Hey y'all, this little random moment has taken on a life of its own. I'm so pleased. But it's not the only time for me that this has happened. The two other times are when I heard Rose Ranger www.roseranger.com/ at Granville Island (I ended up hiring her for some sessions) also I first heard the great Don Alder www.donalder.com/ I think at the Arts Club on Granville whilst having a beer with some musician friends. They actually didn't think much of him. But come on!!! I had the pleasure to play on Don's last album and he's another Canadian treasure, IMO. Thanks to you all and keep dreamin' the dream!!! Mark
This guy has me dancing around my flat like a wild wind blowing through my soul, takes me right back home! Roots man, respect from west Yorkshire England!
Yeah well I only just discovered him - 11 years later. There are way too few clips of him on youtube, and they're all just as amazing. I sure hope he's still playing. Last thing I was was 5 years ago - 2017. Hadn't skipped a beat. (It's weird too - some of the clips have a different last name. But of course, you'd know that fiddlin' anywhere - even on the dark side of the moon.
I love how this kind of music automatically flips the switch in your brain to start either clapping, snapping, or stomping your foot. It’s super weird, but it almost feels wrong if you don’t do it
not too normal. with proper technique a good bow can last for years. but some folks don’t have that technique and that’s okay, as long as the song gets out there.
You're exactly right. Fiddle is like religion. From worry beads to the sign of the cross. It's close your eyes and connect to that rhythm. It's the holiest communion of them all. Forget the angel harps. I'll take a heaven full of fiddles all playing sweeter than soul.
Yep. It drew me in like a magnet. I fell over that sound like a barrel going over Niagara Falls. And it all took off exponentially all over again, once he started singin.' That has true Cajun roots - the way you drop the fiddle chin-rest down to free up the vocals. This is very common in Bayou country. Sometimes the fiddle even winds up resting down in the crook of the elbow. But he tricked me. His singing had me believing he was a true Yankee - probably somewhere in Tennessee, and maybe spending some time in Appalachia. Just goes to prove that Canadians pry off a generous slice of styles we're not supposed to know, but we can't help but sit up and take notice anyhow.
@@burleybater I really admire his technical skill and how natural he sounds. And singing too haha. I cant imagine playing with the instrument in my elbow!
@@mw33213 The elbow drop is common with fiddle styling where the fiddler is also the main (or at least an important) vocalist. Cajun, Acadian, some Irish, and various other French Canadian styles all do this. I suppose I'd have to add bluegrass and some types of Appalachian in as well - though in all these styles, it's just as customary for the lead vocalist to either not play any instrument at all, or something like bass, guitar, banjo, mandolin - all instruments that don't get in the way of a vocal approach to a microphone. All these fiddlers would have learned the drop down pretty young and early on - if singing too was their choice. This particular fiddler sounds as natural doing what he does because he probably always has. I always thought kids were lucky if they were introduced early on. I tackled a violin class as early as grade 7 (aged 12) and it's a damned shame that although I used to get looks from the teacher when everyone was tuning up - by playing snippets of my favorite Beethoven symphonies (and no, not well - but everyone else was still doing twinkle twinkle little star a quarter tone out of key. But no-one ever introduced me to straight fiddling. Had I heard that, and found a teacher in town? Well then I'd play 3 instruments instead of two. (Or 3 out of 4 - I played a clarinet in high school but I hated the damned thing.)
@@burleybater haha i played clarinet for a semester too. I'm learning singing as well. I took some lessons at uni, mostly classical style but I'd like to do other styles too. Multitasking singing and instrument playing is hard, even on piano! Thanks for all your advice. All the very best 😁
Yeah that bow made me laugh. What a distraction. Old horsehair that just had enough, even though there's still a few strands to make it work. The fiddle looked ancient. The bow is probably of the same vintage and never been touched. A marriage made in heaven.
I saw this video when I was in middle school and was obsessed with learning Bluegrass music, and I finally have the opportunity! I've played violin since I was seven, but bluegrass is a little newer to me.
I see this guy all over town. He is one hell of a good fiddle player. Just a small sample of some of the awesome talent we have in VIctoria BC. Check out The Sweet LowDown as well.
