions by Sandy Bull a few years ago in the back room of Bar DeVille before a performance for the Over/Out series. Someone approached me moments later and asked, “Is this Bill MacKay?” The association is simple, but knowing. We were probably skating over that 10-minute version of “Memphis, Tennessee” as I was wont to do.
A year or two more recently, I took a single guitar lesson with MacKay. The continuation of such studies were ill-fated due to my poor planning and determination but MacKay remains a luminous figure in my mind.Â
It’s been a little over a year since I left Chicago but this new record, Esker, transports me straight back to those barrooms where I know MacKay still makes the weekly rounds, breathing through his fingertips onto a set of 6 strings. Gigging for a little bread. His gentle demeanor, a salve to any beleaguerment the city might cast upon you. I can feel the easement from afar this instant, owing to this placid recording. I’ll carry it with me a long while.
