The May 2022 edition of HashtagWV will be on newsstands May 3.
While you may not be familiar with the name Steve Mackey, you have most definitely heard his music. Having played with such artists as Peter Frampton, Dolly Parton, Tom Bukovac and Joe Bonamassa, Steve has developed a reputation as one of Nashville’s most sought after studio musicians – a reputation which was solidified in 2021 after being nominated as “Bass Player of the Year” by the Academy of Country Music. But before all the accolades, and before establishing himself as one of “the biggest names in country music,” Steve was a kid from the Greenbrier Valley.
A 1984 graduate of Greenbrier East High School, Steve spent his formative years in Ronceverte. After a recent trip back home to visit with his mother, Steve took the time to catch me up on what’s been going on in the magical world of making music.
“I just finished a run in the states with Joe Bonamassa,” Steve told me. “Then I came home for a three-week break. During that break I helped finish the new Luke Combs record – which I understand will be out June 24.”
This is far from the first collaboration between the two artists. In 2019, Mackey and Combs worked together on Combs’ “What You See Ain’t Always What You Get” deluxe album. The new-album release date was also confirmed by Combs through an April 13 social media post. With the record completed, Mackey will once again be hitting the road with Bonamassa – this time for a two-and-a-half-week long European tour.
“We’ll do five gigs in and around the U.K.,” Steve said. “We’ve got two nights at Royal Albert Hall in London. That’ll be great, I’ve never been there. Then we finish up with a night in Paris, which will be pretty cool. Number one because I haven’t been to Paris, and number two because I have family over there.”
When he returns to the United States after the European tour, Steve is scheduled to play several “one-off gigs” with Trisha Yearwood.
“I haven’t played with Trisha in a while – she hasn’t gigged in about three years,” Steve told me. “She’s been out with Garth. He does eight or 10 spot-dates a year. When he does that, Trisha goes out and sings five or six songs with him and his band. What we’re doing this summer are private dates. But it’ll be good to hang out with her – it’ll be nice to sit on a bus and catch up.” …
Read the full article in the May issue of HashtagWV, on newsstands May 3.
Matthew Young has been a resident of Lewisburg, WV since December 2019. Prior to arriving in West Virginia, Matthew resided in the Philadelphia area, where his reporting, commentary, and editorials have been featured in numerous local and regional publications. Previously, he has served as a scriptwriter and consultant for television, radio, and various other short-form digital-media platforms, both within the United States and internationally. Since moving to the Mountain State, Matthew spent eighteen months as senior writer/managing editor for the West Virginia Daily News and is currently an active journalist with the West Virginia Press Association.