Now I'm real envious. It's not like my town doesn't have a lot of street sound. But if I lived in the same town as this dude I would book a spot weekly, if not daily. Hell, I'd bring a a lawn chair, snacks, a fist full of coins to toss, and a big wide smile. Front row center.
Oh my. This was incredible. Wandered on over here after hearing some of the best Orange Blossom Special renditions, and just sousing myself in good old Americana. Which was why I was sure I was peeking into some scene in Kentucky or Tennessee, some Appalachian high rolling - and then discover I'm listening to a Canadian in Victoria B.C. I would not hold that against him. I'm over here on the other side of the same country. Later. So I tracked down the Tequila Mockingbird playlist. The contrast between just two of Mack's clips - this one, and another one where he's sitting in a studio room by himself playing a trad. Irish fiddle song (in both he sings) stands out like a sore thumb. here, he's a fiddler. And obviously touched by angels. There, he's nothing but a violinist. They clipped his wings. 99 percent of what he knows how to do just doesn't happen. It is truly excruciating. I don't mean to be mean to the band. I'm sure that they're a lovely bunch, but I roamed through multiple songs on their online playlist. and look. As a longtime songwriter myself, I'd give their writing a solid c+ and that's the best I can do (and if you were to ask me can I do better, there are a few online clips of me to prove my point.) But this ain't no pissing contest. What's the point? I was just deeply disappointed, to discover that what appears to be the only actual cd recorded evidence that I could play on my stereo - doesn't even have fiddling. That is a tragedy. And what's with the name changes? I've discovered at least three different monikers used. Like a man running from the authorities, or a past, or maybe even a future....
@burleybater very late answer, but just a heads up, Mack played with a guy called Dusty some time ago who is also known as „Fish in a Birdcage“(hes a musician/songwriter). Mack played the fiddle parts on the songs in FIABs first three albums i believe, the most prominent are „Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage“ and „Rule #15 - Fiddlers Heart“. I think FIAB even said that the whole of Fiddlers Heart is about Mack. So, the sad news: FIAB announced a while ago that Macks been dealing with pretty serious health issues(addictions), idk if he has recovered yet. Anyways, I like Fish in a Birdcages music alot, not just his songs with Mack, in my opinion Dustys also really good and just thought you might aswell if you read this
Quote - "Tell your friends about this and let's hear more from Mack in future!!"YES, I would like to hear more from Mack. Good on ya mate.. - From New Zealand. (Next to Australia???) ;-DThe public in the video, aren't stopping, they don't seem impressed?????
Awwwe- some son. That is some hot fiddlin', could almost see the flames coming out of the f holes! I can't believe people are walking by, I'd pull up a seat.
One more comment on this. It's been a long and whacky road chasing around the ghosts and name changes of Mack all over that far and distant west, trying to track down some semblance of what I guess is some kind of career, the ups and downs, the changes and rearranges. Would have loved to have been one intrepid and stubborn old journalist determined to splash the story of him and all his confederates across newspapers, mags and rags, and hell. Maybe even write a book. He is the soul of the West, among a few other intangible, wonderful, wild and unmanageable things. But that's all just my guesswork over what still adds up to less than a week of research. So there I was, perusing a short ad for a gig somewhere on the island (Duncan, I think) with Mack and Kaitlyn (banjo) pictured not unlike a resemblance of a couple of hopefuls just decamping some Halifax-landed boat from the old country, and I mean maybe a hundred and twenty years ago, and in black and white. Along with the tools of their trade. I noticed the years was now 2019 the last year of Our Normalcy before the world went mad, among other things. And I thought to myself, this is good. This brings it far closer to a recognizable horizon. And so many of would agree that his music and his talent and his style and just all of what he does with a fiddle and a bow, not to mention the blessing of a voice just as interesting as to be almost a perfect match with the rest of the package... That there is something haunting and unforgettable, a thing that tickles, but that gnaws and nibbles, catches up the breath and winds around and curls up inside ourselves and won't quite ever let go. A thing that feels like a sweet but more a bittersweet longing to name a thing, but yeah, maybe just let it go because it is of a moment and whose freedom means more to us than even having it securely in our pocket. But dammit. This is how Mack's music makes us feel. And if we're lucky, that's only just the bare bones of the meal. There is so much more to it than just that. What I'm getting at is that even though we are lost in the moment, and it sure feels like bliss, we are not unaware that a kind of vagrant and gypsy offering, a thing that we sense is almost too fragile and vulnerable for this world - but that yet persists, thrives, and