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Here's my story. I started writing songs when I was in college. I was a kid then, and did things for the sake of doing them - everything was an open door. Almost all of the songs I wrote then reflect that.
I graduated and stumbled around the country, living in some pretty interesting areas including hermit-like in the forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains and grizzly-like in the rough hills of Jackson, Wyoming. The songs I wrote during that time differed from the songs I wrote in college in the sense that I was no longer a meek adolescent but part of "the world" - reality had changed from a sweet-sounding violin to, at times, a screaming siren (in my ear). The songs I wrote during that time illustrate my change.
After my time in Jackson, I got serious and decided not to let life be something that was "beyond" me but stand up and try to live in a way that reflected what I thought to be true. I've recently started writing songs in the sense that they're not songs I need to write but songs I choose to write.
My newest release, "Midnight", is an album I’ve been waiting for years to put out. Unlike "Poppy Fields and Pearls" and "Dead Reckoning", which are a collection of songs taken while movin’ round the U.S. and ones taken while idle in L.A., "Midnight" is basically an assortment of songs from college that I wrote. This album is very “of the moment” – these are songs that I wrote on napkins at bars, in parking lots, in alleyways at 3 a.m. I needed to write these songs in some ways, for my own well-being at the time. The album is entitled "Midnight" not only after the title track of the album, but because it marks the time of my life when the clock rings a new hour: youth has given way to manhood, and this album is dedicated to the past and the emerging future. The passion contained in this album I believe is infectious, and I think you will be able to relate to at least some of the feelings, emotions, and sentiments contained within. Thanks for your ears.
Mark Gothard
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author: Rice B. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team - On Mark Gothard’s third CD, “Midnight,” a collection of bare-bones contemporary folk songs, the singer-songwriter goes back to the beginning. The 15-track CD contains songs newly recorded, but written in his college days, well before his first album from ‘03. Songs that he “wrote on napkins at bars, in parking lots, in alleyways at 3 a.m...” As such, there’s a youthful immediacy that is next to impossible to replicate as one matures. Stripped down, haunting pieces built primarily on acoustic guitar, with some spare use of piano and drums provide the sonic template, a lo-fi texture that puts the songs front and center. “Skies Painted Blue,” one of the most affecting tunes on the album, is a beautiful love song, aching with the singer’s passion and desire; “Dressed In Red,” with its rich-as-soil vocal, nimbly weds melody to guitar flourishes with imaginative lyrics as impressionistic as they are sublime; on “To Heaven We’ll Go,” Gothard strikes pay-dirt with a fragile, minor-key tune that lingers long after the song has ended. Filling out the rest of the CD are equally smart and elusive songs that attest to Gothard’s original and noteworthy song craft.
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Mark, my man! Hey, I'm having a book party/signing on July 10th (Friday) at about 7 p.m., we're thinking about having it at the Bigfoot Lodge. I'd love for you to make it, brother. Check out my book and throw back some drinks. Should be fun, all around. Hope to see you there.
What's up, Mark? Nice meeting you the other night. You do a good Johnny Cash. Gave me the courage to do some Killers, despite my unnecessary exuberance while performing. I'll meet you back at the Bigfoot Lodge someday. We'll do a duet...eh, maybe not. Shots then? BTW, I dig your music...pretty smooth, pal.
L.A. is such a cliche. Two strangers sipping drinks at a bar strike up a conversation and OF COURSE one's a musician, the other a writer. OF COURSE! But, you know, thank God it is.
Just dropping a line to let you know that I am playing "The Skywalker Blues" and "One of the Angels" on Cracklin' Radio this week. Excellent CD - had a hard time choosing just two of them.
