In preparing for this interview I learned a valuable lesson: It is not only the music you must listen to, it is imperative to read the biographical information that accompanies it!
Such is the case with Mr. Mark Horn who resides in Hallowell and has released his first solo album “Country, Bluegrass & Blues” and can be heard every other Sunday performing in Wayne, but more on that in the chat below. First up I should mention that he’s a multi-instrumentalist (playing banjo, guitar, mandolin and drums) who has toured with rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess, sat behind the drum kit for New York’s Blue Chieftains and Austin, Texas’ The Derailers.
CONCERT INFO
MARK HORN:
TIME: 10 a.m.-noon
DATE: Sunday, Aug. 18
VENUE: A Small Town Bakery at Wayne General Store
ADDRESS: 506 Main St., Wayne
PHONE: 207-685-3818
WEBSITE: facebook.com/BankMules
He’s also played with the likes of The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Patty Griffin, Carlene Carter, Lonesome Bob and Todd Snider. After playing with and producing for other artists he decided to put out his own music. So when listening to that aforementioned CD I was struck by what I heard. but I get ahead of myself, so here’s how it all began.
Mark Horn, with Andy Buckland, perform every other Sunday at A Small Town Bakery at the Wayne General Store at 506 Main St. in Wayne. The next performance is Aug. 18. Steven Judge photo
Q: Upon listening to your new CD, my first thought was Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? with that old-timey sound. Then I picked up your bio sheet and it all became perfectly clear, I understood everything. I saw the light, Mark, I saw the light!
A: (Laughter) Yes, sir — yes, sir! I’ve made a career of it: listening to music recorded before 1975.
Q: I would guess that this album, obviously, is heart and soul for you, correct?
Advertisem*nt
A: Yeah, it’s just what I’ve always done. I’ve always kind of played at the crossroads of country, bluegrass and blues, you know?
Q: Well, there’s an authenticity there that struck me on my first listen and the subsequent ones thereafter.
A: The thing of it is, I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, my parents were from Kentucky and were part of the big Hillbilly migration, everybody went north to work in the factories, basically, from Pittsburg to Chicago after World War II. My father’s best friend was from Tennessee and was a Merle Travis guitar picker, a thumb-and-forefinger picker, and he used to come over to the house and pick all the time.
So when I was 14 I got a banjo and started playing together with him, so it’s something that I’ve always done. And then, for years, I made my career of being a drummer and that was all country, or roots-rock or blues music.
The very first day I got to New York, it was a Saturday, and I met up with a guy I kind of knew and he asked me, “What are you doing tomorrow?” I said, “I just got here, I’ve got nothing planned,” and he goes, “Meet me here tomorrow.” So I met him and we went to a blues jam that was run by the Holmes Brothers. I got to New York one day and immediately started tutelage with the Holmes Brothers the next.
They ran these jam sessions every Sunday and they were just great. I was 22 years old with eyes and ears wide open and to have guys like that sitting right in front of you showing me how it’s done is a pretty great education.
Advertisem*nt
Q: Yeah, you can’t beat that, it goes back to authenticity again …
A: Yeah!
Q: I sense a theme here.
A: Yeah, well you know, I mean for me I can’t do it if it’s not real, that’s part of how even I selected the songs that are on the record. Obviously, some of them I wrote. I have a lot of friends, having lived in Nashville, Austin and New York, who are songwriters. Sometimes songs that my friends have written just really ring true to me.
Q: Is that your yardstick when it comes to picking songs to cover?
A: Oh yeah, it’s gotta be real, you know? And that’s really just because I don’t know any other way to do it.
Advertisem*nt
Q: Now this CD is your solo debut, are you thinking about doing something again along the album lines?
A: Yeah, I’ve already started assembling more songs. And it’s a bad habit, Lucky, it really is, but the only thing I’m interested in thinking of in any depth at all, other than taking care of my family, is music.
Q: I noticed that Bob Colwell recorded and mixed your album; he’s one of the best, period.
A: The thing I like about working at Bob’s is that we’re always talking about music that’s exciting to us. Every time I’ve ever been in the studio with Bob, there’s an excitement about being there playing music.
Again, that’s why it comes through as real because we’re all there doing what we know how to do. I mean, that whole record started out with me and Steve Jones going in and working on a rhythm track. He would play electric bass and I would play guitar, then I would play drums and he would play lead guitar, and then I would sing. So we cut half the record that way, just me and him.
Q: I also noticed you had Andy Buckland on upright bass and vocals, and Joe Flood on long neck banjo, plectrum banjo, fiddle, guitar and vocals.
Advertisem*nt
A: Joe is a great utility man, we’ve been friends for 40 years, and he started coming up from Connecticut to record with us. Andy grew up down around Boston, and for my taste and the way I approach music, he and I have a natural affinity for hearing music the same way. So when we started playing I never have to think where Andy is, like he’s always just right where you expect him to be because he’s just got that feel, and I couldn’t do it without that feel. So my friends Joe and Andy came up, the three of us started recording together a bunch and it’s worked out really well, it’s a great bunch of fun.
Q: Now, what have you got coming up as far as performances go?
A: We do our every other Sunday at Wayne General Store. We’ll be there on Aug. 18 because it’s just so relaxed and so easy; and doing it that way doesn’t prevent us from doing any other gigs that might come up, just working as sidemen.
Q: So The Wayne General Store is the name of the venue?
A: I think the actual name is A Small Town Bakery at the Wayne General Store. It’s great space, it’s this cool, old building, and we just go in there and sit down and play. People come in and eat breakfast on Sunday and have a good time. It’s turned into a real blast!
Q: Who do you have with you for these shows?
Advertisem*nt
A: It’s me and Andy, just a duo and collectively we call that group the Bank Mules. That’s a nod to my dad who grew up in Van Lear, Kentucky, and their high school mascot was the Bank Mules, so it’s just a nod to my heritage.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
A: Just that we play music that feels good so people can feel good. There’s no rocket science involved here, it’s a banjo and an upright bass. We just go have fun and hope people have fun with us.
Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
