"The sounds of Shuggie Otis & Michael McDonald inspired a man to write a song. A couple of Mondays later, that song inspired an identity. The name is Otis McDonald. The mission? Good music;" that man was "producer, engineer, drummer, singer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist extraordinaire" Joe Bagale, now, better known as Otis McDonald. I was fortunate enough to grow up with parents who always had a phenomenal record collection: Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, New Jersey "staple" Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, and, of course, The Doobie Brothers & Michael McDonald. So, I feel as though I "get" it... The Funk, that is! While I very much enjoy all of the aforementioned artists from my parents' record collection, I'll readily admit, Michael McDonald has the voice of a silky smooth angel. Nu-Funk sensation Otis McDonald self-released a whopping 30 tracks for free on YouTube's copyright-free audio library; they have since been downloaded over 5 million times, streamed over 10 million times, and have already appeared within millions of YouTube creators' videos. McDonald has since self-released a slew of album-length projects, including September, March, Innovations In Booty Shaking Music, Vol. 1-2, Float, and Moon.


Otis McDonald's latest collection of Funk-tastic compositions, People Music, was, actually, hand-selected for the people, by the people. Back in March 2019, Joe Bagale quietly uploaded 15 snippets of 15 as-yet-unreleased tracks over the course of 15 weeks. He, then, funneled the pseudo-album down to a solid 10 tracks, which ultimately garnered the most views, Likes, and Comments, and effectively re-packaged them as a proper 10-track album. Now, Otis McDonald has returned with our first proper taste of People Music, "Body, Mind & Soul" accompanied by a music video directed by John Sippel (@vltrr.) I would, personally, compare it to something falling stylistically in-between Shuggie Otis/Michael McDonald and Mayer Hawthorne-fronted Tuxedo. Otis McDonald's latest album, People Music, will be released on TrackTribe Friday, October 11, 2019. People Music vinyl can currently be pre-ordered directly from QRATES. Scroll Down for a statement on the unique creation process behind "Body, Mind & Soul" from The Zorro of Funk, The Scarlet Pimpernel of Retro Electro himself, Otis McDonald.

"There's a fun story about the creation of this song and production: For a time, I was working with this company called YourSongmaker, which allowed any person to submit some lyric ideas and then, the company would pair them up with a song-writer/producer to create an original song. That person, also, requested that it be an "uptempo Funk track." I'm a giant fan of Prince, James Brown, and Sly & The Family Stone. So, when someone asks for something Funky, I'm gonna look to the masters for inspiration. I had six hours to do it and this is what I came up with. Having that quick turnaround/deadline forced me to not really think about it, rather than just follow my ears and get it done. Funny thing is, I co-wrote this song with a person I've never met. This guy's name is Howard Wear and I thank him for helping me channel this tune."

- Otis McDonald (@OtisMacMusic)