arrives alive anyhow. Like that fleeting and startling instant of a glimpse of some wild thing there in the forest, presented and then gone as if entering another dimension. Just long enough to remind us that we are a civilized sort, up against a wild that lives all around and often closer than we think. And alas, I have only captured a raindrop's worth of an entire storm of what this music can do. My point is that it (surely!) is not dressed up in finery (literally) nor is it full of vanity, star-appeal, pomposity, or any or all of the frailties. It is separate from all of that. As if the music overcame the flaws of the human, and carried nature up to finer things. Is this not possible? Hell, we live in a country that has two coasts, and regardless of all that is in the middle (and it is much) both coasts offer up fiddle traditions so firmly entrenched as to almost exist in a salty and oceanic climate that rocks to the bosom of two large and very different oceans. I can hardly imagine how the topography of seashores is so interwoven into the sound that if you were to put your up to that fiddle's wood you could hear the sound of a seashell's memories. But enough. I am half Irish, but never once used that hyphen to identify myself as a proud and stubborn Canadian. I remind myself of this only to grant myself the liberty of a critical point of view. A thing that goes, I know, with a strong Irish chin. I am lucky to have both. And yes, the literary traditions inherited in my very DNA mean much to me - that thread that linked every single school year of my life and since I grew to be a man, it grew to be a rope. I was raised in libraries. But no shrinking spectacled cloistered intellectualized and study-mad shrinking violet was I. The books never captured me thus - they flung me back into the world with the G-force of a Saturn rocket, they did. All was well. And what does all that have to do with the business of applying a shredded bow upon a fiddle string? A strong arm and a supple wrist? A dropped down chin rest in order to free up a vocal accompaniment? Well, It would appear that the Cape Breton musical establishment got a wee bit of an historical start and has captured a lot of the thunder. It's like all that lovely lilting stuff (I greet it warmly and with no shame) and even that clogging and dancing and winking and yes, even the fire and the fury because of course there were a thousand thousand stories woven and wrapped up so deep within that sound, long before it ever even washed up on Canadian shores. And when one embraces it fully, one can never quite forget these histories and stories, the rebellions and the refusals, and all of that collective and very human spirit of defiance, to overcome a thing that had to be overcome. And so it was. And that is one hell of a proud tradition. But yet. Over here on the other coast, the left coast as it were, some might venture, a wilder coast, there is certainly all of this, but something different, still. And the closest I can figure (having studied this much) is that down there deep inside the sound is a thing distinctly southern, a thing that surely goes back to an old country, yes, but after its arrival on North American shores, flew off to different places, evolved and grew, moved around in restless wanderings, washed up against so many different local styles and attitudes that half the time it couldn't hardly recognize itself. But you can trace where it's been. All you have to do is listen. The Irish and the Scot. But then there's almost a gypsy and a Django thing, certainly something French, something Cajun, something maybe even Acadian, but then it's off again and teases like a cowboy's dinner of bacon and beans, and a prairie star spangled sky. But it still doesn't stop there, because now there's this hint of Appalachia and an ache and a heartbreak and an impossibly hard life and a sound that drops you to your knees. And back you come again with a condition that feels like worry beads strung across your soul. And so it goes. We open up our ears looking for some sweet salvation. And we're lucky to find it. Lord knows we live in a world where the mundane and the watered down, grabs a lot of that pie, the largest share by far. But thankfully, that's not all there is. We have to do the work, dig a little deeper, even when it feels like there aren't possibly enough to care, to make a difference. But that is only one small standard of measurement to apply. Hell. A week ago I didn't even know Mack existed, even though I had been an aficionado of many years' standing, attracted to all that two-step, three-step and four=step rhythm applied by a well-bowed fiddle. But life has a way of wandering out there, jumping that backyard fence, hunting down things of value, and then dropping them on the doorstep like offerings barely thought of or asked for. Is Mack a national treasure? I sincerely think he could be, perhaps, should be, and maybe even the most interesting story wonders to itself, would be? But regardless of all that speculation. In the meantime, we remain far too busy chasing around a thing of value that is never in our face, never ubiquitous, never overdone or oversold, remains allusive, and is there to remind us that the very best things in life seldom, if ever, just fall into our lap like manna from the sky. The adventure continues.
