Bill MacKay

Bill MacKay is a guitarist, composer, singer and improviser based in Chicago.

A renowned solo artist and accomplished collaborator with projects that include solo albums Esker (2017), Fountain Fire (2019) and Locust Land (2024), and recordings with cellist Katinka Kleijn (Stir, 2019), Nathan Bowles (Keys, 2021), and Ryley Walker (SpiderBeetleBee, 2019), all released on Drag City Records, MacKay has pursued his musical investigations with obsessive rigor.

MacKay is also a poet, visual artist and polyglot, and is a member of both the avant-garde rock outfit Black Duck (with Douglas McCombs) and the experimental groove-drone project BCMC (with Cooper Crain).

Among other publications, his work has received praise in the Chicago Reader, New York Times, Mojo, Uncut, Downbeat, Paste, Pitchfork, and NPR.