A truly gifted singer-songwriter, Mark Evans is a most unlikely country music devotee. He’s been writing songs ever since he can remember, and what he’s turning out now puts him squarely in the Kris Kristofferson - Billy Joe Shaver - John Prine category of talented tunesmiths.
Born in Kent, England, Mark grew up listening to his mother’s country records. “When I was little, I found this EP with a picture of a cowboy on the cover. It turned out to be a four song disc by Hank Williams and I just couldn’t believe that voice and the things he had to say,” says Mark. “I didn’t know anything about songwriting, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
He started writing poems and songs and keeping a record of his life from as far back as he can remember. He also tried to listen to as much country music as he could find. “We even bought a record off the television called ‘Country Comfort’ that featured Johnny Cash and a bunch of other country stars. People thought it was a little weird for a young boy to like that country music, but I didn’t mind, it spoke to me,” said Mark.
He wanted a guitar but wasn’t allowed to have one. “People like us don’t have guitars,” he was told. So he saved his money and finally got one when he was around 13 or 14. He taught himself to play and began immediately making up songs. “That’s where the fun was, making stuff up!”
At age 15 and totally bored with school, Mark dropped out and took on a succession of manual labor jobs. “I was out of my element at school. The work was so easy and my mind would wander all over the place,” Mark said. He started working construction jobs, roadwork, street sweeping and basic factory jobs, something to earn a living as well as to stay occupied.
He went to open university for two years and then began a four-year psychology course at Middlesex University. He interned at the prestigious Applied Psychology Research Institute in Cambridge, and eventually completed his four-year degree in a mere 13 years.
“I would get sidetracked from time to time, so it took me a while to get through the course. But I did get a Bachelor of Science Honors Degree in the end.”
And with his degree, Mark began selling pet supplies, doing some road building and handling a little social work on the side. He also worked for a non-profit organization aiding the homeless. “I loved doing that work and truly enjoyed the people, but you reach a point where you can’t do it anymore, you just get burned out.”
However, all of those experiences helped to create the songs that were swirling around in Mark’s head. “I’ve got notebooks and notebooks of songs, song ideas and just notes that I’ve gathered over the years from the people that I’ve come in contact with,” admits Mark. “A lot of my songs are based on experiences of the people I’ve met and befriended over the years. Surely, you can’t believe that these songs are based solely on my life!”
His turn toward a full time career in music took place in April 2005 when he attended a songwriting seminar in Oxford (England) put on by Sore Fingers Summer Schools and led by Darrell Scott. Scott, the 2002 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year has written hits for Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, Travis Tritt, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Brad Paisley, Patty Loveless and others. Additionally, he is a much in demand session musician.
Mark took the week long course, got several one-on-one sessions with Darrell Scott, as well as singer-songwriter Kathy Chiavola, who was attending as a student but had taught a vocal course at Sore Fingers the previous year. Encouraged by everything he learned at the seminar, three months later, Mark took his first plane ride and flew to Nashville to continue his education. He went to clubs, songwriter venues such as the Bluebird Café, and all the traditional honky-tonks on lower Broadway and soaked it all up.
He met as many people as he could and in a chance meeting, Mark met a music publisher who just opened his company. Sitting on a friend’s porch on a hot July evening, Mark was asked by the publisher to sing a song, and then another and another. Mark gave the publisher a disc of 12 songs that he had recorded in his kitchen back in England. The publisher’s parting words that night were “don’t sign anything with anyone until you talk to me.” A few months later, Mark was signed to Nashville’s Hyland Hills Music.
While on that first trip to Nashville, Mark Evans entered a studio and recreated his “kitchen tapes” with producer Fett. “My songs are a composite of my travels over the years,” says Mark, “and it was a thrill to record in Nashville and have both Darrell Scott and Kathy Chiavola contribute to it.”
The album, titled I Crawl Out, will be shopped to smaller labels in the States while it will have an immediate but limited release in England. Mark will begin performing throughout England and wherever the road will take him, eventually returning to the States for his third visit and a potential tour.
The old adage, “be careful what you wish for because it might come true,” is an apt saying as far as Mark Evans is concerned. A few chance meetings and an in depth seminar have proved that dreams do come true.