Hey y'all, this little random moment has taken on a life of its own. I'm so pleased. But it's not the only time for me that this has happened. The two other times are when I heard Rose Ranger www.roseranger.com/ at Granville Island (I ended up hiring her for some sessions) also I first heard the great Don Alder www.donalder.com/ I think at the Arts Club on Granville whilst having a beer with some musician friends. They actually didn't think much of him. But come on!!! I had the pleasure to play on Don's last album and he's another Canadian treasure, IMO.
Thanks to you all and keep dreamin' the dream!!!
Mark
This guy has me dancing around my flat like a wild wind blowing through my soul, takes me right back home! Roots man, respect from west Yorkshire England!
Unreal that's grade A talent at it best
Fiddling doesn't get any better than this. Hot. Raw. Real. Great. There aren't many that can pull this off.
agreed. i have played with him, this is Exceptional.
This is a violin
@@anderstermansen130they're the same thing
Hard to imagine how some folks can walk right on by ...
Oliver Seeler I don't care what I had going on in life, I would stop and watch his performance. I'd give him as much as I could there and then too.
Oliver Seeler xI would listen to him all day. He is wicked amazing. I can't help but stomp my foot along with him. He gives me goose bumps
Yeah with their pop and rap culture these days
Alexandra Godin same XD i didnt notice my foot moving till I read this
Oliver Seeler come to Vic thats his favorite spot
Why don't talented people like this guy get more views?
Evie Rae Because you'll watch this video once or twice and forget about it.
StrongStrummin' hahaha! Yep
Spread the word. I'm about to :)
That dude just played the shit outta that fiddle!
Im shocked the fiddle didn't burst into flames, those skills are off the charts!
Its a violin
@@anderstermansen130 a fiddlin? 🎻 got it
@@anderstermansen130again, same thing.
music like this makes my body go bonkers no matter what the mood
hell yeah!!!
This guy is amazing!!!!!!!! Anyone else still watching in 2022!!!!!
Yeah well I only just discovered him - 11 years later. There are way too few clips of him on youtube, and they're all just as amazing. I sure hope he's still playing. Last thing I was was 5 years ago - 2017. Hadn't skipped a beat. (It's weird too - some of the clips have a different last name. But of course, you'd know that fiddlin' anywhere - even on the dark side of the moon.
2024 and I'm back to watch again, still amazing.
The energy here is so unique, hes so talented its almost otherworldly. and people just walk by
I love how this kind of music automatically flips the switch in your brain to start either clapping, snapping, or stomping your foot. It’s super weird, but it almost feels wrong if you don’t do it
Agreed!
Shredding that bow jeez
Demonic Furball its normal for professionals/intense songs. I forgot the name of this one song and at the end half if the strings were ripped off.
No kidding XD
not too normal. with proper technique a good bow can last for years. but some folks don’t have that technique and that’s okay, as long as the song gets out there.
After spending almost 2 yrs practicing fiddle I can truly appreciate how awesome this dude is.... I'm jealous
Mack Is one the best fiddlers i have ever had the pleasure to play with. He is an Artist.
who could possibly walk by this beautiful, soulful music without stopping.
How on earth does this not have more views?
Well the Devil went up to Canada he was lookin for a soul to steal, he saw this guy and said fuck that shit I'm going home.
KG Hays That is great
KG Hays XD nice
don't u mean down to georgia?
brother, take what you have and run with it, just please document everything because this just turned my bad day into good. Thank you!
The difference between a violin and a fiddle can be summed up in one word: attitude. :-) This guy is fantastic.
