Bill MacKay cut his teeth in various bands and projects spanning genres across the United States, and has created an extensive body of original work, while energizing the folk, avant-garde, and experimental diaspora.
MacKay’s blissful harmonic control and just-outside-the-box guitar mastery are one with his compelling songwriting, and his creative voyage and imaginative influences are fully displayed on his most recent solo records: Fountain Fire (Drag City, 2019) Esker (Drag City, 2017), and SpiderBeetleBee (Drag City, 2017) his second duo set with Ryley Walker.
His first recording with musical partner, cellist Katinka Kleijn (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), also came out in 2019. Entitled STIR, it centers on MacKay’s compositions as arranged by the duo, and reveals yet another fiery and sublime entry in his discography.
These recordings along with his unmatched live performances reveal a startling range – from the folk of Appalachia, avant-rock, and blues to jazz, raga-esque excursions, and western modes. MacKay’s music has received praise in reviews by the Chicago Reader, Mojo, Uncut, Downbeat, Paste, Pop Matters, The Quietus, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and many other publications.
Releases
Bill MacKay Stir (w/ Katinka Kleijn)
Prelude: Two Natures
The Rare Foothold
Hermine
The Hermetic Circle
No One Here is a Stranger
Door to the Magic Theatre
A Series of Doors
Path to the Peak
Bill MacKay Fountain Fire
Pre-California
Birds of May
The Movie House
Man & His Panic
Welcome
Try it On
Arcadia
Dragon Country
Bill MacKay Hypnotic Pulse Of The Reindeer Range (w/ Ryley Walker)
Hypnotic Pulse Of The Reindeer Range
Bill MacKay SpiderBeetleBee (w/ Ryley Walker)
The Grand Old Trout
Pretty Weeds Revisited
Lower Chestnut
Naturita
I Heard Them Singing
Stretching My Dollar In Plano
Lonesome Traveler
Dragonfly
Bill MacKay Esker
Aster
Twilight
Candy
Clementine Cotton
Persona
Powder Mill Park
Rise
The Hollows
Wail
Scarlet's Return
Bill MacKay Altamira (w/ Darts & Arrows)
Evergreen
No Demons Return
Molasses Tragedy
The Well-Wishers
Carried There & Ponytailed
Look Out
I Won't Forget You
Bill MacKay Land of Plenty (w/ Ryley Walker)
It Takes A Quilt
Rickshaw Waltz
Gold Season
Land of Plenty
Promise Me
Blues For Arthur
Silver Cup
Bill MacKay Chatham Park
Stay True
Gem
Promenade
If It Was Me
The Meadows
Bill MacKay December Concert (w/ Matt Lux)
Orbits Unknown
Black Leaves
Per Ardua Ad Astrum
Wheat & Scythe
Tourniquet For A Season
Bill MacKay Eyes of the Carnival (w/ Darts & Arrows)
Ivy
Outcry
Frequent Vacation
Mystic
Slipping Through My Fingers
Film Music No. 2
Bill MacKay Bill MacKay and Darts & Arrows
As I Knew Her
Behind the Summer
Black Leaves
Road to the Seaway
Do Not Follow
Whispers
New Song
Bill MacKay Swim To The River (w/ Broken Things)
Doll Mountain Rag
Broken Things
1919 Molasses Tragedy
Water's Edge
Keep a Secret
The Reservoir
Bill MacKay Bill MacKay & Sounds of Now
Soul In Violet
Illumination
Sleepwalking
Idyll
The Bystander
Serpentine