File: MP3 @ 320K/sTime: 31:39
Size: 75.0 MB
Released: 2007
Styles: Acoustic blues
Art: Front
1. Sweet Georgia Brown (2:43)
2. I Wish You Would (2:57)
3. Jack Of Diamonds (1:49)
4. Mississippi Blues (3:50)
5. Yonder Comes The Blues (3:47)
6. Cherry Street (3:47)
7. Twelve Sticks (2:32)
8. Amazing Grace (2:27)
9. Come On Into My Kitchen (2:41)
10. Route 66 (3:31)
11. Kentucky Mandolin (1:28)
Mark T. Small has been playing music for over 40 years. In his early teens, he began listening to Old Time Music. He learned to play fiddle tunes on the guitar in the styles of Doc Watson and Norman Blake and also learned to play the Dobro. In 1981, this music took Mark to Indiana to play and record with a five piece Newgrass Band called The Brown County Band. At the same time, Mark was playing harmonica and listening to the likes of Junior Wells and Charlie Musselwhite.
After returning to the East Coast, Mark dug deeper into the blues, playing electric guitar and listening to Johnny Winter, Roy Buchannan, Albert King and many others. When he was playing progressive Newgrass, his style had the influence of the blues. Now, delving into the blues, his playing has the razor’s edge and speed that was developed from years of flat-picking. This combination of the lightning
fast bluegrass style and his soulful blues playing are the key components of Mark’s style today.
In the late 1980s, Mark started his own Chicago style Blues band, The Lonesome Strangers. The band ranged anywhere from three to ten pieces on a given night and was a staple on the New England club circuit for over a dozen years. The band worked all types of clubs due to Mark’s ability to transform the band to suit any venue. Many of the gigs were played as a power trio with Mark singing and filling the band out with scorching electric Blues guitar. Other times, the band included a keyboard or sax player and/or the addition of the Newport Navy Band Horn Section. Showmanship, taste, professionalism and great music were the adjectives that club owners cited over and over as reasons to book the band in a regular rotation.
In 2000, Mark began to gravitate back to his acoustic roots and the studio became his classroom. After making a decision to pursue a solo career, Mark took all of the lessons that he had learned over the last 25 years and began constructing his solo show. The premise was to develop an act that was as hard hitting as the band, but all in a one man show.
Mark’s live performances include many great traditional Delta Blues numbers with a Chicago Blues slant that transforms each tune into a tour de force. Included are the blazing flat-picking techniques that grabbed audiences in Mark’s Bluegrass days; the hot slide guitar playing that creates a mood and timbre change in each set; and the showmanship that he has developed from 25 years of experience as a band front man. These components, combined with the sense of a sharp businessman who possesses a keen understanding of the venue goals and objectives, assures a happy and excited audience regardless of the situation.
After returning to the East Coast, Mark dug deeper into the blues, playing electric guitar and listening to Johnny Winter, Roy Buchannan, Albert King and many others. When he was playing progressive Newgrass, his style had the influence of the blues. Now, delving into the blues, his playing has the razor’s edge and speed that was developed from years of flat-picking. This combination of the lightning
fast bluegrass style and his soulful blues playing are the key components of Mark’s style today.
In the late 1980s, Mark started his own Chicago style Blues band, The Lonesome Strangers. The band ranged anywhere from three to ten pieces on a given night and was a staple on the New England club circuit for over a dozen years. The band worked all types of clubs due to Mark’s ability to transform the band to suit any venue. Many of the gigs were played as a power trio with Mark singing and filling the band out with scorching electric Blues guitar. Other times, the band included a keyboard or sax player and/or the addition of the Newport Navy Band Horn Section. Showmanship, taste, professionalism and great music were the adjectives that club owners cited over and over as reasons to book the band in a regular rotation.
In 2000, Mark began to gravitate back to his acoustic roots and the studio became his classroom. After making a decision to pursue a solo career, Mark took all of the lessons that he had learned over the last 25 years and began constructing his solo show. The premise was to develop an act that was as hard hitting as the band, but all in a one man show.
Mark’s live performances include many great traditional Delta Blues numbers with a Chicago Blues slant that transforms each tune into a tour de force. Included are the blazing flat-picking techniques that grabbed audiences in Mark’s Bluegrass days; the hot slide guitar playing that creates a mood and timbre change in each set; and the showmanship that he has developed from 25 years of experience as a band front man. These components, combined with the sense of a sharp businessman who possesses a keen understanding of the venue goals and objectives, assures a happy and excited audience regardless of the situation.
Thanks to Gio
Mark T. Small
