Ginny has recorded four albums. Her latest release is titled “On the Street Where You Live,” and it’s a collection of classic tunes and originals, featuring many of her friends and greatest musical heroes. The project includes Grammy Award winners Woody Paul and Joey Miskulin (Riders In The Sky), legendary Nashville fiddler Buddy Spicher, the great bassist Bob Moore (Roy Orbison), and several of Nashville’s premier musicians.
When she is not busy with an active touring schedule, Ginny is writing and arranging new original music for an upcoming album and collaborating on multiple musical projects.
Alan Mercer: Ginny,when I discovered your music, I fell instantly in love! The first thing I want to know is when are we getting new music?
Ginny Mac: It’s true I hadn’t recorded in some time, and I did have a full concept album ready to go, right before the pandemic and when it happened, I shelved the project. I did record a 6 track EP with my brother several months ago and we are getting ready to release that. I’m an Amplify 817 Artist, so it will be available through the library as part of the archives of local music as well.
AM: That is awesome! Are they original tunes or covers?
GM: Basically, it was just some original music we had been sitting on and we wanted to record. That will be the newest thing I have out. I still want to revisit the concept album, but we’ll see. (Laughter)
AM: What happened to change your mind about releasing this music?
GM: The album is called Divorce Apartment. It was all of the music I wrote when I lived in this little apartment for 14 months after my divorce. At that time, it seemed so relevant, but then the pandemic changed everything. I still love that album. It is music I want to share, but I thought I need to put some energy into some other things right now.
AM: That makes complete sense. You have such a way with standards.
GM: People have always said I was a torch singer. I’m an old soul and a torch singer. That’s where my heart is.
AM: Even though you are involved in Western Swing, your albums are slightly different. How did that happen?
GM: I think when it’s in your soul, you bring that spark and energy to whatever you’re doing. I sing in some Punk bands but I’m still a torch singer. It’s torch singing over punk music. I think it’s unique. I have a project with Mike Dillon where we started recording an album. I’m flying out in June to finish that and then we’re doing some Texas dates in July with Earl Harvin.
AM: That sounds really promising.
GM: Even that project is very experimental and improvisational. We have written some things, but it’s also just very open and even in this project I find myself singing like a torch singer over punk music. (Laughter)
AM: Why would you alter your unique talents?
GM: That’s just me.
AM: I saw someone giving you unsolicited career advice on Facebook and I thought what nerve that fool had.
GM: (Laughing) In the music world we joke and we call them the “I’ll tell you what you need to do” people. It’s all these people and I know that they mean well, so I am not meaning to mock them, but that guy took it to an extreme. He told me to ditch my instrument.
AM: I was appalled.
GM: That’s my favorite part of myself. I love playing the accordion. I speak the accordion. I love it.
AM: I see it as you playing the accordion sets you apart from a long list of great singers. It’s an identity.
GM: There are a bunch of incredible singers and there aren’t as many female accordion players. I like that it sets me apart and I appreciate what it’s done for me.
AM: Accordion and fiddle are my favorite instruments.
GM: Mine too. People ask me all the time who my favorite accordion players are and who are my influences. I do have a few. I love Joey Miskulin from Riders In The Sky and I LOVE Art Van Damme, who is a great jazz musician and Frank Marocco, also a great jazz musician and a studio musician in Los Angeles. Most of the time when you hear accordion in films it was him. A good example is the famous spaghetti scene with accordion music in ‘Lady and the Tramp.’ He passed away in 2012. Most of the musicians that informed my style of playing are fiddle players, steel guitar players, horn players. I was listening to a lot of Western Swing and Jazz and there wasn’t a ton of accordion there, so all of my playing was informed by other instruments, which I think is great.
AM: Ginny, I am a huge fan of the program you recorded at the Fort Worth Public Library about the History of Western Swing. Can you talk about that?
GM: Sure, I went to TCU, so I get emails and newsletters and they often do a calling for the TCU Extended Education Program, and I thought, what if I did a course about Western Swing? This is music really relevant to Fort Worth, so I put together a pitch about teaching the history of Western Swing with guest musicians, live music, records, history and the ties to Fort Worth specifically and they loved it. That was how the library got wind of it. They had seen that I did that and they were looking for some new programing for Spring and they reached out and I met with Rita Alfaro, who is a wonderful person and the Music Librarian. She loved the idea.
AM: You look like you were having fun and enjoying yourself.
GM: Oh, I loved it. It was a complete passion project. I was so appreciative of my guest musicians and speakers because they were all wonderful and they were so willing to be a part of it.
AM: I learned so much.
GM: Thank you so much. The other thing that made it so enjoyable for me was that I could share personal anecdotes about the musicians that I knew, some of them still living, some of them gone. It’s a way to continue their story and their life.
AM: You and your brother, Glenn make a great band. When did you two start performing together?
GM: I’ve been playing professionally since I was 14. He’s 3 years younger than me and he always wanted to do what his older sister was doing, so he was taking music lessons, but he wasn’t playing like I was. He was playing baseball and I was out and about playing gigs. When I was 18, I was booked at a festival in Arizona as a trio, myself a bass player and a fiddle player. Less than 2 weeks before the gig, the bass player backed out. He just couldn’t make the gig. I didn’t know what to do, so I’m looking at my brother in the corner with his guitar, learning Stevie Ray Vaughn licks, and I thought I could whip him into shape. So, he went through, what he likes to call, “Jenny Mac Bootcamp” where I taught him all of my music. I told him if you get lost, just rake the strings. No one will know the difference. He had chord charts and we played this beautiful festival. We had great audiences. They put us up in condos. He and the fiddle player had their own condo and mom and I had our own. My brother was sold. He was 15 and got to play in front of lots of people and get paid! (Laughing)
AM: That does sound life changing.
GM: He quit baseball and wanted to go full throttle into music. That was the beginning of us playing together.
AM: Are either of your parents musically inclined?
GM: Neither one, but they were always very supportive.
AM: Were they music fans?
GM: Yes, definitely. We grew up with a lot of different music around the house. My parents had a record player and tons of records. My grandmother loved Western Swing and Big Band and my parents liked a lot of Country and Classic Rock, so we grew up listening to tons of music.
AM: Do you have any formal education in music?
GM: No, I have a finance degree from TCU. It has been very helpful to have a business degree. It’s made me want to pitch ideas to some universities around the area about doing a music business seminar. I knew how to handle my own business when I was still a teenager. I think that sometimes music programs will spit musicians out and they have no idea how to do that. They have the musical knowledge, but they don’t know how to book a gig or write a contract.
AM: So, even though you were well into your career as a musician by the time you went to college, you still decided to go and get a business degree to help you in your career?
GM: Absolutely.
AM: You are so smart. Before we end, is there anything else you want to tell us about?
GM: I have started work on another album, so I’m pretty excited about that. I’m planning on a full-length album. I’m also applying for grad school. I’m touring this Summer and into Fall. I haven’t toured in a couple of years, so I am definitely looking forward to that.
