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You know, I was a rocker really until I was about eighteen or nineteen years old, until I heard the Judds and went “Wow! What is that?!” - Netty Mac.
On Friday February 22nd I met up with Netty Mac before her show at Big Als in Calgary. The bar was already starting to get busy so there was a constant buzz of conversation along with the background music. We settled for a table near the front of the room by the stage. Netty politely asked the manager to turn down the music at the front of the house so we could conduct our interview. Her mom settled in beside her. |
I had seen Netty at a jam the
previous week and was impressed by her contagious energy and magnetic
performance that drew people to the stage.
Netty has a following of loyal fans lovingly labelled the ‘Netty Mac Train’.
Hello Netty. You seem to have quite a following around the
Calgary area. I’m looking forward to
your show & I’m glad we have a chance to talk this evening. Before we get into discussing your music, why
don’t you tell me a bit about your background and where you are from?
Netty: I’m
from a place called Cessford, which nobody knows so I just say Brooks,
Alberta. It’s about a couple hours from
here, really in the middle of nowhere.
I’m a rural girl, I grew up in the country and uh, I’ve lived in several
places but all in Alberta, I’ve never have been outside of Alberta.
So you are an Alberta girl?
Netty: I
am, born and raised!
Did you grow up on a farm?
Netty: A
little bit of everything actually, homesteads, farm, Grand Prairie, Brooks,
Medicine Hat, Cochrane... Calgary is the only city I’ve ever lived in.
What was your influence to get
involved in music? Were your parents
musicians?
Netty: Well
you know I think I came out of the womb loving music. My father played a little bit of guitar &
what not, but I’ve just always loved music. I got my first guitar when I was
twelve and I just started playing and loved it. It was a catalyst and the song
just started popping out.
Your music is a really cool mix of
country with a bit of fifties flare with a modern kind of groove to it too. Was
that the kind of music you grew up with?
Netty: I
grew up with Waylon Jennings and the classical country and I absolutely
despised it. My mom was a big fan of the fifties music. I grew up on Elvis
Presley (I cried when he died) and the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry and
Jerry Lee Lewis, I listened to them a lot. But I tried to take a stand against
country music, you know I was a rocker really until I was about eighteen or
nineteen years old until I heard the Judds and went “Wow! What is that?!”
It’s
interesting, when I was on a road trip with my mom up to Fort McMurray, we’re
on the way back from Fort McMurray, we get about three quarters of the way back
to Brooks. She laughs and I said “What are you laughing at?” she said “You know
for someone who doesn’t like country music, you’ve been singing every single
song word for word" and it was on a classic radio station (laughs).
So it was infused in you whether you
realised it or not.
Netty: Yeah,
you know it’s in my soul and I guess I gravitate towards country music because
it’s about story-telling. There’s not a lot of fluff and very little
production. Really when it comes to country music it’s bare bones and it’s
about the story and the vocals that are coming out.
So did you find that when you were
younger you were into poetry, storytelling or any of those things?
Netty: Oh
yes, I was always writing poems and what not. I really dug poems. And then when
I got my guitar and learnt my three chords… you can learn any country song
with three chords. Yes, absolutely I love poems.
So is guitar your favourite
instrument today?
Netty: You
know, no. My favorite instrument is actually the saxophone. It puts a bounce in
my bum, I just love it. It gives me chills. The guitar at the end of the day is
just a catalyst to my song. I’m not a guitar player, I don’t profess to be a
guitar player. I play three chords with
a capo for the most part and I just move it up and…I’m really, really sad that
I found that capo at such a young age ‘cause I stopped learning. No definitely
the saxophone, all the way!
You mentioned to me before, that the
first song you wrote was shortly after 911. Can you tell me about that story?