You're exactly right. Fiddle is like religion. From worry beads to the sign of the cross. It's close your eyes and connect to that rhythm. It's the holiest communion of them all. Forget the angel harps. I'll take a heaven full of fiddles all playing sweeter than soul.
No, the difference between a violin and a fiddle is if you’re buying one or selling one. 🤣🤣👍👍
Great fiddler who is tearing his bow up, and an engaging singer while fiddling.
That’s some of the best fiddle playing I’ve ever seen
Man I could be listening all day without getting a headache.
Well feller...seams that twenty eight people done know what good music sounds like. He's god damn amazing boys.
AMAZING!!!
When my tinnitus is gone, I'll try to learn that.
Best street performance ever!
That's some fine playing and a good voice to go with it, if i was there i would have given him a really nice tip 👍🇺🇸.
I can't get over how talented this guy is!
Yep. It drew me in like a magnet. I fell over that sound like a barrel going over Niagara Falls. And it all took off exponentially all over again, once he started singin.'
That has true Cajun roots - the way you drop the fiddle chin-rest down to free up the vocals. This is very common in Bayou country. Sometimes the fiddle even winds up resting down in the crook of the elbow.
But he tricked me. His singing had me believing he was a true Yankee - probably somewhere in Tennessee, and maybe spending some time in Appalachia. Just goes to prove that Canadians pry off a generous slice of styles we're not supposed to know, but we can't help but sit up and take notice anyhow.
@@burleybater I really admire his technical skill and how natural he sounds. And singing too haha. I cant imagine playing with the instrument in my elbow!
@@mw33213 The elbow drop is common with fiddle styling where the fiddler is also the main (or at least an important) vocalist. Cajun, Acadian, some Irish, and various other French Canadian styles all do this. I suppose I'd have to add bluegrass and some types of Appalachian in as well - though in all these styles, it's just as customary for the lead vocalist to either not play any instrument at all, or something like bass, guitar, banjo, mandolin - all instruments that don't get in the way of a vocal approach to a microphone.
All these fiddlers would have learned the drop down pretty young and early on - if singing too was their choice.
This particular fiddler sounds as natural doing what he does because he probably always has. I always thought kids were lucky if they were introduced early on.
I tackled a violin class as early as grade 7 (aged 12) and it's a damned shame that although I used to get looks from the teacher when everyone was tuning up - by playing snippets of my favorite Beethoven symphonies (and no, not well - but everyone else was still doing twinkle twinkle little star a quarter tone out of key.
But no-one ever introduced me to straight fiddling. Had I heard that, and found a teacher in town? Well then I'd play 3 instruments instead of two. (Or 3 out of 4 - I played a clarinet in high school but I hated the damned thing.)
@@burleybater haha i played clarinet for a semester too. I'm learning singing as well. I took some lessons at uni, mostly classical style but I'd like to do other styles too. Multitasking singing and instrument playing is hard, even on piano!
Thanks for all your advice.
All the very best 😁
I was playing that same exact thing! then I woke up. WOW!!!!
My goodness! Isn't he wonderful??
God damn! That was the mad notes my dude!
This guy needs to be on America has tallent! I would buy a whole album with him and this style of Fiddle work!
Violin
@@anderstermansen130 no
Oh Jaysus. Don't say that. They'd ruin him!
He is the pure sound of the wilderness that looks back out at us when we're not lookin'.
@@anderstermansen130yes, and no...
How has this video not blown up?
:O!!! pure soul...breath taking :)
I'm a Texican I Love This Kind Of Music. This Guy is Good👍
Wish I could have been there too have that bow rehaired for him. Really talented.
Yeah that bow made me laugh. What a distraction. Old horsehair that just had enough, even though there's still a few strands to make it work. The fiddle looked ancient. The bow is probably of the same vintage and never been touched. A marriage made in heaven.
goosebumps all the way through
Now that is fiddle soul! Fantastic Mak!
I saw this video when I was in middle school and was obsessed with learning Bluegrass music, and I finally have the opportunity! I've played violin since I was seven, but bluegrass is a little newer to me.
I see this guy all over town. He is one hell of a good fiddle player. Just a small sample of some of the awesome talent we have in VIctoria BC. Check out The Sweet LowDown as well.
