or a former stuttering, bass-playing (later, guitar-playing) white guy, dedicating his life’s work to performing music associated with African Americans, Doug MacLeod has succeeded magnificently. This, his latest release (and fifth for Reference Recordings), adds a dozen more homegrown performances to his oeuvre of close to thirty recordings and well over 300 compositions. Not a stranger to praise, he has won the prestigious Blues Music Award six times since 2014. A Soul To Claim was recorded near Memphis (MacLeod and his wife Patti Joy’s new home) just shy of his 74th birthday.

However, you can’t tell his age from the energy and joy present in these performances. Weaned on the music he heard as a high-schooler in St. Louis by the likes of Albert King, Little Milton, Ike & Tina Turner and Chuck Berry, MacLeod often found himself sitting in on bass with the local black bluesmen. His transition to guitar and the end of his stuttering were apparently unintended consequences in his effort to be more successful with females. In a 2009 interview, he said “... one day I picked up the guitar and because I’d been playing blues in these bands in St. Louis, I knew the songs, and I just sang, and this voice came out.  And I really haven’t stuttered since.  So when people ask me how I got into blues, I prefer to think that the blues chose me.”

Seven of the twelve new original tunes MacLeod has chosen for this release feature him as soloist or unaccompanied. The remaining five feature him with his sidemen Rick Steff, keyboards; Dave Smith, bass; and Steve Potts, drums. The title tune begins the album with MacLeod on his Waterloo WL-S Deluxe guitar (nicknamed P-Nut) and the band laying down an ominous-sounding theme riding on a pulsing, driving rhythm. MacLeod’s deep voice weaves a cautionary tale of the devil riding the back of those unable to shake off addiction or abuse. Next up, on “Be What You Is,” after a laidback intro, MacLeod breaks into a humorous tale describing what is and what isn’t, backed by an infectious shuffle beat. Along the way, Rick Steff provides some very Jerry Lee Lewis-like piano. “Money Talks” is MacLeod alone, conjuring John Lee Hooker with an infectious boogie rhythm. The closely miked recording captures every detail of his guitar and his mastery of it. The tempo slows on “Where Are you?” with the music taking on a melancholic air as MacLeod sings of war and its aftereffect on those caught up in its fury. It’s an ode to homeless veterans.