Artist description Mark Melloan is a young Kentucky songwriter with lyrical depth beyond his years. His debut album, "The Shadowlands," features twelve original songs and a stellar musical line-up, including Curtis Burch (dobro), Casey Driessen (fiddle), and Bela Fleck (banjo). Mark plays the acoustic guitar and sings about a variety of themes -- rural Kentucky, Vietnam and the twentieth century, comical relationships, train heists, and lamp lit church services just to name a few. Songs like "Hubert Atwell's Store" (Pascal, Kentucky) and "Courthouse Rock" (Red River Gorge) have secured a loyal local following, and concert attendance has been outstanding. Mark's folk band primarily headlines Kentucky theatres; nonetheless, his first five shows have already drawn a total of 1,200 listeners. "I think he's the next James Taylor. He's a very talented singer, songwriter and musician" (Curtis Burch, New Grass Revival & "O Brother" soundtrack). "The Shadowlands doesn't fit neatly into a genre. It's a little country, a little folk, a little just good music. The lyrics have some dominant themes: Kentucky, history, storytelling, loves of sorts" (Lindsay Grimes, The News-Enterprise). "I think he is an artist with extreme potential . . . His voice as a writer is very distinctive, and he's a good performer" (Dr. Erika Brady, Barren River Breakdown radio program). "One of Kentucky's finest folk singer-songwriters" (Alicia Carmichael, Bowling Green Daily News).

Music Style Alternative Country

Musical Influences Gillian Welch, Johnny Cash, Nickel Creek

Similar Artists James Taylor, Ben Harper

Artist History Hometown: Elizabethtown, Kentucky Age: 21 Education: Senior at Western Kentucky University Majors – English Writing and Religious Studies Mark grew up in a family where music and writing were an every day part of life. His mother sings and plays the piano. His father sings and plays guitar. When Mark was a baby, the family business was a jingle company, his father being the writer-producer and his mother doing the singing. So no one was shocked when Mark followed his sister’s footsteps and started taking piano lessons. But it was when he dug up his father’s old Gibson that you started to see the fire in his eyes. By the time Mark was in high school he was the regular bassist in the First Christian Church praise band. When the lead guitarist moved to another church, Mark stepped into that slot. That’s where you’ll see him on Sunday mornings when he’s in E’town. Again, it’s something of a family affair since his sister, Amanda, plays piano and his mother sings with the vocal team. On Sunday nights he leads worship for the youth. An Elizabethtown High School graduate (class of ‘99), Mark received an academic scholarship to Western Kentucky University. That fall he started college as a Physics major. Although his head could handle the math and the labs, his heart was leading in another direction. Each road trip, each new experience sparked song ideas. He was also meeting people who were helping to expand his musical horizons. Whether playing bass guitar in Kurtis Matthew’s blues band, performing in a Bowling Green coffee house with his buddy Micah Gerdis, or picking in the living room with legendary dobro player Curtis Burch (New Grass Revival), Mark was honing in on his own unique style. On February 18, 2001 Mark turned 20 years old. Over the next 12 months he wrote a book full of songs, many of them for one of Mark’s dreams, a Civil War anthology called To Climb a Hill. Twelve of them are on his new album, The Shadowlands. The Shadowlands (release date Labor Day 2002) crosses the boundaries of traditional music genres. It includes an all-star lineup of musicians. B�la Fleck plays banjo; Curtis Burch, dobro; Casey Driessen, fiddle; Ron de la Vega, bass; Peter Young, drums and percussion; Rex Wiseman, mandolin; and Mark plays guitar. Back-up vocalists include Joni Melloan, Stephanie Tate and Kenneth Tate. It was recorded and mixed at MGP Studio in Hodgenville with Mark Goodman engineering. Additional recording was done at The Project Room and SMS Studio, both in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The album was mastered by Eric Conn and Don Cobb (Nashville, TN). While The Shadowlands is clearly a metaphorical place, the songs are often strongly tied to geography. “Courthouse Rock” was inspired by a trip to one of the most breathtaking spots in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, “I’m No Traveler” was born on his grandparents Hart County farm, and a short trip to Pascal with his grandfather inspired “Hubert Atwell’s Store.” The album also has its surprises. While an old, deserted mill is an unlikely place for a church service, that’s exactly what takes place in “Morgan Hunt’s Mill.” A viewing of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid must have been lurking somewhere in the back of Mark’s mind when he wrote “Coal-Burning Train.” And where the quirky, light-hearted “Deadbeat Backseat Man” came from is anybody’s guess! Thought provoking lyrics and innovative chord structures are not what you would expect from a writer just past his teens. But that’s exactly what you’ll find in The Shadowlands. That’s why the songs have a strong appeal to so many age groups: hip enough for the Dave Matthews crowd, clean enough for Nickel Creek fans, clever enough for Beatles buffs, and with messages ageless enough for your grandparents. Mark is currently playing concerts in support of the release of The Shadowlands.

