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MM: Exactly, and I think folks want to see a show and I think it’s respectful to the music, which is really
important to me and people like to come and see a night out. They take their hard-earned money and buy a
ticket, then that’s really good. I think about that picture of Robert Johnson - you know the one in the kind of
photo booth thing? And he’s not in his overalls. He’s in a sharp suit, Sunday suit and B.B. King was like that.
Albert King as well. Always seen in a suit. Always looked smart, so it’s really, really important.

BiTS: You’ve got a record out with Steve Bailey and The Soul Fixers. That’s not recent, is it? It’s quite an old
one.

MM: With the pandemic, time has become this amorphous mass, but that was 2018, I think, with Steve Bailey.
Steve’s an amazing harmonica player. Lives in Seattle. He’s become a very close friend of mine. He’s got some
incredible stories. We worked on the The Soul Fixers record, and we’ve just had one come out, which we
released because of the timing of
everything over the last couple of
years which is mainly Steve, but it’s a
tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson. He’s
one of Steve’s big heroes.

BiTS: I’ve been playing it on my
show.

MM: Have you? Oh great. Excellent.
Thank you very much. Yes, a real
labour of love there. We spent a lot of
time working on that.

BiTS: I gather from what you’ve just
touched on that you were pretty badly
affected by COVID. Is that right?

MM: Yes, I have a day job in the travel
industry and a hobby in the music
industry, so I can’t think of a worse combination of things. Yes, it’s been difficult for everyone, hasn’t it? Where
do you start? A lot of people have lost people. It’s been very, very difficult. I think anyone who’s a musician has
had to adjust to what it’s meant for them. But I think things are coming back now and it could be a period of
fantastic creativity and you can’t beat a gig. You can’t beat being at a gig. I tried the whole kind of online
streaming thing and I put on my red suit and went downstairs and did the thing, but I felt a bit kind of sad
playing to a room of nobody, although that’s not exactly something that’s new.

BiTS: On your website where you’ve listed some of the positive things that have happened to you, you say a
good year for the paisley. What does that refer to? Is it your shirt?
MM: Yes, I really like paisley. The “Do Right, Say Right” album, which is the one that came out last November,
has got a paisley shirt on the cover, but I’ve also got a really rare, limited edition Fender Deluxe Reverb amp.
They only made 65 of them, but it’s in pink, black and paisley and that’s the picture on the thing. Yes, it’s just
become [chuckles] a little thing. I’ve switched from red suits to paisley now.
BiTS: Tell me something about this new single that you’ve got coming out with Kerri Watt.

MM: Kerri’s an amazing singer and Mark from Another Planet Music met her at the Americana awards
recently, earlier on this year, and he suggested that we got together and redid one of my songs. The song’s
called ‘Devils Chain’ and so Kerri and I recorded our parts together. The song was inspired by a Johnny Cash
TV special and very oddly, you know they used to rerun them on ITV, there was a strange moment in one of
them. Normally there’s campfires and presents and children’s choirs and everyone’s having a great time, but
there was one moment where Johnny Cash was walking up the stairs during the TV special, and June stopped
him and turned to him and said ‘Johnny, every dollar you earn is a link in the devil’s chain’ and she paused, and
it was like a message. There was obviously some kind of hidden message going on, but she’d given him a stern
warning and you could see the look in his eyes. I’d love to know what that was all about, but when I saw that, I
was like, I’ve got to reach for my pen. I’ve got an idea here [laughing].

BiTS: What a wonderful story. I love that.

MM: I wish I could find it again. It’s a brilliant moment. It’s completely out of the blue.