Mighty Sam McClain

Vocalist Mighty Sam McClain stands among the foundational figures of Southern soul-blues, having emerged during the genre’s height in the 1960s. He sustains the lineage established by Bobby Bland, Solomon Burke, Otis Clay, James Carr, and Otis Redding. Although his acclaimed 1990s releases now circulate widely, they remained largely inaccessible for many years. Like numerous fellow soul-blues singers, McClain began performing gospel as a child of five in his mother’s choir. At thirteen, after conflicts with his stepfather, he departed home, stayed briefly with grandparents, and soon joined Little Melvin Underwood’s troupe, advancing from valet duties to featured vocalist. His early influences encompassed Little Willie John, Clyde McPhatter of the Drifters, B.B. King, and Bobby “Blue” Bland. McClain described witnessing Bland at the city auditorium in Monroe, Louisiana as a transformative experience; years afterward he opened for Bland at Tipitina’s in New Orleans and still regards the elder singer’s approving nod as a career pinnacle.

In the mid-1960s, while appearing at the 506 Club in Pensacola, Florida, McClain met producer and DJ Don Schroeder. Their collaboration produced a version of Patsy Cline’s hit “Sweet Dreams,” and subsequent sessions at Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama generated the singles “Fannie Mae” and “In the Same Old Way.” Steady performances at the 506 Club and later at the Apollo Theater in Harlem steadily enlarged his following. He cut a single for Malaco and two for Atlantic in 1971 before withdrawing from the music industry for an extended period.

Over the next fifteen years McClain supported himself with low-wage employment while residing in Nashville and New Orleans. The Neville Brothers and other Crescent City musicians helped restore his performing career. After connecting with Mason Ruffner’s drummer Kerry Brown, the pair assembled a band and recorded a single for Carlo Ditta’s Orleans label, thereby relaunching McClain’s recording and concert activities. His appearance on Hubert Sumlin’s Blues Party for the BlackTop label in 1987 further restored his reputation, leading to tours with Sumlin and his ensemble. By the late 1980s McClain had relocated from Houston to Boston, where he would live for most of the following decades, also spending time in southern New Hampshire.

McClain issued his debut studio album under his own name at age fifty after his Boston drummer Lorne Entress secured a deal with the California-based Audioquest imprint. The resulting Audioquest titles—Give It Up to Love (1992), Keep on Moving (1995), and Sledgehammer Soul and Down Home Blues (1996)—earned widespread critical praise, with the last receiving a W.C. Handy Award nomination. For the first time McClain retained control of his song publishing. Most tracks on these three albums featured a full horn section supporting his deep, powerful vocals, many of them self-penned.

Blues for the Soul appeared on Sundazed in 2000, followed by Sweet Dreams on Telarc in 2001. Launching his own Mighty Music Records, McClain released One More Bridge to Cross in 2003 and Betcha Didn’t Know in 2009. The Norwegian label Kirkelig Kulturverksted facilitated the 2010 project Scent of Reunion: Love Duets Across Civilizations and the subsequent One Drop Is Plenty in 2011.