Now I'm real envious. It's not like my town doesn't have a lot of street sound. But if I lived in the same town as this dude I would book a spot weekly, if not daily. Hell, I'd bring a a lawn chair, snacks, a fist full of coins to toss, and a big wide smile. Front row center.
I seriously didnt know you could put this much awesome on one video.
full of energy...enjoyed that. playing it from the heart..
Outstanding!
You are an awesome fiddle player and love your singing!
I wish I could like this video more than once
He's amazing.. that is some pure natural talent there! Thanks for uploading this!
Makes me heart sing!
Extremely talented! Wow! Love this!
Mack Jonsson es un gran músico muy sencillo y con mucho talento. Mira como toca la canción “Reuben’s Train” te dejará asombrado al 100%
Talent like this exists, and people would rather listen to mumble rap.
This vid deserves more views, amazing
Very inspired and fiery fiddling, with great style! Sweet vocals, as well! Thank you for posting this!!!😀
Its a violin
@@anderstermansen130GAY
@@anderstermansen130guess what...
This is a song called Reuben's Train. well done bro!
He's freakin awesome! He looks like Sam from supernatural
Oh my.
This was incredible. Wandered on over here after hearing some of the best Orange Blossom Special renditions, and just sousing myself in good old Americana.
Which was why I was sure I was peeking into some scene in Kentucky or Tennessee, some Appalachian high rolling - and then discover I'm listening to a Canadian in Victoria B.C.
I would not hold that against him. I'm over here on the other side of the same country.
Later.
So I tracked down the Tequila Mockingbird playlist.
The contrast between just two of Mack's clips - this one, and another one where he's sitting in a studio room by himself playing a trad. Irish fiddle song (in both he sings) stands out like a sore thumb.
here, he's a fiddler. And obviously touched by angels.
There, he's nothing but a violinist. They clipped his wings. 99 percent of what he knows how to do just doesn't happen. It is truly excruciating.
I don't mean to be mean to the band. I'm sure that they're a lovely bunch, but I roamed through multiple songs on their online playlist. and look. As a longtime songwriter myself, I'd give their writing a solid c+ and that's the best I can do (and if you were to ask me can I do better, there are a few online clips of me to prove my point.)
But this ain't no pissing contest. What's the point? I was just deeply disappointed, to discover that what appears to be the only actual cd recorded evidence that I could play on my stereo - doesn't even have fiddling. That is a tragedy.
And what's with the name changes? I've discovered at least three different monikers used. Like a man running from the authorities, or a past, or maybe even a future....
He's also in another group with him and a banjo player called the High Quadra Ramblers. I'm from Van Isle too ✌🎻
@burleybater very late answer, but just a heads up, Mack played with a guy called Dusty some time ago who is also known as „Fish in a Birdcage“(hes a musician/songwriter). Mack played the fiddle parts on the songs in FIABs first three albums i believe, the most prominent are „Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage“ and „Rule #15 - Fiddlers Heart“.
I think FIAB even said that the whole of Fiddlers Heart is about Mack.
So, the sad news: FIAB announced a while ago that Macks been dealing with pretty serious health issues(addictions), idk if he has recovered yet.
Anyways, I like Fish in a Birdcages music alot, not just his songs with Mack, in my opinion Dustys also really good and just thought you might aswell if you read this
He is just.... Wow.. who is this amazing human? Love this!
Absolutely amazing
Fabulous! Should be giving a concert! More, please!
Damn. Mack deserves platinum! Do AGT and the crown is yours!
He deserves a brand new violin too....😁
@@saltodelpuma1667 Yeah except that fiddle knows stories nothin' brand new can touch.
What a treat!
He's shredding tf out of that fiddle
Wow incredible, gives me chills everytime I watch this
Sounds like a combo clinch mountain Reuben’s train thing. Nice!
WOW!! This was absolutely amazing!!
that was just incredible.
LOVE this! Makes me want to get up and dance!
A lot of energy there. I'd drop dead breathless after the first minute...:o) Great job .
Absolutely fantastic I am very impressed thank you for sharing your great talent with us all !
DAYUM!! This dude is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!