Netty: Well
it wasn’t one of my first songs, but uh, yes, I was working out of my home
actually a collection agency, a dark negativity pit world, and my mom calls me
one day and says “Are you watching TV?” And of course my reply was “No, I’m working”… (‘cause it’s assumed when
you work out of your house you don’t work) My mother told me, “Turn on the TV right now” I
argued with her and said “I’m working” she said “Turn on the TV now!” Just as I turned on the TV, the second
plane was hitting the twin towers. I was a very political, a very, very
political person back then and I just thought life as we know it is over. I
dropped to my knees and literally made the decision to close my company, ‘cause
life’s too short for that kind of world, and wrote a song within twenty
minutes. It’s called ‘Go Ahead and Cry’. Don’t dwell on what’s gone, just dwell
on what you have, but you know what, go ahead and cry… I still tear up when I
sing it… I’m very passionate about that song.
You said that wasn’t your first song.
Do you remember what your first song was?
Netty: I
do actually, my first song that I ever wrote is actually called ’Unknown’ and
it’s kind of a pun because it’s a very dark, dark, sad, very, very sad song and
I could never name it. I finally named it I guess about three, or four
years ago and I just decided to call it ‘Unknown’. It works with the lyrics in
the song and as it turns out, it’s my band’s favorite song. It’s going on the
next album actually. It’s apparently the best song I’ve ever written (laughs)
with twenty some odd years of fine tuning it…
Another thing that attracts so many
people to you Netty, you call it the ‘Netty Mac Train’ the fan club that follow
you everywhere you go…when I look you up Online, you are just about on every
social media site there is. It fascinates me how hard you work to be able to
get out there and reach out to your fans, which is very, very important and I think
a lot of artists could take some lessons from how you’ve done it, and done it
so successfully.
Netty: Thank
you!
Over fifty thousand fans you have on
your Reverbnation page, which is amazing. I think that’s great and it’s not
like you’ve been making a huge effort to do this over the past ten or twenty
years. Can you tell me how it’s come about that you’ve been able to gather so
many fans?
Netty: There’s
two sides to that answer. I would be
remiss if I didn’t say that I actually have a fan club president who works
daily, she’s just a huge fan and believes in where I’m headed. She works on the websites. I do my own Facebook ‘cause there’s a lot of
personal in there. If an email comes in that requires a personal touch, she’ll
send that email to me and go “hey, you need to reply to this” . Little C works
her but off for me, my fan club president.
In
the alternative, with respect to so many fans, we’re in 178 countries now and
my take on why we have so many fans is truly that I’ve only been singing
professionally for a couple of years. I decided about three or four years ago
to build a band and I’ve just blasted out there that it’s my bucket list. I’m
going for a dream so I think that a lot of people are living vicariously
through me. A lot of the emails, a lot of the premise of the emails I receive
are ‘you are my inspiration’. It just goes to show if you really go for
something and work really hard, that you can actually live your dreams.
You
know, I like to think as well that my songs are attracting those folks as well.
I mean I have that foundation. My songs are very, very simple so to speak. My
songs have a very clear message, they’re mostly upbeat and what not. So folks
gravitate towards me because I am on all the social media constantly, going
“Hey guys, I just got this, it put a bounce in my bum...I can’t believe I’m
actually doing this.” You know, so they
like to see this. Who doesn’t like to see someone’s dreams coming true?
Your fans come from all over the
place and from what I hear, a portion of your fans come from India and Europe?
Netty: Yes,
the last time I checked my stats about eight percent come from India and China
so yeah, they’re from absolutely everywhere and it’s quite overwhelming and
it’s quite hilarious too because I have to go to Google Translate because I
have absolutely no idea what they are saying.
So is there a European tour coming
on, or India…wouldn’t that be interesting?
Netty: Well
it sure would, I mean I wold love to go to Europe. My second single release,
‘Punt With No Regrets’ is in Europe right now and it’s taking off you know,
Berlin and Switzerland and the Netherlands…it’s just everywhere over there. I
would love to tour, absolutely would love to tour Europe. That’s what it’s all
about, isn’t it?
Keep sending out that press kit, it
seems you’re pretty successful (laughs). I think we’re going to have to put out
a Netty Mac manual on how to put a press kit together, because yours seems to
be working very well for you.
