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Brendon Mac rocks Alpena during music video shoot

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Country music artist Brendon Mac, formerly of Alpena, leads a group of several hundred people through downtown Alpena while filming a music video on Saturday. The video and accompanying single will be a remake of the Stray Cats hit “Rock This Town.”

ALPENA — Up-and-coming country artist Brendon Mac promised to rock Alpena while filming the video for his upcoming new single and made good on that promise on Saturday.

Alpena native Brendon MacNeill, who goes by the stage name Brendon Mac, filmed the video that will accompany his newest release, which is a rockabilly remake of the Stray Cats classic “Rock This Town.”

The single and video are expected to be released in early November.

Hundreds of people teamed up with Mac to march down Fletcher Street and then 2nd Avenue in downtown Alpena while the cameras were rolling. All the while, Mac danced, strutted, and egged the large crowd into a frenzy.

The second part of the video was shot at Bay View Park, where local sponsors provided food and drinks and local musicians performed to the crowd.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Country music artist and Alpena native Brendon Mac films concert-like footage during a video shoot in Alpena on Saturday. The video and accompanying single will be a remake of the Stray Cat hit “Rock This Town” and is expected to be released in November.

After dark, it was Mac’s turn to hit the stage to mime the lyrics for the song with the bright lights in the background and the screaming, clapping, and dancing creating a concert-like setting.

Mac will soon travel to Nashville to professionally record his vocals to add to the instrumental tracks that are already complete.

Jeff Yarbrough, of Yarbrough Media Production, from Nashville, oversaw the video recording, which included a large boom near center-stage at the bandshell, before calling it a wrap after more than seven hours of filming.

Yarbrough addressed the crowd and praised Alpena for its support of Mac and being so inviting to his team.

“Brendon has just sort of swept Nashville by storm, and there are a lot of eyes looking at what he’s doing, and there will be a lot of eyes looking at his hometown,” Yarbrough said. “All the stops have been pulled and the red carpet has been pulled out and we have been prolonged to capture everything on camera. This is a music video that is going to go before the eyes of some very important people in Nashville and we appreciate you allowing us to do what we needed to do to help us put Alpena on the map, too.”

During the concert sequence, Mac did several takes and fed off the energy of the crowd, never slowing down and working the stage in its entirety. During the entire day, Mac made sure to mingle and thank all of his local supporters.

At the end of the night, Mac thanked many who he said made the video shoot possible from a local standpoint.

“None of this would happen without you,” he said. “There are so many people, I’m sure I’m going to forget some people, but, right now, I feel loved, I feel support, and I feel really emotional right now. I came here on a mission to give 120% to my hometown, and I’m spent from the day, but I feel accomplished, and I just love Alpena and northeastern Michigan.”

Over the last year, Mac has made a name for himself in the music industry after he recorded a remake of Johnny Cash’s hit “Ring of Fire.” The single exploded worldwide and has racked up well beyond 1 million streams and is still rising. Mac is currently working on recording an EP, which will also include original material.

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