Since climbing aboard as a co-pilot on Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country journey, bassist Will “Mustang” McGee has been busy. Very busy. Constantly criss crossing the country playing 150 concerts a year doesn’t leave much time for personal projects.
After five long years of countless stops and starts, McGee’s debut release Horseplay is well worth the wait. While McGee spends most of his time exploring the cosmic cosmos with Donato and crew, Horseplay is the complete opposite. It is a stunningly accurate musical time capsule of the 60’s and 70’s sound in his hometown of Memphis.
Recorded at the bluff city’s legendary Royal Studios with his friend and album producer Boo Mitchell, Mustang’s vocals are soaked with the flavor of Memphis legends Al Green and Rufus Thomas. He literally recorded songs with the same microphone Green used at Royal. McGee’s ability to shift from R&B/Soul to equally flavor soaked Steely Dan yacht rock vibes is jaw dropping at times. If you only know Mustang for his vocals on Ten Feet of Rope, that ceiling will be shattered instantly.
Slide&Banjo’s Marty Halpern, who along with McGee graduated from Memphis’s Christian Brothers High School sat down for an in-depth look at the making of his debut and life after his time as a Brother’s Boy.
McGee and Mitchell (also a CBHS graduate) hit the studio to begin Horseplay in February 2020; unaware they were headed directly into two major life altering roadblocks. McGee begins, “There was a lot going on in the world when I started doing this. I brought all the guys who played in my band Forest Fire Gospel Choir. We had been a band for a few years, but it was fizzling out. I knew I had songs I wanted to record, and they were great players. A month after we started covid hit. We were on hold for a few months. When we picked it back up in July 2020, Boo’s son Elijah was shot during a home break in. He survived but was paralyzed. I remember talking with Boo at the time. His life changed overnight. I remember telling Boo, take as long as you need to feel like you are mentally and spiritual ready to come back. I didn’t want him to be in the studio when emotionally it wasn’t a good time.”
It took over five years from first hitting the studio to the release of Horseplay. Some of the songs date back to McGee’s days at Nashville’s Belmont college. It’s there McGee learned being a musician requires wearing many hats. “When I would get overwhelmed, I had a buddy tell me there’s a time and season for everything. Sometimes one thing needs more focus than another. You have to trust your instinct for that. Put the other elements aside until you can catch up in another area. I play bass and sing. I don’t want my writing to be limited by what I’m able to do singing and playing. It also has to be something I can physically do.”
It’s McGee’s focus and detail to all elements of his songs that let them shine. His effortless vocals paint clear pictures of an earlier and different Memphis. The instruments and music backing them also perfectly paint the 60’s and 70’s vibe he was aiming for. McGee credits Mitchell for maximizing what each song offers. “There are songs I came in with a clear vision of what I was going for. Hole on the Wall fits in that category. In the Light started out as a completely different song. It was a slow, sad ballad. That’s why I worked with a producer. Boo helped me believe in songs I didn’t think were very good. Waking Up has been around for a while. I had been sitting on it, and it felt like an old song to me. He saw a lot of potential in that. He showed me some Prince ballads that put the song in a whole new context. I was able to see it in a new light and get excited about it. Get into the mood of it. Sometimes a producer helps you find the mood of the song. Not just hitting the right notes and remembering all the words. Getting into the emotional quality of something.”
McGee enlisted friend Kingfish Ingram to add his guitar to the soulful Where You Found Me. Donato joins the fray with his signature licks on For a Long Time. McGee took the opportunity to throw his boss a curve ball in the studio. “It was awesome to include them. I’m so lucky Daniel and I have formed a great friendship and collaborative arrangement. I asked why don’t you come down and play on this song. He hopped in his Ford Ranger and drove straight to Memphis. We did a couple hours of tracking, and he drove back to Nashville that night.”
McGee adds, “We tried to get him out of his comfort zone. We were trying to control the twang factor of the song. We thought sonically the Stratocaster took us into a different zone. As far as I know, it’s the only time I’ve seen him record on a Stratocaster. I remember posting the video and people were like Daniel on a Stratocaster. Now I’ve seen everything!”
Donato shares his thoughts and admiration for his multi-talented bandmate. “Mustang has an ability to do what very few accomplished bassists can do. He can write, compose and improvise. It’s already hard enough to play bass well. He has his own unique style on his instrument, and his new album reflects his unique style imbued through several other forms. Not bad for Horsin’ around.”
Not only does McGee capture the 60’s/70’s R&B sound in Horseplay, songs such as Here and Now, One and One, and Going with the Flow perfectly encapsulate the 70’s Steely Dan, Yacht Rock feel. His ability to capture the sound of music’s greatest session players half a century later is beyond impressive. “I’m old school. The music I like happened in the studio. I wanted to put myself in a situation like that. It’s beautiful how widely available music is these days. It’s all right there and I happened to latch on to those genres at a young age. Age wise, it’s strange I’m connected to this music that predates me so much. I so authentically have loved this music throughout my life. That’s what I listen to. I’m not trying to sound or ‘feel’ like something.”
Life has significantly changed for Mustang McGee since he began his Horseplay. He’s gone Cosmic with Donato, one of the fastest rising musicians in the Indy scene. That’s put his face and music in front on loads of friendly and eager fans. “It feels great. I can understand why they call it a music release. I feel released. I’m already thinking about the next thing now that I have the monkey off my back. Being on the road with Daniel and Cosmic and playing music for so many people. If I put this album out years ago, lots of those people would have never heard it. I hadn’t been through the experience of playing around the country and finding people who appreciate what we do. Since I waited to put this out, there are so many more people enjoying it. Which makes it a lot more rewarding for me.”
McGee wraps up with a nod to the place that set the foundation for himself, his producer, and this article’s writer. “I was a CBHS band member all four years. The last, I was band president and that started me on this path to be able to develop and play a lot of music. That sent me to music college. All of that is a part of what puts me here today. A shout out to Patrick Bolton, Band Director of Christian Brothers High School.”
Mustang McGee – Horseplay
Color Red Music