Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues

Danny Keylon

bass, backing vocals

Danny is the newest member of Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues, having joined in September 2007. He has been playing the bass for a number of years and when his friend and the band’s drummer, Mike Whitt, asked if he would like to play a few jobs with Mac and PFOB, he jumped at the chance and has been with them ever since. Everything just seemed to fit.

His mother was a struggling songwriter and his older brother was a DJ for a hometown radio station as well as an accomplished pianist. Danny started pursuing music by singing in the youth choir at Church and with the Optimist’s Boys Choir. He started taking piano lessons at age eleven, clarinet at twelve, and bassoon by age thirteen.

There was an inescapable explosion going on in popular music during that time and he wanted to be a part of it. A school friend suggested that maybe he should try the bass guitar since a portable piano was not feasible at the time, and the bassoon was never in any popular bands. Very un-cool. Bass guitar was very cool and because it was an F-Clef instrument like the bassoon, he took to it right away.

The result was that he found himself playing in clubs around the southeast both in his own band, and as a bass player for hire, doing recording in several studios around the south, and playing the Soul Review package shows. Either opening for, or playing with, artists like Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Jerry Butler, Mary Wells, Arthur Conley, Joe Tex, and a host of others. The Dirte (pronounced dirty) Four, recorded some original songs and for an artist named Willie Hobbs. Some of these recordings wound up on Major Bill Smith’s Charay Records, for Shelby Singleton’s Sounds Of The South label, as well as on Smash and Mercury Records.

When the Dirte Four disbanded, he and some friends put together a rock band that played clubs and concert dates opening for Rare Earth, Ides Of March, Son Of Cactus, Todd Rundgren, and ZZ Top to name a few. The band signed a record deal with Starday-King Records in Nashville, TN, which was James Brown’s old label. Their subsequent recordings were produced by George “Shadow” Morton, but never released. So, with a couple of personnel changes, a change in location was decided, and it was off to Detroit to play the clubs there.

Contacts and friends made during those Detroit years would lead to some interesting opportunities. One of those necessitated a move to Orlando, FL for a reforming of the band “Cactus” with Rusty Day, Frankie Robbins, and Steve Dansby. Another came through Frankie’s brother, Dennis Robbins, about an audition with the Detroit band the “Rockets.” Dennis, Frankie, and Danny had played in a band for a few years prior to Dennis’ joining the Rockets so when the opening for bass player occurred, Dennis sent the audio tapes to Danny so he could learn the tunes. Danny passed the audition, moved back to Detroit, and stayed with them for two years. He played the “Turn Up The Radio” tour, recorded the “No Ballads” album at the Record Plant in Sausalito, CA, and played the subsequent tour in support of the album. (Another one of those “chance meetings” was with Willie Dixon, a hero of Dan’s and legend in the music business. A story too long for this space.)

After leaving the Rockets, Danny moved to Atlanta, then to Memphis, and then back to Nashville where he played demo sessions and clubs. These were some lean times, so when an offer came to Danny to put together a band back in his hometown, he decided it was time to move, again.

As the years pass and gigs come and go, there is one thing that remains constant; Danny is a bass player. He loves the instrument, playing live dates, as well as doing studio work. Music is his vocation and everything he does is in support of that calling.

Mac, Mike, Austin, and Max, also love to play, and that, plus a solid groove, are some of the bonds that unite them. Mac is a bass player, too and Danny says it is his obligation “to steal every lick Mac knows” so he can add them to his own bag of licks. Just listen to some of their tunes and you can hear a veritable cornucopia of influences. Enjoy.