Mac McHale was born in Bangor, Maine. He moved to the Kennebunks in 1978 after playing in the area and liking it. McHale is multi-talented, currently performing the vocals and playing guitar, mandolin and banjo for two separate groups.
For more than twenty years, McHale has headed Mac McHale & the Old-Time Radio Gang, performing vintage American bluegrass and country music. The veteran ensemble has eleven recordings to its credit. They specialize in rousing renditions of the classic melodies from a time in American history when popular music told “the stories from our hearts.” Their sound is reminiscent of the purely acoustic live radio broadcasts and grange hall appearances that were hallmarks of the 1930s and 1940s. In venues as diverse as Steamboat Springs’ Strings in the Mountains; The Imperial Theater in St. John, New Brunswick; The Maine Center for the Arts; and Country Night at The Pops with The Reading Symphony, audiences fall prey to The Radio Gang’s high-spirited concerts.
McHale also performs with Emery Hutchins as Two Old Friends. Together, they play songs from Ireland, the mountains and the sea. McHale and Hutchins were the original founders of Northeast Winds, with whom they traveled and recorded for nearly fifteen years.
On loan for this exhibition, McHale has presented two concert posters from the collection that adorns his garage, plus copies of his compilation CD, Down in Memory Lane, and the Old Country Radio Songs CD. The latter was recognized by CD Review as one of the top four country CDs produced since the magazine’s inception in 1984. In a nod to the communities McHale now considers home, the CD cover pictures what is today’s Bradbury Brothers Market in Cape Porpoise.
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