Mark Heard

The late, great Mark Heard helped to change my life.

I think it was in 1980 that I bought and listened to his first album.....well, the first album that he made that was marketed nationally. Back then, there was no real firm marketing of recordings in the so-called "Christian" music field....just smaller advertisements in little-circulated magazines....an occasional poster on a Bible bookstore window. There weren't any local Christian music radio stations in southern Indiana, and only weekly, hourlong syndicated programs broadcast on a coupla stations. I listened to those shows as often as I could just to get a taste of what artists sounded like....who was releasing stuff that I might possibly buy. And there was quite a bit of word-of-mouth endorsing.....most kids within the local youth groups seemed to borrow and exchange albums alot. This was a couple of years before the local Bible bookstore finally installed a "listening booth" so that you could listen before buying.

Logos Bookstore near the Indiana University campus was the best place to go and get music then.....bigger selection. There were a few other places but it seemed like they were kinda stuck in the Middle Ages....Tom Netherton....Evie....Jimmy Swaggart....maybe some Dallas Holm or Amy Grant if the owners were feeling real liberal around ordering time that month. : )
Logos carried everything that they were aware of, and the staff also realized they weren't "all-knowing" and weren't averse to ordering and stocking a particular recording if a customer would just turn them onto an artist.

I always paid a lot of attention to the musician and production credits and liner notes of an album. When I saw this debut LP titled "Appalachian Melody" by some guy named Mark Heard, I didn't think the cover shot was that great, but it was on the Sold Rock label (which I had had some good fortune with) and it also said on a sticker that it was produced by Larry Norman (which sold me on it). After one listen, I was not disappointed.

There was actually another album of Mark's that he had produced independently, titled "On Turning To Dust". To obtain them at the following link, you will more than likely need the WinRar application installed (or some other unzipping application, but I'd go with WinRar) and you can find them for free at various spots on the Web...just Google it. You can go to the following link and download both those albums--

http://www.one-way.org/mp3/Mark%20Heard/

Anyway, I bought "Appalachian Melody" and that album started me on a path of following Mark's music for many years. Most of his early albums (at least 3 or 4) came with these extensive liner notes on the album sleeve where much relevant stuff was discussed, usually in an interview format. I was so intrigued by how his take on spiritual things were so different from what I had been brought up to believe.....and really, how things were still being taught by the local churches. His thoughts opened my spiritual eyes.

I felt as if I had been sensitive to artistic expression by that age....I knew the appreciation of true creativity. But listening to Mark's words and work, I felt as if I was hearing real art for the first time as being done by someone who professed to be a Christian. He didn't follow any kind of prerequisite formula set up by standards of the Church in general. Other artists had broken that ground, but Mark was so.....poetic.
Don't get me wrong....I loved some of Randy Stonehill's lyrics that I had heard before discovering Mark...and the ideas that Larry Norman expressed in certain songs ("Walking Backwards Down The Stairs"; "Pardon Me") was unmatched up to that time. But with Mark Heard, Larry met his match. Some of Larry's thoughts were outstanding...but Mark's vocabulary and poetry was better. Read some of this from "True Confessions"-

"We don't seem to seize on the tenets we hold,
and they slip through the sieve of our deeds..."

or this from "The Pain That Plagues Creation"-

"As this planet falls around the sun, trapping us in the orbit
Creation groans in unison like a race of frightened orphans
The darkness of this raging storm is covering up our portals
But a yearning for the light is bourne in the heart of every mortal

Day to day we ache
With the pain that plagues Creation
Night to night we lie awake
And await its restoration..."

It's real poetry.....an offering from someone who has really put some effort into determining how he wants to express himself....and he does it so well. Here's a link to lyrics to most of his songs-
http://mhlp.rru.com/


Stop The Dominoes
I am going to leave ya some download links for some of my favorite songs from "Stop The Dominoes" from 1981. It is his first album that he did after switching labels to Home Sweet Home. I think the production is great. He had started exploring a sound with "harder-edge" guitars on this one, but still left plenty of room for what I consider his forte', the country-rock stuff and the mellower "James Taylor-ish" tunes.
"Stranded At The Station" is a pop/rock romp...it's got that "'70's pop" feel. I love the tambourine (or is it a shaker?) work on this one. His idea that our various periods of indecision can be like "missing our plane" is excellent. "You Could Lie To Me" shows the diversity of musical style that Mark can implement. It is a song directed to Satan (or a proponent of his)....this would have went over like a lead balloon around some of the youth group members that I was sometimes involved with. "A song to SATAN!?!" I can just hear their reactions now. But, of course, if Keith Green did it and made it somewhat humorous, then it was all okay. This tune has more of an early Genesis feel...or at least something from Player or Ambrosia. GREAT Bass line, by the way. "Call Me The Fool" has an intro straight off of a James Taylor song.... "Lonely One" utilizes a great mandolin, and Mark plays that bass like it's a lead guitar! Country/rock with a fantastic steel guitar....the singer is speaking to a sad, mixed-up girl who has lost her way. I love the lines "Smiling with your makeup" and "You're not in love....not even with your lovers..." The last one is "To See Your Face", and it is a very poignant song speaking directly to our Savior and about how small we really are. Here's the link to download them all --
Stranded At The Station- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8XUHDX04
You Could Lie To Me- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EK18RQV0
Call Me The Fool- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YFM4UB5P
Lonely One- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U96I3LYG
To See Your Face- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U1OMJTJF

Mark Heard suffered a heart attack while onstage playing a concert in 1992. He was hospitalized and released, and within two weeks died of cardiac arrest. I will always remember him as a vessel that Jesus used to help me grow into something better than what I was. Here is a link to his Wiki page-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Heard and there is quite a bit more information by doing simple searches on the Internet, including fan sites and groups.