Who Were the Mac Brothers?

I started playing drums at eight years old.  Bands I played with are, K-nife, Tangerine, Patchwork, Ozone, Watson Brothers, Mack Brothers, Country Wine, Blue Starr, Split Image, Halfway to Nowhere, American Eagle, Red Bone, Guerin, Barlow Band, Dam Dog, The Lubercators, Krackers, Domicolo- Barlow.  All my family played music.  


The Mac Brothers was a great band, we played in Syracuse many nights.

I played in bands for forty years, such as Midnight Hour, Patchwork, Halfway to Nowhere and Whiskey River.  Then I joined the Mack Brothers Band in 1977 and played with them until Freddy McLean passed away.  It was a great band, had so much fun on the way to Nashville for the album recording.  

The area's youngest active steel guitarist, 23- year old Joey Corbett is also one of it's finest.  For 4 years of the kid from Oswego has lit up the Mac Brothers' live performances with the classic country sound of the alternately whining and jumping steel.  

The area's youngest active steel guitarist, 23- year old Joey Corbett is also one of it's finest.  For 4 years of the kid from Oswego has lit up the Mac Brothers' live performances with the classic country sound of the alternately whining and jumping steel. Corbett's authentic style comes from training with veteran picker Chub Shortsleff and 10 years of experience with his instrument.  Gifted with talent beyond his years, Corbett has landed the enviable position of studio musician at Lakeside Studios in Sacketts Harbor working with country star/ producer Del Reeves. 

In the early 70's he was playing rock & roll with a group called Ed Ozone Band.  Then in 1975 I sat in with The Mac Brothers and fell in love with country music.  This turned into a twenty-five year wonderful experience.  We played everywhere in New York, all Firemen's Field-days and almost every bar in Oswego, Jefferson and Oneida Counties.  We also made three shows on channel 5 called "Dialog".

Then in 1980 we spent two weeks in Nashville, TN working in George Jones Possum Holler Club;  for fanfare week backing up people no one knew yet.  Such people as Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Randy Travis, it was such a great experience.

After 1983 I left the Mac Brothers and started a group called Running on Empty; playing most of the time as a house band at Scriba Town Tavern.  I retired from playing in 1985.  I'm still playing as a fill in for bands who need a drummer like American Eagle band, etc.

The Mac Brothers Band was the best.  Freddie and I rocked the country stage.  Many fun nights together.

Bio below from: NYS Country Music Association 1988 Band of the Year booklet, author unknown.

The Mac Brothers Band's newest member has extensive local band experience including work with champion fiddler Hal Casey and the popular variety act The Barons of Boogie.  Horn opened for the Pure Prairie League and The Outlaws as a member of the band Blue Starr in The Thousand Islands Fest.  In just 1-year as The Mac Brothers bassist Horn has added a strong smooth vocal style and a consistent, team-player approach to the band's instrumentation.

Bio from: NYS Country Music Association 1988 Band of the Year booklet, author unknown.

The sister of Band leader Freddie McLean, Patti's gifted vocal skills and authentic country style set The Mac Brothers Band apart.  Her duets with brother Freddie are among the strongest cuts on "With Strings Attached".  McLean has been honored for both her singing and her songwriting as winner of The Eastern States best female vocalist in 1976 and 1977 as well as a Golden Poet award winner for the song, "Love is a Challenge" in 1987.  McLean composed 3 of the songs on the album and co-wrote a 4th.  A graduate of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and The Art Linkletter Show, McLean has worked with popular local acts The Claughlin Brothers and Alice Deitrich and has performed with Willie Nelson and Boxcar Willie.  

Bio from: NYS Country Music Association 1988 Band of the Year booklet, author unknown.

A respected veteran of 36 years of singing and playing, Freddie McLean has made 1988  and 1989 landmark years in his musical career.  The current Mac Brothers band is the culmination of the enviable career of the Mexico, NY resident who played with pop group Tommy James and The Shondells in the 60's before returning home to build one of the most popular and successful country acts in the area's musical history.

In addition to the release of the groups second album "With Strings Attached", McLean was named the Statewide Country Music Association's Best Male Vocalist, and was runner-up for Best Instrumentalist in the annual competition won by his band in 1988.  He was honored by Eastern States Country Music Inc. as Best Male Vocalist in 1974 and 1976 and by New York's Country Music Association as Best Male Vocalist in 1978.  Also proficient on fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, bass and piano, the widely known McLean was inducted into the Statewide CMA's Hall of Fame in 1988.  

