Mac MacLeod was a peripheral but interesting part of the British folk and folk-rock scene in the '60s. He intersected with several notable artists with much higher profiles, though he himself seldom managed to put out records. He's probably most recognized (though not by many listeners) for his associations with Donovan. There were similarities between his and Donovan's music, as both assimilated aspects of folk, blues, rock, and psychedelic styles.

MacLeod grew up in St. Albans, less than an hour from London, and got involved in the burgeoning U.K. folk community in the early '60s. He busked with John Renbourn and in the mid-'60s, he was briefly part of a duo with Maddy Prior, years before she rose to fame with Steeleye Span. He was also friendly with Donovan and says he showed Donovan how to fingerpick and clawhammer the guitar, as well as teaching him some songs. MacLeod also played some mid-'60s live shows with Donovan as an accompanying guitarist, including an early (for Donovan) appearance with a full band in April 1965 as part of the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert in London.

At the end of 1965, MacLeod moved to Stockholm, where he did a rare single, Remember the Alamo/Candyman (both songs, incidentally, had been recorded by Donovan, too). He also played with a rock band, the Other Side, with whom a young Boz Scaggs sometimes played bass. In 1967, he began work on a solo album that was never released. Four tracks came out more than 30 years later on the Copenhagen Lites EP, which showed, somewhat unsurprisingly, a Donovan-ish guitar/singer, playing acoustic folk-blues (on covers of London Town and Big Bill Broonzy's I Get the Blues When It Rains) and mild folk-rock with backing on versions of Buffy Sainte-Marie's Codine and Alex Campbell's Been on the Road So Long.

Soon after that, the wayward artist did a single with a band in Copenhagen, the Exploding Mushroom, coming back to England in early 1968. There, he formed the psychedelic rock band Hurdy Gurdy. In perhaps the most intriguing episode of his career, his pal Donovan wrote a song for the band, Hurdy Gurdy Man. MacLeod has gone on record saying that Donovan's arrangement was initially a much more subdued version than the hit that came out later that year. He has said Donovan heard Hurdy Gurdy playing the song with a far more powerful rock arrangement that was similar to the familiar Donovan hit version, before the single's release.

MacLeod never did release any material with Hurdy Gurdy in the '60s, and continuing his unpredictable course, he formed a band with another British cult folky, Mick Softley (who had written some material that Donovan recorded in his early days). The group, Soft Cloud Fiery Dragon, again didn't release anything, though one track (Time Machine) did come out about 30 years later on a CD accompanying issue number 28 of the Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine. In the early '70s, he became part of the psych-folk band Amber, with fellow singer/songwriter Julian McAllister. That project ended in 1971, though an EP, Pearls of Amber, came out in 1999. MacLeod gave up professional music and worked as a carpenter, though he continued to play some low-key shows. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi