McAnally, McNeil to perform in Hub City

Professed sideliners to get behind the mic

By David Owens, newseditor@laurelleadercall.com

Legendary performer Mac McAnally will headline a show Friday night at Hattiesburg’s Saenger Theater. Laurel resident Jim McNeil will also be on the bill.

McAnally, who first released an album in 1977, has seen a recent surge in popularity thanks to connections with country music superstars Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith.

McAnally signed this year to Keith’s Show Dog Nashville record label, and scored his first number one song duetting with Chesney on “Down the Road.” Chesney covered “Down the Road,” originally penned and performed by McAnally in 1990, as well as McAnally’s “Back Where I Come From.”

McAnally noted that “Down the Road” was written on Christmas morning, when he was putting toys together for his daughter.

“It was too close to daylight to go on to sleep so I decided to wait until the kids got up and looked under the tree,” he said. “That was in 1987 and Kenny resurrected it last year.”

McAnally said he holds artists like Chesney and Keith “in the highest regard” because of their success in today’s marketplace.

“I’ve always been somebody who really looked up to people who chased their dreams,” he said. “I know it’s a much more competitive world. I was such a bashful kid that I could never make it now. For artists like Kenny and Toby get the job done in today’s market, that’s a pretty tough thing to do. I take it as a high compliment that they’ve seen fit to include me.”

McAnally, who was born in Red Bay, Ala., and raised in Belmont, Miss., said he is looking forward to returning to his home state.

“It is always good to be back home,” he said. “My songwriter mindset is always in small town Mississippi so I’m carrying that around everywhere I go. But, it’s a lot easier when I’m actually there.”

McAnally said his musical style was inspired by “old guys sitting at the courthouse, whittling and exaggerating” and his mother, who played piano in church.

“I tell my own stories now,” he said. “They just end up in songs. I’ve been doing it about the same way since I was 13. Either I got it figured out or I’ve given up on figuring out anything else.”

McAnally, who started his musical upbringing on the piano, jokes that he negotiated a trade to the guitar at age 13 because a piano was hard to take fishing.

“A piano is hard to roll down the hill,” he said. “I still play a few songs on the piano in my show and I write on the piano. But, first, I’m a guitar player.”

McAnally said he was headed to the studio Wednesday to demo a few songs he has accumulated recently.

“I produced the new Jimmy Buffett record that’s just about to come out, along with Mike Utley,” he said. “We’ve produced the last three or four. We’re also going to be on one of those CMT ‘Crossroads’ shows with Jimmy Buffett and the Zac Brown Band.”

McAnally, who also tours with Buffett, said his ties to the Caribbean-styled artist goes back to the 1970s, when the two were songwriting buddies. But, Buffett is not the only musician McAnally has worked with “behind the glass” as it were.

McAnally produced for such acts as Restless Heart and Sawyer Brown in the 1990s and wrote songs for other artists.

“The sidelines part of it is really more natural to me,” he said. “The way I was raised, agriculture people and farmers are taught not to call attention to themselves. That’s the opposite of show business. I’ve always been at odds with that aspect of the entertainment business. I’m more comfortable on the sidelines and in the studios.

“I’ve come to really enjoy the stage as well,” McAnally added. “It took a long time because I was such a bashful kid. I’ve finally gotten used to it. I enjoy playing my own solo shows more than I ever have in my life.”

McAnally noted that singer-songwriters such as himself have found a home on the country music platform. Taylor Swift, arguably country’s top act at the moment, even writes and records her own music.

“Country more than any other form is song driven,” he said. “You could write a great pop song these days, but only one or two people could do it stylistically. In country music, a great song could be sung by 50 to 60 people. A great song is a great song.”

McAnally called Swift “awesome,” recalling a chance meeting he had with her when she first traveled to Nashville at age 14.

“For somebody who started really young — my first record came out when I was 19 — it’s amazing how much of a head she has on her shoulders,” he said. “Anybody who gets popular to a certain level, there will be people hating on that level of success. She’s the real thing, genuine and as sweet as she could be. Her parents are really together and not forcing her to do stuff she doesn’t want to do. I’m really happy for her.

“I’m happy that it didn’t happen like that for me,” McAnally added. “It’s better for me to get a tinge of recognition at 50 years old instead of in my teens.”

McNeil, proprietor of McNeil Tractor & Equipment Co. in Laurel, said he is excited to be sharing the stage with McAnally Friday.

“I’ve been writing since I was 17 and playing since I was seven,” he said. “There are a lot of similarities between us. I’ve been around him, behind him and running alongside him since I was 17 years old.”

McNeil recalled in the same clubs as a young performer barely in his 20s, playing the same clubs McAnally was.

“Mac had a lot of success early and started having people cutting his songs,” McNeil said. “I never had any of that. I’ve had a couple of CDs and one song recorded by somebody else”

McNeil, who has won a number of songwriting competitions, said he has not performed live much since 2005. The same month that Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, he released an album entitled “Give Me My Wings,” which featured local New Orleans jazz performers.

“I had been playing New Orleans a good bit, and then everything sort of like stopped,” he said. “We’ve had a booming business from 2005 up until this year and my kids were high school age getting ready to go to college. I backed off, and haven’t been out in the public in any serious fashion since Katrina.”

McNeil called McAnally one of his musical heroes.

“He’s sort of an icon,” he said. “To know about somebody for so long and parallel them in so many different ways, to get a chance to open for him is a big deal for me. People who like acoustic singer-songwriters are going to have a good night.

“They’re going to get the best,” McNeil added. “I’m going to do a 45-minute set and then Mac will do 90 or until people make him leave. He has enough songs in his bag that was a hit for himself or somebody else to be on the stage for two days.”

For more information, visit www.macmcnally.com, www.jimmcneil.net or www.hattiesburgsaenger.com. Ticket prices range from $14 to $24, plus convenience and/or handling fees if ordering online. The Saenger Theater Box Office can be reached at 601-584-4888.

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