Legendary blues musician Wes Mackey brings his soulful set list to the Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival on Aug. 6.
The nearly one-hour performance on the Garden Stage is guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings as the songs reveal Mackey’s life story – the good, the bad and the beautiful.
The musician, now 73, grew up in a small town in South Carolina that was home to a bank, a general store, a café and a juke joint. His father was a Baptist preacher and a caretaker for a fishing club, while his mother cooked and cleaned for the club crew. The pair owned a farm nearby that was fully equipped with hogs, cows, chickens and a mule called Julia. Blues, gospel and country tunes, meanwhile, could be heard in the hallways at home, in the fields and in church.
When Mackey was around 11 years old, his brother gave him a three-stringed guitar. He never fancied himself as a singer due to a stutter he picked up when he was about five. He gained confidence, though, when he heard country music singer Mel Tillis, who also had a stutter, on the radio.
“That made me feel good because he was a big star and he stuttered, and that don’t mean he was less than anybody else,” Mackey told the NOW during an interview from his Vancouver home.
When Mackey turned 17, his father advised him to go “seek his fortune in the world.” From there, the teen moved to Augusta, Georgia for work. His first gig paid 50 cents and a chicken sandwich, he recalled.
From Georgia, Mackey went on to play with any band that would have him. During the ‘60s in the South, there was a fraternity circuit, which would see black artists come through the city and perform for a young, white audience.
“You just had to be in the right place at the right time when they came to town,” he said, adding he played in bands that backed up Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker.
But the lifestyle of being on the road meant there were never a shortage of parties, Mackey noted, admitting he did a lot of drinking during that time. The bottle ultimately led him to give up on music for several years, at which time he ended up in Port Hardy, B.C. He took a job working for the city and learned to operate bulldozers and other heavy machinery.
Mackey then moved to Nanaimo and decided to return to his craft by studying musical theory at a local college. As a mature student, 40-something, he said nobody wanted to hire him because he was a “complete unknown.”
Despite that, Mackey, who still struggled with drinking, said he worked hard to garner work, even if it meant playing songs he didn’t want to play. Eventually, he landed a gig in Vancouver. His career continued to flourish from there, including a performance in Hong Kong for the opening of the Shangri-La Hotel and a cruise ship circuit.
He turned his life around some 18 years ago when he put the bottle down, quit smoking and began playing the blues again. He released Second Chance in 2005, a record he said means so much to him.
Despite the hurdles and obstacles he’s had to endure, Mackey noted his upcoming Burnaby show won’t leave the audience feeling sad.
“The blues is a feeling and the blues is a way for me to communicate to people. I tell stories, so I try to have the set arranged to tell the story of when I left South Carolina to where I am now. It’s going to be all happy,” he said. “My blues used to be a sad blues, but now I use it to lift people’s spirits and lift my spirits. Even if I sing a slow song, people can feel good about themselves.”
Mackey performs on the Garden Stage from 1:45 to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 6. For tickets to the day-long festival, visit burnabybluesfestival.com. Singles are $60, while a four-pack is $200.
