Mac Wiseman is the focus of new star-studded music release
One of my favorite people and performers is the talented song stylist a Country Music Hall of Famer Mac Wiseman. I admire his influence on my life so much, I included him in my “Encourager II: Walking with the Masters” book.
He is the focus of a new recording project from Mountain Fever Records featuring a star-studded concept album celebrating his life and spirit.
“I Sang The Song (Life Of The Voice With A Heart)” is now available and it’s first single, “Going Back to Bristol,” featuring the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2015 Male Vocalist of the Year Shawn Camp, reached #1 back in December.
Bluegrass Hall of Famer Mac Wiseman met with Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz, sharing intimate details of his 91 years, and of his journey from Virginia boy to American roots music icon. That journey is the subject of I Sang The Song, the joyful and poignant album that springs from Mac’s storytelling sessions.
In liner notes, Cooper writes, “The stories would have been remarkable coming from anyone. But coming from Mac Wiseman, an acknowledged master of American roots music who earned the nickname ‘The Voice with a Heart,’ the stories began to sound like songs. Thomm Jutz and I sat in small chairs that faced the easy chair, situated beneath a photograph of Pleasant Hill Church of the Brethren, Mac’s childhood place of worship. We wrote down the stories, and found them rich with melody and rhyme.”
To begin the recording process, producers Cooper and Jutz assembled an all-star band of musicians including mandolinist Sierra Hull and multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses —both also lent vocal talents—and bassist Mark Fain. Further, featured performers were carefully chosen based not only on artistic mastery, but also reverence for the album’s subject, Mac Wiseman. The result is a collection of perfect performances by John Prine, Jim Lauderdale, Shawn Camp, Junior Sisk, Alison Krauss, Andrea Zonn, Ronnie Bowman, Sonya Isaacs Yeary, Becky Isaacs Bowman, Buddy Melton, and Milan Miller, with special vocal appearances by Mac Wiseman.
“Everyone who sings on this album understands the greatness of Mac Wiseman and the responsibility inherent in voicing Mac’s story and interpreting Mac’s words,” Cooper says. “These artists approached the songs with joyful reverence that is palpable to anyone who listens.”
For more information, visit, www.mountainfever.com.
If you would like to enjoy learning more about Mac Wiseman close up and personal, you can also order his beautifully written book “Mac Wiseman: All My Memories Fit For Print” as told to Walt Trott. The memories reflect nearly a century of the American experience that could only be told through the eyes of someone whose voice found success in so many genres of music.
Check it out and get your copy on most internet booksellers’ websites. If you are Facebook, like Mac’s Bluegrass ERA, a page on which Mac share video performances and photo memories.