The influences of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings are evident in McLean's rich vocals, heart-felt, working-man blues style and sparkling showmanship.  

Born and raised in the small town of Sandy Creek in upstate NY... Buck's first inspiration to play pedal steel guitar came from his dad when he was 11 years old. His dad(James), a well known steel guitarist in the northeast for 40 plus years, also provided some six string guitar and basic theory instruction and insisted that he work on those two things for a couple of years before taking on pedal steel. His dad was also a huge Ernest Tubb fan and from those records he first learned of Buddy Emmons and Buddy Charleton.

It was then he decided what he wanted to do and dreamed of moving to Nashville one day. Those two great players along with Lloyd Green, Pete Drake, Doug Jernigan and Curly Chalker were his early influences. 

He began playing with well know local favorites "Freddie Mclean and the Mac Brothers" and "Mike White and the Sliter Brothers". At age 15 and would travel to Wheeling, W.VA. once or twice a year to play on the famous "Wheeling Jamboree" radio show . Needless to say it was quite a thrill for a 15 year old kid. Around the time he graduated from high school, the group signed with a booking agency based out of Detroit, MI and traveled around the country performing.

During one of their frequent stops in Detroit, Buck was offered a position with popular locals "Kansas City Southern" and moved there soon after, playing six and seven nights a week. A couple of years later while living and working in Detroit, resident friend and guitarist, Vern Pilder told Buck about a job opening in Nashville with a new country singer named John Anderson. After a few phone calls, an audition... which consisted of riding around with the band for a few days to see if everyone could get along, he was offered the job and moved to Nashville in 1982. The childhood dream of moving to Nashville had come true! 

After touring and recording with John for 8 years, Buck went on to either tour or record with many artist's such as... Rob Crosby, Martin DelRay, Bailey and The Boys, Chely Wright, Michelle Wright, Keith Urban and The Ranch, Jerry Kilgore, Matt King, Sting, Marcus Hummon, South 65, Farmers Daughter, Confederate Railroad, Third Day, Cindy Lou Harrington, Bill Anderson, Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown, LeAnn Rimes, Dierks Bentley and is currently approaching his 20th year with Lyle Lovett and his Large Band.

In 2006 and 2007, Buck added two major motion picture sound tracks to his credits due in large part to his association with drumming legend Russ Kunkel, who also has been touring with the "Large Band" for the past few years. Buck and several other "Large Band" members collaborated with L.A. session musicians and legendary film score producer, James Newton Howard, to work on the movie sound tracks for: RV (Runaway Vacation) - Sony/Columbia Pictures and Charlie Wilson's War - Universal Pictures. Buck say's it was a great and humbling experience and recalls thinking... "Hollywood is a long way from Sandy Creek, NY". 

Just like any other story, there have been hard times and Nashville can be a tough place. Luckily, Buck has always had a liking for the mechanical side of the Pedal Steel, due in large part to the fact that where he grew up there wasn't anyone nearby to "fix" things if something broke or needed tweaking, and also due to the fact that his Dad was also a part time gunsmith and passed on some his "handyman" knowledge. 

So... when work involving touring or recording would slow down, Buck would keep himself busy helping others with repairs and/or restorations and for several years could be seen at one of Bobbe Seymour's shops off and on to lend a hand. Buck has also worked with friends and fellow musicians, Duane Marrs and Jimmie Crawford taking things a step farther with assisting in designing and building pedal steel guitars. 

Buck has built two personal guitars for himself which are... a Marr's in the mid 90's and a JCH in 2001. Jimmie and Buck built the JCH together and is currently Buck's main guitar. All in all, Buck feels lucky and says... " Regardless of whether I'm playing steel or working on one, It's what I enjoy. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have met so many great people. I hope it continues for a long time! " 

Bio from: NYS Country Music Association 1988 Band of the Year booklet, author unknown.

Toscano's inspired craftsman on three different instruments has been a Mac Brothers Band strength for over 4 years and he also applied training and experience as co-producer of "With Strings Attached".  Davis is also the band's engineer on the album and has produced for other various local acts.  Dave's fills, both lead guitar and keyboards, are indispensable to the sounds of the album as well as the stage show as his years of musical education and travels with such musicians as renowned fiddler Hal Casey has enabled Dave to elevate his talent both in the studio and the control room to top-notch status and made him a coveted performer and technician.