Doug MacLeod (USA)

Doug MacLeod

Winner of multiple awards, including the 2017 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year, 2016 Acoustic Artist Of The Year, the 2013 Blues Blast Music Award for Male Artist Of The Year, MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of a Doug MacLeod performance is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life.

Doug is a multiple Blues Music Award winner, most recently the 2017 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the Blues Blast Music Award for Male Artist Of The Year.

He is an international touring artist who writes and sings original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. He learned from the old masters and carries forward a valuable tradition.

As a youth Doug overcame abuse and a crippling stutter by turning to music. After picking up a guitar, and singing - he found his voice.

MacLeod's playing landed him sideman gigs with George 'Harmonica' Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. Over 30 years, 21 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar instructional DVD and a live performance DVD, MacLeod has consistently earned raves. His songs have been covered by many artists including Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy. MacLeod's songs have been featured in many TV movies and the hit show In the Heat of the Night. August Wilson requested his soulful slide guitar playing in the Los Angeles opening of ‘Gem of the Ocean’.

From 1999 to 2004 Doug hosted Nothin' But The Blues, a very popular weekend blues show on Los Angeles' KLON-KKJZ. He has also been the voice for The Blues Showcase on Continental Airlines. For ten years he penned ‘Doug's Back Porch,’ a regular feature column in Blues Revue Magazine in which he shared his humorous and insightful stories with thousands of readers. He is one of the four featured artists in the movie ‘Resonate: A Guitar Story’, the feature documentary on the making of National Guitars.

Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod's music expresses life and times through an intangible, elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. Doug’s music, stories, and philosophy provide a healing that has helped others overcome the hardships of their lives.

‘Doug MacLeod is an acoustic roots master. He has been using guitars and voice to create his own unique musical vision for over fifty years...’ - Elwood Blues aka Dan Aykroyd

‘Doug MacLeod, now there’s a man who can really play the blues.’ - David Honeyboy Edwards, Delta Blues Legend