He is a singer-songwriter born Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. nicknamed “Mac” in Red Bay, Alabama, and grew up in Belmont, Mississippi. He started playing piano with his mother at the age of three and then went on to attend lessons and sing in his local church.
He began his professional career in music when he was 13 and followed that by learning the guitar and then starting songwriting at the age of 15. He left high school and began to play in nightclubs and as a session musician in Muscle Shoals and after having been noticed by the producers Clayton Ivey and Terry Woodford he began recording his own material.
His first released single was “I Need You Tonight” by Hank Williams. He signed to Ariola Records and released his first solo album in 1977, which would provide him with the hit single “It’s a Crazy World”. He moved to MCA in 1980 and has since released several albums with them.
His songwriting has achieved hit songs such as his own “It’s a Crazy World” and “Back Where I Come From”, “Old Flame” by Alabama, “When the Coast is Clear” by Jimmy Buffett, “Crime of Passion” by Ricky van Shelton and “It’s a Precious Thing” by Steve Wariner. As a guitarist and singer and/or songwriter he has worked with artists including John Anderson, Amy Grant, Billy Joel, Sammy Kershaw, Lyle Lovett, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Travis Tritt and Hank Williams Jr. He has also worked with Little Feat and Sawyer Brown as a producer and is a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.
Albums he has appeared on during the course of his career include his own No Problem Here, Cuttin’ Corners, Nothin’ but the Truth, Finish Lines, Live and Learn, Knots, Semi-True Storiesand Word of Mouth, and also When It All Goes South by Alabama, Meet Me in Margaritaville, Banana Wind, Feeding Frenzy, License to Chill and Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads by Jimmy Buffett, Pocketful of Gold by Vince Gill, Complete Hits Collection 1973-1997 and Greatest Hits Vol. 3 by Billy Joel, Bradley Barn Sessions by George Jones, Big Dog Daddy by Toby Keith, All My Dreams by Lenny LeBlanc, If My Heart had Windows by Patti Loveless, Starting Over by Reba McEntire, White Limozeen by Dolly Parton, The Yellow Album by the cartoon family The Simpsons, My Father’s Son by Ricky Skaggs, It Just Comes Natural by George Strait and the soundtrack of Prince of Egypt.
Alabama Recordings
Old Flame (Donny R Lowery/Mac McAnally)
Sources:
- http://www.macmcanally.com/index.php?page=bio
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_McAnally
- http://www.myspace.com/macmcanally
- www.post-gazette.com/magazine/19990615people7.asp
- www.alamhof.org/mcanally.htm
- http://www.buffettnews.com/bandmember78.html
- http://www.nuvo.net/articles/web_exclusive__jimmy_buffett_and_mac_mcanally/
- http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Mac%20McAnally:1927158004