Fosson, Mark

Fosson, Mark

Solo Guitar

Drag City

***MARK FOSSON’s been playing music for nearly 50 years now. Solo Guitar is the 5th album released under his name in all that time, which gives an insight into the nature of his music; when it is time for Mark to commit to something underneath his fingers, regardless of whether that is after two years, ten or twenty, that’s what’s right. On Solo Guitar, Mark continues to use his chops and enthusiasm to wander musically, drawing up pieces of sparkling, nimble fingerstyle with an eclectic vision. As the title implies, this time Mark is focused on the austerity of the guitar, plain and simple, to bring out the music. Whether on six- or twelve-string, his sure touch is transported by crystal-clear recordings that belie their down-home origins, as they catch the contours of every string as it is pressed, bent and struck—a full-bodied sound projecting soulful dips down into bass strings and shimmering upper register runs with equal power. The air around these performances is colored with curving waves of steel-stringed beauty, and the pungency of free-wheeling wit and recollection. This is one of Mark’s favorites of all that he’s written, and it is clear why: the golden, eternal promise of the guitar is ebulliently, transcendently delivered. Mark Fosson’s Solo Guitar is a masterful work, the kind it takes a lifetime to assemble! (STREET DATE - 7/28/2017)

Fosson, Mark

Digging In The Dust: Home Recordings 1976

Tompkins Square

***Kentucky native MARK FOSSON recorded one album for John Fahey’s Takoma Records in 1976 which went unreleased until 2006. Mark recently found the home demo for that session. Fosson says: “These 11 tracks are the songs I began writing after acquiring my first 12-String guitar. I recorded them in my living room on a Pioneer RT1050 2-track reel-to-reel with a rented microphone. All are originals except for ‘Back In The Saddle Again,’ which resulted from my other obsession at the time of watching old black & white Gene Autry movies any chance I could...usually at 5:00 AM! I met Mr. Autry many years later and tried to tell him this but the crowd was too loud & his ears were too old & he couldn’t hear a word I was saying. Anyway...thanks Gene. Many of these songs would appear later in slightly altered form on The Lost Takoma Sessions, but these original versions are my personal favorites. I can’t believe the tapes have survived so long and still sound as clean as the day I recorded them.”