Mark Cool And The Folk Stars

Bio: Mark Cool's grandfather played banjo and had a radio show with his bluegrass trio before Mark was born. Cool's dad collected Johnny Cash lp's and fed him a steady diet of am radio country music. When he was a kid, his collective family (a group "hippies" living communally) would host touring folkies and put on concerts. All of this combined with being a guitar student of Libba Cotten's accompaniest and disciple, Dana Klipp, as a teen...

Mark Cool's grandfather played banjo and had a radio show with his bluegrass trio before Mark was born. Cool's dad collected Johnny Cash lp's and fed him a steady diet of am radio country music. When he was a kid, his collective family (a group "hippies" living communally) would host touring folkies and put on concerts. All of this combined with being a guitar student of Libba Cotten's accompaniest and disciple, Dana Klipp, as a teen, seems to have been absorbed by the artist and regurgitated in music that's been compared to Townes Van Zandt, Nebraska-era Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Lambchop, even Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.

"...Honesty, integrity, simplicity, humour, understatement, restraint, a certain joire de vivre that can only be found in folk who know exactly where the bottom and the top can be found, catharsis, realisation..." says Paul Villers of Americana UK Magazine in describing the Durham, NC songwriter's August, 2007 release, "Introducing Mark Cool and the Folk Stars." Cool is currently on tour in support of the album, combining traditional venues with his "100 house concerts tour." "I'm not stopping 'til I've played 100 living rooms, backyards or other atraditional venues where I get to really connect with people through the music" he says.

Mark Cool (yes, that's his real name), formed the band "Mark Cool and the Folk Stars" in 2006 and started playing shows locally in Durham and surrounding areas. Cool started with some songs from his 9 years in Los Angeles, plus new NC material, and the band added covers of artists like Johnny Cash, Cotten, and the Carter Family for their live shows. The cd was recorded over an 8 month period at Durham's Sound Scripture Studios, with special guests Dom Flemons (of the Carolina Chocolate Drops), Ben Palmer (great Durham jazz bass player) and others. Cool co-produced and sung, played guitars, harmonica, and some kazoo and hand percussion too. American UK Magazine picked the disc as one of the top 20 of 2007 alongside Wilco, Okkervil River, Paul Case and Crowded House.

With a Feb. 08 solo tour of Scotland already under his belt, MC plans to continue the "100 house concerts tour" alongside more conventional venues, and to expand his radius to include the Northeast US and southern states as well. A house concert attendee had this to say about his live show: "The house concert was fabulous! Mark Cool's music is sweet - and sometimes funny - it has a depth and power that taps into a tender appreciation for living- even when it's edges are hard - that makes us want to wake up and feel more alive. Mark's voice and presence take us to that place, along the trail he's traveled and come through singing." -Joanna H. Another UK tour is already in the planning stages in the Fall, as well as a new cd. Cool has live recordings from house concerts, songs that didn't fit on the first cd, and new material to choose from "I'm always writing", he says, "life is rich."

Mark Cool's music is recommended if you like Lucinda Williams, Gillian welch, Wilco, Keith Urban, Old Crow Medicine show, Gram Parsons, and other similar alt-country/ folk/ americana artists.