Daddy Mack Band to Bring Memphis Blues to Chickasha Feb. 6

Tickets for the general public are $10 each with discounts available for seniors 60 and over, students and children under 18 and USAO faculty and staff. Tickets are available at the USAO Business Office, 1727 W. Alabama, or by calling 574-1213.

The Daddy Mack Blues Band is the third performance in the eighth season of the Davis Waldorf Performing Arts Series sponsored by USAO and the USAO Foundation, Inc. Still to come is a performance by classical pianist Andreas Klein on March 10 at USAO.

Led by Mack Orr on lead guitar and vocals, this four-piece group is described as “down-home, funky and the best band around for cuttin’ loose on a Saturday night.” All of the band members have played, at one time or another, in the Fieldstones – one of the most talked about urban blues bands since the 1970s.

Since 1998 Daddy Mack has been the house band at the Center for Southern Folklore on Beale Street in Memphis where thousands of tourists have experienced their soulful blend of music. They have also toured the United States and played in Europe.

Following the success of the early 2006 release of Slow Ride, the band has generated a momentum unheard of in blues music. The idea of bridging juke house blues with classic 60s and 70s rock captured the critics’ attention and talent buyers alike. In addition to Slow Ride, the band has released two other CDs – Bluestones and Fix It When I Can.

On the Slow Ride CD, the band performs blues versions of rock hits – from Eric Clapton’s After Midnight to Carlos Santana’s Black Magic Woman.

“Daddy Mack isn’t too shy to play a party for a gathering of governors from across the United States or to walk right into the middle of a crowd with his wireless and play guitar licks while his sweat drips right onto the shoes of hollerin’ blues fans. Daddy Mack is not only doing his part to keep the blues alive for the 21st century, he’s not compromising what he thinks blues is supposed to be – fun, and with the right balance of showmanship and good music,” an online press review said.

Although ‘Daddy’ Mack Orr’s voice has been compared to Albert King and his CDs have climbed the charts, he still works a day job to pay the bills. The man in the blue uniform at Mack’s Auto Repair is the rising Memphis blues star. “I tell you, figurin’ out what’s wrong with ‘em cars sure will give you the blues,” Orr said.

Also in the band are brothers James and Harold Bonner – guitar and bass – and William Faulkner on drums. The Bonner brothers have performed together for more than 30 years. They were born and raised in Memphis and grew up in the city’s rhythm and blues sound.

Photos of the band, music and video clips are available on the band’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/thedaddymackbluesband.

The Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series is presented with support from the Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and KOOL 105.5 Radio with generous support from leading local sponsors: First National Bank, Alliance Oil and Gas, Chickasha Bank, Standley Systems and Chickasha Public School Foundation.

Other local sponsors include Mollett Hunter Companies, Arvest Bank, Mosley Insurance, IBC Bank, Dunn’s Food Center, Mid-First Bank, Crazy 8 Café, Chickasha Physical Therapy and Mike Day State Farm Agency. More information is available at www.usao.edu/dwpas.