He played it like a damn fiddle!
Amazing playing…great vocal also !…
No shit that's the baddest fucking thing I think I've ever seen and heard!
You heading by Tishomingo? I heard there’s a man in Tishomingo that pays folks money if’n sing into his can, I hear he pays extra if’n play real good.
I'd pay good money to see this
I know where he plays you cab buy his stuff on band camp
wow this is great
Miss ya Mack 💗
Where'd he go?
Quote - "Tell your friends about this and let's hear more from Mack in future!!"YES, I would like to hear more from Mack. Good on ya mate.. - From New Zealand. (Next to Australia???) ;-DThe public in the video, aren't stopping, they don't seem impressed?????
wow! thats the way its done.
Oh yeah....😁
He is amazing!
I love this video and I want to play country just as relex as this boy.
but it is difficult to see what he exactly is doing with his bow
AMAZING!!!!!
You are on point 🙌
Amazing!!!!
Way to make that fiddle sing!
Awesome, Mack...y'ever get down So-Cal way, look me up (Matt Brislawn) --- we'll burn this Long Beach-town DOWN, double-fiddle style..
Awwwe- some son. That is some hot fiddlin', could almost see the flames coming out of the f holes! I can't believe people are walking by, I'd pull up a seat.
Nice playing. Sounds like Clinch Mountain Backstep mixed in there a bit with Reuben's Train.
GO MACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clinch mtn. Backstep/Rueben's train ..spreadin' a little musical love =)
Now that's some great 111.
This dude is flat getting into it. Cool stuff man!!
DamnGoodDiddler.mov
Hilarous how people can only comment on his form.
Form? That's beside the point. That's like missing 95% of what he does.
why does this not have more views?
If you come here from that one Amphibia Fanfic, i salute you 🫡
🫡
@@den_ale HOLY CRAP NO WAY
the gansta lean of all fiddle techniques...... but hell it sounds amazing
WOOOoOoO GOOD JOB MACK!!!!
Dang..My new inspiration
cross keyed fiddling is the best.
Amazed
WoW,,,wish i could be taegether with my hd28,,i would boost the fiddle ,,,bright playing
One more comment on this. It's been a long and whacky road chasing around the ghosts and name changes of Mack all over that far and distant west, trying to track down some semblance of what I guess is some kind of career, the ups and downs, the changes and rearranges. Would have loved to have been one intrepid and stubborn old journalist determined to splash the story of him and all his confederates across newspapers, mags and rags, and hell. Maybe even write a book. He is the soul of the West, among a few other intangible, wonderful, wild and unmanageable things.
But that's all just my guesswork over what still adds up to less than a week of research.
So there I was, perusing a short ad for a gig somewhere on the island (Duncan, I think) with Mack and Kaitlyn (banjo) pictured not unlike a resemblance of a couple of hopefuls just decamping some Halifax-landed boat from the old country, and I mean maybe a hundred and twenty years ago, and in black and white. Along with the tools of their trade. I noticed the years was now 2019 the last year of Our Normalcy before the world went mad, among other things.
And I thought to myself, this is good. This brings it far closer to a recognizable horizon.
And so many of would agree that his music and his talent and his style and just all of what he does with a fiddle and a bow, not to mention the blessing of a voice just as interesting as to be almost a perfect match with the rest of the package...
That there is something haunting and unforgettable, a thing that tickles, but that gnaws and nibbles, catches up the breath and winds around and curls up inside ourselves and won't quite ever let go. A thing that feels like a sweet but more a bittersweet longing to name a thing, but yeah, maybe just let it go because it is of a moment and whose freedom means more to us than even having it securely in our pocket. But dammit. This is how Mack's music makes us feel. And if we're lucky, that's only just the bare bones of the meal. There is so much more to it than just that.
What I'm getting at is that even though we are lost in the moment, and it sure feels like bliss, we are not unaware that a kind of vagrant and gypsy offering, a thing that we sense is almost too fragile and vulnerable for this world - but that yet persists, thrives, and arrives alive anyhow. Like that fleeting and startling instant of a glimpse of some wild thing there in the forest, presented and then gone as if entering another dimension. Just long enough to remind us that we are a civilized sort, up against a wild that lives all around and often closer than we think.
