Mark Erelli – HuffPost 8.12.10

[Note: This is from my interview with Mark Erelli and it contains Info that might be appealing to new and evolving artists.]

Mike Ragogna: Overall, your instrumentation and vibe…obviously is folk. At what point during your musical evolution did you commit to that genre?

Mark Erelli: It’s a funny thing. Everyone goes through this stuff in a different way–some are raised with it in the culture, some find it on their own. How does this Jewish kid from the middle of nowhere in Minnesota change the entire world with his music that is heavily rooted in things that may not have been in his every day existence? Of course, I am speaking of Bob Dylan.

I found folk, really, through classic rock. When I went through that phase, I was discovering all that music that my parents’ generation was into, though it was not necessarily my parents’ music. I was finding out about this stuff for the first time–The Beatles, The Stones, The Dead, The Allmans. And also, I learned through friends and the radio.

But the Allmans were huge for me. I call them my gateway band like you would refer to a gateway drug. It started with The Allman Brothers, and it opened-up all sorts of other things that had influenced them. It’s an amazing amalgamation of blues, country, folk, and soul. So, if I am reading an interview with Gregg Allman and he says that Little Milton is one of my favorite singers, because I love Gregg Allman so much, I want to know who Little Milton is. Through him, I found traditional country music, classic rock, and singer-songwriters. I got Gregg Allman’s solo record, and he did a cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days.” I’m like, “Who the hell is Jackson Browne”?

I developed this kind of entree into the whole world of American roots music through those classic rock bands. The Grateful Dead were the same way with country. They had a similar feel of country, folk, and bluegrass influences. I grew up in the Boston suburbs and there is a ton of folk music around there. One day on the radio, I heard Chris Smither when they played him on the radio. Here was the missing link between bands like The Allman Brothers–bluesy stuff that I had come to love but with more of a philosophical lyric. Like Bob Dylan, he was a bridge. He had these wise lyrics, but really rocked and grooved all by himself. So, he was the guy that made me think. As soon as I figured out what that was, and as soon as I could conceptualize what that was, I wanted to do that. It was a matter of research and something that I discovered at the right time. When you’re a teenager and have a little bit of pocket money and limitless passions…well, all those things kind of stayed with me. All these years later, I end up doing those things that I had dreamed of doing back then.

MR: And, of course, there’s personal experience and a music that lends itself to a narrative.

ME: Where I live now, two towns and seven miles away over from where I grew up, I’m surrounded by things that I hadn’t seen since high school days. It’s just the kind of geography of my everyday life now. I constantly see things that remind me of people I used to know and friends I used to have and things that I did back when I was younger. So, it got me back in touch with things like playing rock ‘n’ roll in high school. I hadn’t thought consciously about it for a while, and once I did, I realized that it made me who I am now. There’s almost no difference except I sometimes have a hard time getting back to that same type of enthusiasm I had when I didn’t know any better.

MR: All these years later, it has to still be a rush when you tell friends or acquaintances you’re a singer-songwriter, right?

ME: When I meet folks that ask me what I do and I tell them I’m a musician, sometimes, I get an utter lack of comprehension. Sometimes, I see this rosy glow in their eyes, like rose-colored glasses descending upon them. It’s obvious that they’re remembering similar experiences they had back in the days when they used to play music. But they don’t anymore, and they imagine that my whole life is having that feeling that they used to have when they made music in college and high school. It’s not to say I never have that, I have it plenty. But it’s something I have to work at, to cultivate, now. That’s one of the “little vigils.”

I try to be careful that I don’t bitch about my work. There are so many people that would like to be in my position in spite of all of the issues we were alluding to earlier, and there are so many people that would love even the small victories that I’ve had. It’s important to try and hold onto that humility.