Mac Gayden
In September, Nashville-born music legend Mac Gayden played a concert bursting with guests. Called Friends Over, the gathering was a show of support and a tribute to a living legend, and it would have been a perfectly fitting way to bring his performing career to a close. At 81, the singer, songwriter and guitarist has participated in some of Music City’s most enduring sessions, written some of its most enduring songs and seen some of the local music community’s most radical changes. As Gayden pointed out when he spoke with the Scene in September, his Parkinson’s disease limits his ability to play, and eventually he will have to retire fully.
But Gayden’s not finished just yet. On Wednesday, Jan. 4, he’ll get the gang back together — including friends and collaborators like Buzz Cason, The Valentines and Dianne Davidson, family members like Mac Gayden Jr. and Oceana Gayden Sheehan, and more — at 3rd and Lindsley for Friends Over Part 2: The Good Medicine Show. Ahead of the gig, I took some time to ruminate on an essential batch of Mac tracks, and I reached out to the man himself for a list of songs he felt defined his career as an artist and who he is as a person. The last entries on our list is a bonus pick of my own, and I’ve included context and commentary with the whole bunch just to underscore how massive Gayden’s contributions are.
Robert Knight, “Everlasting Love” (Rising Sons, 1967)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again until the sun burns out: “Everlasting Love” is a perfect song. A co-write with the legendary Buzz Cason, this R&B gem has inspired thousands of covers, kicked off thousands of first wedding dances and survived untold numbers of karaoke butcherings to become one of the cornerstones of American pop. The late, great Robert Knight had the first hit with it.
Clifford Curry, “She Shot a Hole in My Soul” (Elf, 1967)
This Southern-as-all-get-out soul-wrencher would not only inspire fellow Tennesseans and proto-punk forebears The Box Tops, but would cross the Atlantic and take on a life of its own. In the hands of American expat Geno Washington and his Ram Jam Band, the song became a mod classic and a Northern Soul staple that helped form the foundation of modern British dance music.
Bobby Bare, “It’s Alright” (RCA, 1965)
Recorded at the height of the master song-picker’s imperial phase, when Bare was an unstoppable hit machine but taking his interpretive powers to new heights, “It’s Alright” is a folky, melancholy charmer. It’s also Gayden’s first hit song. “It’s Alright” crams all of the craft and artistry that we expect from Nashville’s golden age into one little nugget of perfection.
James & Bobby Purify, “Morning Glory” (Mercury, 1976)
A comeback for the “I’m Your Puppet” soul singers, “Morning Glory” is a groovy little waker-and-baker, a country soul shuffle that luxuriates in the big horns of the recording on the duo’s album Purify Bros. On the metaphorical flip side, you’ve got Gayden’s own version recorded with his band Skyboat. In that rendition, Gayden’s slide guitar stands in for the horns to create a sound as sublime as gravy on biscuits.
Barefoot Jerry, “The Minstrel Is Free at Last” (Capitol, 1971)
Barefoot Jerry was essentially The Avengers of Nashville instrumentalists, an unstoppable supergroup of players at the height of their powers. “The Minstrel” sees Mac take lead vocals and songwriting duties, absolutely crushing a song that oozes progressive musical ideas while keeping things taut and engaging. And that fade-out just screams, “We can jam this out for another 20 minutes,” an attitude I can get behind.
J.J. Cale, “Crazy Mama” (Shelter, 1971)
If you want to talk about sounds that have been permanently etched into our brains, we need to talk about Gayden’s slide-wah guitar on Cale’s Naturally classic. The way Gayden slowly builds dynamics, swelling subtle vibrations and fluid fretwork to a crispy tube frizzle, the way the guitar slinks between Cale’s vocals and his strumming — it’s incredible, and one of those high-water marks for American music that Gayden always seems to find himself in.
Mac Gayden, “Tennessee” (EMI, 1973)
When you talk to Gayden it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that one of the highlights in a career full of them was cutting a record with legendary producer Bob Johnston. Recorded after the two had worked together on Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, the McGavock Gayden album is proto-Americana at its finest. If this record came out of Nashville next week we’d be hurling hosannas like there was no tomorrow. As it stands, McGavock Gayden — originally released only in the U.K., hat-tip to contributor Edd Hurt — is a crate classic begging for a full and proper reissue campaign.
Skyboat, “Diamond Mandala” (ABC, 1976)
If modern Nashville is a place where rock, soul, country, folk and psychedelia all live side by side in harmony, “Diamond Mandala” is a clear roadmap to that shared existence. Clocking in around 10 minutes, the closing track from Skyboat’s self-titled album is a swirling, flute-soaked flight through the mind that feels expansive, but masterfully balanced.
The Fabulettes, “Screamin’ and Shoutin’ ” (Sound Stage 7, 1966)
Ray Stevens behind the boards, Shelby Singleton signing the checks and Mac Gayden writing the songs is a formula for some fire, lemme tell you — and with Florida trio The Fabulettes in front of the mic, it’s a full-on conflagration. If you’re lucky, you can still find 45-rpm copies of this top-notch soul shouter hiding in dusty crates and yard sale stacks. It is well worth the hunt.
Correction: The original version of this piece included Area Code 615's "Stone Fox Chase" as a bonus pick. Hat tip to contributor Daryl Sanders: Though Gayden was a member of Area Code 615 and played on cuts like "Sligo" and "Devil Weed and Me," "Stone Fox Chase" is one track he doesn't appear on. From interviews, all the parts were performed by Kenneth Buttrey, with the exception of Charlie McCoy's harmonica. Blame the bonehead music editor, who will take pretty much any reason to include a mention of the great Area Code 615.