Netty: Thank you, it is. It’s all about you know, sometimes
you have seventy words to sell yourself and sometimes you’ve got three or four
paragraphs and it’s determining what is required at the front end of the bus.
The seventy word ones are very difficult on the song releases to the D-Jays and
what not, but you know I’ve been a business woman for the last twenty-five
years. I know business, I started my own business, I started other people’s
companies. I know marketing, I know the
law and I have all the tools and resources to get myself there and not have to
rely on the big labels.
What’s been one of your favorite
moments onstage?
Netty: When
I’m singing… actually performing, entertaining and I get that reaction from the
crowd and when they start going crazy and the dance floor is getting packed and
they start screaming and what not, I actually forget the words to my own songs.
I get so caught up and just so blown
away that they’re singing my song back to me that I literally mess up the words
to my own songs, that’s my favourite moment every single time it happens…and I
hope it continues.
So you have your first album ‘You
Rock My World’ out, and now you’re working on a second?
Netty: I
am, yes the second album is about eighty percent complete, written so to speak.
I have some songs that was carried forward that didn’t quite make the cut from
the first one. I’m still writing but it’s getting there. The key is to release
within a year of each other when you are an indie artist. I guess it’s what you
need to do so yeah, I’m hopin’ it gets out there and it’s just about done.
I was reading on your blog how when
you are ninety nine years old, you wanted to be holding your album in your
hands as you were in your rocking chair. You’ve done that and so what’s your
goal now?
Netty: Yeah,
it’s amazing how this whole bucket list just keeps perpetuating and evolving
and what not... I have an interim goal, I would like to have a video on CMT and
then my bucket list ultimate has changed from having my own CD to having a
Grammy on the mantle while I’m listening to my CD (laughs) You gotta put it out
there and you gotta go for it and it’s not gonna happen unless you do, so I
will have that Grammy.
I hear you are going to Toronto,
what’s that about?
Netty: Canadian
Music Week, Canadian Music Fest. It’s the largest music festival in Canada. I
just put in my press kit and wrote a pretty cool bio I think, and I truly
believe we got in because of the two years ACMA nominations. There’s a thousand
artist from one hundred twenty countries and sixty venues for six days and the
Netty Mac Train is gonna be there. It’s
the highlight of my career so far, absolutely. I couldn’t ask for more, I’m
very excited!
So what’s your goal after that?
Netty: Well,
I put in my press kit for Juno week, so it would be really cool to play a few
in the Junos. My goal truly is to get in
front of as many people as I possibly can in the festivals, events and what not
and just get the Netty Mac Train out there. That’s the goal.
Netty talks
about her love of playing at festivals and goes on to describe how her team including
gear girl Stevie, her fan club president, her marketing coordinator and the
support of her mom, helped to make the Netty Mac train a reality… along with inspiration
from her grandmother:
Netty: My
grandmother is my mentor, I love my grandmother. I’ve enamoured with trains my entire life, so
the whole train thing has just been ingrained in me since I was pre-teens, I
worked on the trains. I just always
loved trains, so it just kind of transpired. It’s grown into…people are posting
‘woot-woot, chugga-chugga, I’m on the train. One of your fans posted on the
website, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I have an expression ‘bounce in
your bum’. I love it when I see a bounce in the bum of
the crowd. That puts a bounce in my bum, and then it just gets cyclical and we
go and go and go, and it just escalates. It gets huge and she posted, her name
is Wendy, she posted… instead of ‘bum’ she used ‘caboose’ , and I replied back
with her earlier this week…that’s a keeper, I’ll be using that from now on. Put
a bounce in your caboose, I love it! It’s different, so it’s interesting how
the train has evolved, it keeps getting bigger too.
As trains do…
As
trains do…
Except that you are one train people
don’t mind stopping to wait for…
Thank
you, Thank you!
Netty put on a dynamic show that
night, pouring her heart into her music to the delight of her fans. Her passion for entertaining was
evident. She had created a phenomenon
called the Netty Mac Train and I was about to get on board…
For more on
Netty Mac: www.nettymac.com
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