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Willie Mack

Adventure is in your soul when you're a genuine Texas-bred music man.  That's why when you pluck a singer like Willie Mack out of the lone star state and throw him in Nashville, he's still got to ramble.  It's that restless spirit that Mack channeled so perfectly into his debut album, Headlights and Tailpipes. His first release in Canada was all lonely highways, fast cars, open skies and racing back to get to the ones you love.

 "I didn't know how Canada would accept me at first.  I really loved all the music I'd heard coming out of The Land Up Over and I wanted to get involved.  It reminded me a lot of Texas.  There's so much variety on the radio.  You can be rocking out with the Road Hammers and then the next song you hear is Corb Lund and his cool camp fire type songs.  I love it!" he says.  Canada has certainly embraced Willie over the past 18 months.  All four of his singles, from his debut album Headlights and Tailpipes went Top 30.  "Don't Waste Your Pretty," spent a month in the Top 10.  "It was absolutely amazing to have everyone take me in like they did. Everyone's been so nice and welcoming.  Having crowds sing along with your music is such an exciting experience for me.  Just knowing that something I wrote had an impact on someone's life in some way is an honor."   

 "When it came time to record a new album I wanted to stretch the boundaries a bit.  Our live show is really rocking and I wanted the album to represent that a little more."   That same energy went into the new album. A dynamic record that recalls Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle, Mack literally traveled across North America to record ”The Journey”. He did time in Toronto, Ontario with Jason McCoy of The Road Hammers as producer. Willie says, "I really love the players up in Canada.  These guys would be first call guys in Nashville if they wanted to move there.  The sound is a lot more fresh and edgy.  These guys really play from the heart and I think you hear that when you push play."  

 Considering Mack has written for the likes of Sara Evans, George Canyon, Oak Ridge Boys, Collin Raye, Mark Wills, The Road Hammers, Aaron Pritchett, Jason Blaine and Adam Gregory, it's no surprise he can effortlessly turn such moments into song. The title number "The Journey," came from a real life story.  Mack shares, "I had come from a really busy summer in Canada and I was completely burned out.  Being gone all the time had really taken its toll on my family.  I really hated missing my kid's baseball and soccer games.  I had let my priorities get way out line.  I guess any job can do that to you but the music business especially can become all consuming.  I had to get back to what matters the most to me in my life.  What brings me true joy and peace?  For me it's my relationship with God that guides everything.  If I put God first in my life and my wife and kids next then everything else will just fall into place."    

Fall into place it has.  “The Journey” hit stores on June 23rd and country fans have been getting their money’s worth.  With 16 songs there is definitely something for everyone. "At first I thought I should try to narrow the list down to 12 songs.  I started taking songs off and it just left a giant hole in the record.  I couldn't part with so many of the songs I thought why not?  I believe in giving someone their money’s worth, anyway. If you spend your money to hear my CD or come to my show I want to know that I did everything I could to make it worth it for them," explains Mack. 

  "Life is a journey and everything is a song," says Willie Mack.  "I thank God everyday for the gift of this life I get to live.  I have a beautiful wife who loves me, wonderful kids, friends, and a job I really enjoy`."  All of these things lend themselves to some great songs.  Much of what fills his new album “The Journey” are songs about real life.  "I find inspiration all around me.  It's in conversations you have with people, something you see on TV or just something your kids do that is funny."  One of the new songs "She Won't Be Little Long," was inspired by a story about his daughter Maycie.   

"My wife had just cleaned her car and I was waiting in the parking lot for her one day when I noticed that Maycie had left two perfect handprints in the passenger seat window.  It made me smile because I realized that her little hands are going to grow and she won’t be my little girl forever. I told my friend Jason Blaine about the story and we wrote the song about our daughters." 

”The Journey” is a collection of music that spans a wide spectrum of styles.  Mack says, "In every way this album has been a journey.  Jason McCoy and I are started recording it last August and I thought it was finished.  I started going through a spiritual journey toward the end of the year and began to write a lot of new songs.  I decided that what we had cut just didn't completely represent where I was spiritually, personally or musically.  It was only part of the picture.  I went in with one of Canada's hottest young producers Jason Barry to finish the project in May."  He says, "I think it captures a lot of what I grew up on which is Texas music and classic rock such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty." 

In fact one of the songs on “The Journey” is an ode to Bruce Springsteen."I've been a Springsteen fan for 20 years and always wanted to write something like this.  It's all about a guy who hears a Springsteen song on the radio on the way to work and it takes him back in time to when he first got his license and used to take his girlfriend for a ride in his car as they listened and sang along to Bruce Springsteen music." 

"Everywhere I go in Canada, everyone wants to know how I ended up in Canada or what I think about Canada.  I absolutely fell in love with Canada.  I even made up my own little saying that was half Texan and half Canadian, "Howdy, Eh."  I never really intended to write a song about it but on my way to Toronto to cut this last group of songs it just started pouring out.  I laughed for hours thinking about my experiences in Canada.  It has been an amazing ride."

To learn more about Willie Mack visit his website at www.williemack.com