Developing the ONE MAN BAND
In the early days...
It all started with a love for songs...
the poetic combination of enduring
words and soaring melodies.
Mark started down his musical path in the typical way of school choirs, rock bands, and occasional church solos. Those early experiences led to a professional start with gigs in local pubs & taverns around Kansas City.
Eventually, it was the special spaces of street corners and farmers markets that provided the opportunity to practice, perform, and hone his newest musical aspiration, becoming the most utilitarian of all solo acts,
the One Man Band.
Head Hands & Feet...
The rich busking scene in Kansas City inspired Mark to add new layers of rhythmic complexity to his blossoming act. First, he adopted a simple tambourine to tap along, while he performed songs from his repertoire on guitar.
It wasn't long before another busker appeared from out of town and showed him what it took to become a one man band. Roy White adorned his hand-made, limb triggering, rhythm machine (that he built in the 90s) and we all watched as the crowds gathered every weekend to see him at City Market.
Word got out that there was an inventor in Michigan that had redefined foot percussion. Pete Farmer (of Farmer Foot Drums) had become mad inventive and started a music company that really understood how a solo artist plays and produced a complimentary instrument, a triggered 9 pedal foot drum for providing percussion to an act. Mark bought a set in 2015 and this enriched his shows and the fullness of the new rig, made it possible to begin to amplify in Kansas City, mostly on the plaza in front of Scooters, where KC watched him play for years.
Several years leading up to 2020, Mark would perform at weddings and special events at the iconic and historic Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, MO. Eventually, the hotel invited him to begin a regular weekend residency, giving him the opportunity to hone his craft in front of a constant audience.
Over the next four years, the residency became a defining chapter in the development of the one-man band, with more than 180 performances at the hotel.
The Elms Years
Hitting the Road
After four years and more than 180 performances at the Elms, Mark decided it was time to take the one-man band somewhere new. The long weekend drive from Kansas City to Excelsior Springs had become part of the routine, but it was time for something different.
A newly built nomadic tour van became home base, and the first destination was the American Southwest. In Moab, Utah, he began performing wherever the opportunity presented itself — from a local food truck court to restaurants and other establishments around town.
What started as a change of scenery quickly became a new way of performing. The road brought new places, new audiences, new music, and plenty of stories along the way.
