Mark Mueller

Mark Mueller is a singer/songwriter living in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Dena and two daughters, Sarah and Abby. Mark has been writing and playing for more than 20 years, and has been active in local music scenes from Michigan to Virginia during all that time.

Although most of his career has been spent as a solo artist, Mark has played in various bands along the way, usually acoustic based Americana as well as in the jam band genre. Mark also plays a little blue grass and can be coaxed into sitting in at local gigs when he's in the audience.

"Landing in Ashland", Mark's first studio album, was purposely recorded without a band and with minimal post-production and re-mixing. The songs span Mark's career, and were written as long as 21 years ago and as recently as this past winter, 2006. The result, “Landing in Ashland”, is a deep look into the soul of a singer/songwriter whose lyrics and melodies resonate long after you listen to them.

Currently, Mark is gigging in the greater Northern Virginia area, promoting the release of the album. The plan is to keep it simple through the fall, and then actively pursue putting a band together. Even though "Landing" was just released in August, work has already begun on the follow up album. The plan is to have Mark backed with an acoustic band on his sophomore effort. The following is Mark’s story, to which he is currently sticking!

From Mark:

So really, all in all, I think pulling the bubble wrap off of a brand spankin' new Harmony six-string guitar may have had something to do with all of this.

My twin brother Jeff and I got that guitar, delivered in a big assed box by the postman, by selling Christmas cards door to door for a whole summer when we were about 14 years old. At the same time my dad had just bought a Sears tin stereo record player that replaced the 45 player we had used prior. Dad put a Johnny Cash record on and played I Walk the Line saying, " This is what guitar is supposed to sound like". (I guess he didn't appreciate Jimmy Page very much!) I have no idea how we did it but we managed to tune that thing to the record using some 5th fret idea we had heard of before. Well it worked. That guitar played, the chord charts worked, and I played my first G.

That was 1974 and I was hooked. I sang into tape players trying to sound like America. I played Cash songs trading off with my brother. Somewhere along the way a few more guitars showed up and we were playing in earnest. My beloved old Alvarez came along a couple years later.

Ahhh the Alvarez.... I smile even thinking about it...

I still play it and always will. Really, I'm its human more than it's my guitar. It saw me through many gigs at school, and many bar scenes and club shows that I can barely recall now. It saved my heartaches by it's great sound and soon I was writing my youthful pains away.

I wish I had saved everything I wrote in those days and in the years leading up to this project, but many pieces written were tossed away like excess ballast. Some survived the haze of yesteryear and have been reborn; others are in the process of untangling themselves from the deep recesses of my memory. The important thing is that the old Alvarez taught me how to write and play (such as it is). I have a few more great guitars now but some how the old Alvarez has become the Harmony. The old Harmony may still be in an attic somewhere, I don't know.

It took 20 years, but I somehow got here. To explain it would take years and beers and tears. I married the best girl (who pushed me along with this), met a great friend who got me off my ass, and Landing in Ashland has arrived. I was pushed into writing this little introduction to me, and I'm sure Rob is going to add to it. I don't like writing and talking about myself in this kind of forum. For you reading this, Landing is the best autobiography I can provide to you The album captures many moods, many era's, and many adventures I've had before finally bringing it all together on a 5 inch piece of plastic. I really hope you get as much enjoyment listening to it as I have had writing and playing it.

Mark