And alas, I have only captured a raindrop's worth of an entire storm of what this music can do. My point is that it (surely!) is not dressed up in finery (literally) nor is it full of vanity, star-appeal, pomposity, or any or all of the frailties. It is separate from all of that. As if the music overcame the flaws of the human, and carried nature up to finer things. Is this not possible?
Hell, we live in a country that has two coasts, and regardless of all that is in the middle (and it is much) both coasts offer up fiddle traditions so firmly entrenched as to almost exist in a salty and oceanic climate that rocks to the bosom of two large and very different oceans. I can hardly imagine how the topography of seashores is so interwoven into the sound that if you were to put your up to that fiddle's wood you could hear the sound of a seashell's memories.
But enough. I am half Irish, but never once used that hyphen to identify myself as a proud and stubborn Canadian. I remind myself of this only to grant myself the liberty of a critical point of view. A thing that goes, I know, with a strong Irish chin. I am lucky to have both. And yes, the literary traditions inherited in my very DNA mean much to me - that thread that linked every single school year of my life and since I grew to be a man, it grew to be a rope. I was raised in libraries. But no shrinking spectacled cloistered intellectualized and study-mad shrinking violet was I. The books never captured me thus - they flung me back into the world with the G-force of a Saturn rocket, they did. All was well.
And what does all that have to do with the business of applying a shredded bow upon a fiddle string? A strong arm and a supple wrist? A dropped down chin rest in order to free up a vocal accompaniment?
Well, It would appear that the Cape Breton musical establishment got a wee bit of an historical start and has captured a lot of the thunder. It's like all that lovely lilting stuff (I greet it warmly and with no shame) and even that clogging and dancing and winking and yes, even the fire and the fury because of course there were a thousand thousand stories woven and wrapped up so deep within that sound, long before it ever even washed up on Canadian shores. And when one embraces it fully, one can never quite forget these histories and stories, the rebellions and the refusals, and all of that collective and very human spirit of defiance, to overcome a thing that had to be overcome. And so it was. And that is one hell of a proud tradition.
But yet. Over here on the other coast, the left coast as it were, some might venture, a wilder coast, there is certainly all of this, but something different, still. And the closest I can figure (having studied this much) is that down there deep inside the sound is a thing distinctly southern, a thing that surely goes back to an old country, yes, but after its arrival on North American shores, flew off to different places, evolved and grew, moved around in restless wanderings, washed up against so many different local styles and attitudes that half the time it couldn't hardly recognize itself. But you can trace where it's been. All you have to do is listen. The Irish and the Scot. But then there's almost a gypsy and a Django thing, certainly something French, something Cajun, something maybe even Acadian, but then it's off again and teases like a cowboy's dinner of bacon and beans, and a prairie star spangled sky. But it still doesn't stop there, because now there's this hint of Appalachia and an ache and a heartbreak and an impossibly hard life and a sound that drops you to your knees. And back you come again with a condition that feels like worry beads strung across your soul. And so it goes. We open up our ears looking for some sweet salvation. And we're lucky to find it. Lord knows we live in a world where the mundane and the watered down, grabs a lot of that pie, the largest share by far.
But thankfully, that's not all there is. We have to do the work, dig a little deeper, even when it feels like there aren't possibly enough to care, to make a difference. But that is only one small standard of measurement to apply. Hell. A week ago I didn't even know Mack existed, even though I had been an aficionado of many years' standing, attracted to all that two-step, three-step and four=step rhythm applied by a well-bowed fiddle. But life has a way of wandering out there, jumping that backyard fence, hunting down things of value, and then dropping them on the doorstep like offerings barely thought of or asked for. Is Mack a national treasure? I sincerely think he could be, perhaps, should be, and maybe even the most interesting story wonders to itself, would be? But regardless of all that speculation. In the meantime, we remain far too busy chasing around a thing of value that is never in our face, never ubiquitous, never overdone or oversold, remains allusive, and is there to remind us that the very best things in life seldom, if ever, just fall into our lap like manna from the sky. The adventure continues.