LP: Reincarnation
Song: "Brown Girl"
Exuma (aka. Tony McKay or, originally, Macrfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey) is my favorite new discovery! Born on Cat Island in The Bahamas in 1942, McKay went to New York City to study architecture when he was 17. He promptly ran out of money and, according to Wikipedia, some friends gave him an old guitar and McKay began performing in Greenwich Village clubs alongside the likes of Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Richie Havens, and others.
McKay had moved to New Orleans by the 1980s and performed regularly there at nighttime hotspots in the French Quarter. In the mid-1990s he lived for a time in Colorado, reportedly inspired by the area's peacefulness. As for posterity, Wikipedia says "McKay fathered many children..." which makes it sound like he's fathered so many that nobody's been able to keep track! Shout-out and thanks to my sister Chas for the birthday money that led me to the record store (as if there's not already a well-worn path) where I found Exuma's 1973 "Life" LP, which, in turn, inspired me to obtain this 1972 LP from seller Riffs-Ahoy on Discogs. It arrived yesterday!
[ Tony McKay: February 18, 1942 — January 15, 1997 ]
Have you listened to his very first album with the single Obeah Man? Great song, Obeah is a form of folk magic practiced all over the Caribbean. I was living in the Bahamas in 1970 when this song became a huge hit there!
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