THE SOUL / BLUES / ROCK ’N’ ROLL AFICIONADO ON HOW HE FILLS OUT A DUO — AND WHY YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE HIM FEATURED IN OUR “MY PEDALBOARD” SECTION
By Mark McStea
MCKINLEY JAMES IS at the forefront of the current crop of new, young blues players. Named after Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), it was a no-brainer that he’d gravitate toward the blues, although for James, there’s a hefty dose of vintage Stax soul in the mix. Eschewing the predictable, over-the-top flash and bombast of so many ax-slingers, James’ playing is all about tone, touch and taste, with a mighty injection of hard-rocking energy in the mix.
You started out on Hammond organ. When and why did you move to guitar?
I switched to guitar when I was about 11. I was never really super serious about the Hammond, but I was hugely into Booker T. We had an old video of Booker T. & the MGs backing a whole bunch of Stax artists; watching Steve Cropper playing on that was what made me want to switch. Then I got into Link Wray and the great blues guys like Magic Sam and Otis Rush.
You’ve gone from a three-piece to a two-piece — just you and Jason Smay (JD McPherson, ex-Los Straitjackets) on drums. What prompted the change?
Our Hammond player left in October 2022. We thought we should see how things panned out as a duo, and we really liked the way it sounded. It caused me to change the way I play as well. I thought it might be easier to cover more sonic territory if I tried to play with a fingerstyle approach, with the thumb covering some of the bass range. It’s all about the size of the guitar tone to make things work without a bass player; I used to only play on the bridge pickup, but now I’m playing much more [on the] neck pickup.
You have an economical style. Do you find that you deliberately stay a
