Sean McDonald

Have Mercy!

Little Village

Nothing whatsoever sets Sean McDonald apart in the realm of swinging, jumping blues and rock and roll except for everything that he does to deliver these songs. McDonald shakes things up quite considerably by playing the same old same old on his debut album, Have Mercy! His character, and the fire in his belly, set him, and thus these songs, apart. Those traits have always been what it takes to move the same old blues forward by exciting leaps and bounds like this.

McDonald hails from Augusta, Georgia and sang in the church from childhood onward. He also played every musical instrument he could get his hands on. At just 23 now, he masterfully leads a supple band through this diverse, but unified set with second-nature ease. McDonald produced Have Mercy! with Christoffer “Kid” Andersen at Andersen’s Greaseland U.S.A. Studio, with every snappy nuance in every tune relayed in “right before your eyes and ears” sound.

Immediately in Rudy Moore’s “My Soul,” McDonald and the band, including should-be legends June Core on drums and Jim Pugh on keyboards, jump up in a riveting combination of blues, doo-wop, and rock ‘n roll. The hook they land buries instantly, and deeply. McDonald sings the song in a honeyed tenor, and plays concise but impassioned guitar. What a perfect introduction to the young man in just three and a half minutes of high heat.

Then they settle into “Killing Me,” a McDonald original that rubs a little grit into a sophisticated groove, resulting in a blues that covers the bases like Charles Brown leading Roomful of Blues might. The dynamics shift again for a dramatic run through Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Rocking in the Same Old Boat,” the horn players pumping in early Blood, Sweat & Tears mode, and McDonald calling on the spirit of Mike Bloomfield to help play his guitar.

McDonald’s “Angel Baby” kicks the program up again into a blistering rock ‘n roll tear, the song Fats Domino-fueled, McDonald’s guitar solo recalling Dave Edmunds as inspired by Chuck Berry. And to celebrate his origins and his faith, McDonald takes the band—and us—to church for the preacher Oris Lee Mays’ “Don’t Let the Devil Ride,” a low-slung gospel tune complete with Blind Boys of Alabama-styled singing by the Morgan Brothers and Marcel Smith. McDonald climbs hills and fills valleys alike with them in his own soaring voice as they reject evil.

All comparisons aside, Sean McDonald absolutely proves himself uniquely ready and able to take on the world throughout Have Mercy! I felt a similar thrill when I first heard the late Sean Costello three decades ago. Add McDonald’s name to a thankfully expanding group of young singers and players such as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram who push tradition forward with one bucketload of personality, and another of reverence. I’ll add that it does seem like anything cut with Andersen at Greaseland is worth paying attention to!

Tom Clarke for MAS

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