Mac McLoed: The forgotten folk star who revolutionised The Beatles
Whether it was the optimistic R&B empire of Motown Records or the spiritual teachings of the Maharishi, The Beatles seemed to soak up inspiration from every avenue of the culture landscape, and that included the underrated folk stylings of one Mac MacLeod.
From his origins in the sleepy Cathedral city of St Albans, MacLeod devoted much of his early existence to the mastery of folk music, eventually becoming one of the most renowned figures within the Hertfordshire folk scene. By global, or even national, standards, though, that Hertfordshire scene was still incredibly niche, so regardless of the guitarist’s generational talents, he was never quite afforded the attention of the musical mainstream.
Folk music generally, in fact, has never been a particular stronghold within the UK singles charts, reserved predominantly for small community clubs and ramshackle stages in pub backrooms – where MacLeod spent countless hours honing his craft. At this point, then, you may be questioning just what this forgotten folk musician had to do with the biggest band to ever grace the global airwaves, and the answer to that lies in the output of Glasgow’s very own Donovan.
Having forged friendships with both The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Donovan was among the most well-connected men in music back in the 1960s, and his folk leanings ended up having a colossal effect on the Fab Four. Not only did he travel with the band to India back in 1968, but he also taught John Lennon the finger-picking guitar style that spurred on tracks like ‘Dear Prudence’.
Originally, though, it was Mac MacLeod who taught that distinctive guitar style to Donovan. The obscure folk figure had been a huge influence on Donovan during those early days, not least when he joined the ranks of Hurdy Gurdy, the band that inspired one of Donovan’s defining moments in ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’.
As the songwriter told the New Musical Express in 1968, “’Hurdy Gurdy Man’ was originally written for a Danish group by that name. There is a friend of mine in the group – Mac MacLeod – whom I looked to in the early days to learn how to pick the guitar.”
“I wrote the song especially for them but then we got into a disagreement over how it was to be produced.”
Donovan
Namely, Donovan was envisioning the song as the kind of gentle folk odyssey that he was known for, whereas Hurdy Gurdy themselves rendered the track in their kind of hard rock psychedelia style.
In the end, then, Donovan released his own version, which ended up becoming one of his greatest hits, whereas Hurdy Gurdy dissolved in a cloud of visa troubles owing to their British-Danish line-up.
Even though MacLeod’s output remained largely under the radar, not making it onto the final recording of ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’, he still had an undeniable impact both on Donovan and The Beatles, by extension. That particular track, for instance, simply would not have existed without him, and nor would the finger-picking style that Donovan embraced and The Beatles soon adopted.
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