Group Members Live shows feature newgrass veteran, Curtis Burch ("O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, New Grass Revival) and young upright bassist, Rob Collier.

Instruments guitar, dobro, upright bass, mandolin, fiddle, drums/percussion

Albums The Shadowlands

Press Reviews At 21, WKU senior slowly making a name for himself as one of Kentucky’s finest folk singer-songwriters, by Alicia Carmichael. When Mark Melloan takes to the stage during the After Hours series at Public Theatre of Kentucky on Friday, he’ll be backed up by one of the legends of bluegrass music – Curtis Burch, the legendary dobro player and a founding member of New Grass Revival. “Curtis has been great,” said 21-year-old Melloan, a Western Kentucky University senior who plays folk music with bluegrass instrumentation. “He’s been a real supporter of my songs” Burch is co-producer with Melloan of Melloan’s first album, “The Shadowlands,” which was released independently in September. Burch also plays dobro on the album, which features musicians like world-famous banjoist Bela Fleck and well-known Nashville fiddle player Casey Driessen. Driessen has performed with Steve Earle, Nickel Creek, John Mayer and others, while Fleck has recorded with such artists as Garth Brooks, Neil Young and Phish. Melloan met Burch a couple years ago after playing with friend and local musician Kurtis Matthew at Two Keys Tavern in Lexington. He told Burch about his songs and Burch seemed interested. Later that year, Melloan ran into Burch after Melloan and Matthew played a gig with the Kentucky Headhunters in Memphis, Tenn. It was then that Burch encouraged Melloan to make a CD. But Burch went further with his help. “He called Bela up and said, ‘You got to listen to this kid,” Melloan said. Burch couldn’t be reached for comment about Melloan, but Pat Ritter, a circuit rider who scouts talent and helps artists for the Kentucky Arts Council, said she suggested Melloan to be the musical focus of a Kentucky Educational Television episode of “Mixed Media,” which will feature several Bowling Green artists in December, because a couple of people sang his praises to her. “I was so impressed because for such a young guy, he’s got well-known players out of Nashville” working with him, Ritter said. Erika Brady, director of programs in folk studies and anthropology at Western Kentucky University, and host of Western Public Radio’s American roots music show, “Barren River Breakdown,” recommended Melloan and local musician Pat Haney to Ritter for the KET spot. Brady was impressed that Melloan’s first album was so well produced. “Many first CDs that were independently released sound like they were made in somebody’s garage,” she said. “And that can be charming. But the musicians on this CD are remarkable. They’re the best Nashville has to offer. I think it’s a tremendous vote of confidence to have a seasoned act like Curtis to take up his cause.” Brady was impressed with Melloan long before she knew he was a songwriter. Brady once taught Melloan in class. “He had such a feel for the literary material we were using” in a class about the roots of southern culture, she said. After she found out that Melloan wrote songs, Brady realized he’d used her class to hone his craft. “I think he is an artist with extreme potential...” she said. “His voice as a writer is very distinctive, and he’s a good performer.” An Elizabethtown native, Melloan is an honors student studying English writing and religious studies on scholarship. He says he has a love of words and often writes lyrics about rural Hart County, where his dad was raised. “Hubert Atwell’s Store” is one of Melloan’s favorite songs. It’s about an old country store that Hubert Atwell has run for several decades. The song is a far cry from the first song he wrote at 11 or 12 years old, when he abandoned piano lessons to teach himself guitar by writing songs. “I wrote the standard first song for people – something about wanting to be a bird,” he said of the song titled “Bird in Space.” Melloan talks about such memories with affection. He reminisced on Tuesday about how he learned to play guitar on his dad’s old Gibson, which was given to his dad by a pilot who crashed his plane into the farm his dad lived on when he was a child. In the early 1970s, Melloan’s parents had been in a gospel band called The Gospel Voices. “They traveled all over Kentucky,” he said. “That’d be early ’70s, so they have the platform shoes, the big jewelry.” Melloan said he remembers his dad later accompanying his mother on guitar as she sang in church. Now, Mark is lead guitarist in his church’s praise band in Elizabethtown and is a Sunday night youth group leader there. His plans for the future include promoting the album and playing concerts, but he’s always working on something new. “He set himself a goal that he was going to write a song every day,” Brady said. “He knew some of them weren’t going to be very good. “But, that’s the sort of commitment where you expect progress, and not just someone who wants to get on stage and wow the young girls.” Melloan will perform 8:30 p.m. on Friday night at Public Theatre of Kentucky, just off Chestnut Street on 545 Morris Alley. Tickets are $5 at the door. Melloan also will be recorded singing live at Spencer’s Coffee House on the Square on Nov. 19 at noon for the KET “Mixed Media” series. The public is invited to attend the taping, which will feature Ritter as a co-host with Chip Polston. The show will air on KET 1 and 2 on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 5 p.m.

Additional Info Album features banjo virtuoso, Bela Fleck, and fiddle prodigy, Casey Driessen.

Location Bowling Green, KY - USA

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