Mark Erelli

Mark Erelli (born June 20, 1974) is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before pursuing a career in music. Erelli has released nine solo albums and three collaborative albums. His self-titled debut album was released in 1999, the same year that he won the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk Award. His first recording for the Signature Sounds label, Compass & Companion, spent ten weeks in the Top Ten on the Americana Chart. Erelli has worked as a side musician for singer songwriters Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter. He has performed at various music festivals and shared the stage with John Hiatt, Dave Alvin, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's song “People Look Around”, which he co-wrote with Catie Curtis, was the Grand Prize winner at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. His songs have been recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot, and Red Molly.

Early life and education Erelli was born in Boston and grew up in the town of Reading, Massachusetts. He formed the Mark Erelli Band and in 1997 released the album Long Way From Heaven. After attending the North East Folk Alliance Conference in 1997, Erelli signed a recording contract with Signature Sounds Recordings. The album charted for ten weeks in the Top Ten of the Americana Music Chart. Later that year Erelli was nominated for two Boston Music Awards. The recording sessions were also captured on film and later aired as a documentary on PBS.

In 2004, Erelli hooked up with Boston-based country band The Spurs

Erelli co-produced, with Lorne Entress, his fifth Signature Sounds album Hope & Other Casualties, which was released in 2006. When Erelli was asked if it was a concept album, he said: "The country has been through a lot, since 2000 really. Before September 11, that election of 2000 was a major thing. So, all the songs come out of that context. If the songs seem related, they all come out of that context over the last four years and they’re all coming through my lens and how I’m looking at the world. They all, in kinda one way or another, deal with the issue of how do you keep on keepin’ on when things seem really grim." Sometimes viewed as his most political album, "Hope & Other Casualties" is "an attentive examination of current times interwoven with matters of the heart. His emotions straddle the ground between the personal and the political." Guest vocalists include Kris Delmhorst and Jeffrey Foucault. Hope & Other Casualties was voted the number one album of 2006 by WUMB radio member listeners.

Innocent When You Dream, released in 2007, is a collection of lullabies and love songs, which features solo acoustic performances by Erelli as well as covers by Shawn Colvin, Townes Van Zandt, and others. Later that year Erelli invited fans to finance his next studio album - Delivered - referring to the project as a barn raising. The project succeeded and the 11-song album produced by Josh Ritter's bassist, Zack Hickman, was released in 2008.

In 2009, Erelli was a member of Josh Ritter's band when Ritter opened shows for Ray Lamontagne in the United Kingdom. Tour dates included performances in Sheffield

Little Vigils - again produced by Zack Hickman - was released in 2010. The title is taken from a line in the lead-off track "August."

In the spring of 2014, Erelli announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund his Bill Morrissey tribute CD titled Milltowns. On June 26, 2014, Erelli announced that the Kickstarter campaign had exceeded his initial $20,000 goal with donations received from more than 400 supporters of the project. Milltowns was released on September 9, 2014. In her review for Folk Alley, Kim Ruehl wrote: "Milltowns doesn't come off as a covers record or a tribute album, though, so much as it does a thank-you note for the songs Morrissey put out into the world. With each performance, Erelli gives himself over to the song and seems to be simply following along and learning from where the song takes him. Backed by Sam Kassirer on piano, Charlie Rose on pedal steel and banjo, and Zack Hickman on upright bass, Erelli also welcomes backing vocals from the area's finest singers: Rose Cousins, Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, Anaïs Mitchell, Peter Mulvey, and Rose Polenzani."

On January 4, 2016, Erelli announced a second Kickstarter campaign in support of For A Song - his first solo album of original material in six years. One month later, Erelli announced that the project was successfully funded, having raised more than $36K from 469 backers. For A Song was released on April 8, 2016. In a review of For A Song for No Depression, Red Line Roots compared Erelli's songs to those of Paul Simon or Jackson Browne and went on to say: "For A Song reflects Erelli's incredible craftsmanship. The arrangements are tight and spare, leaving plenty of room for his voice to convey the sincerity of each song." In CD HotList's Picks of the Month, Rick Anderson wrote that "The whole album is gorgeous and at times borders on heartbreaking." The week of April 25, 2016, For A Song was #34 on the Americana Music Association chart.

Collaborations

Barnstar! Barnstar! is Erelli's bluegrass band collaboration with father and son Taylor Armerding and Jake Armerding, Charlie Rose, and Zack Hickman. The band's debut release - C'mon! - was released in 2011. The album includes several well-known songs such as Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand" and the Louvin Brothers' "Cash on the Barrelhead" as well as three songs penned by Erelli.

Seven Curses In 2010, Erelli paired up with Jeffrey Foucault to release Seven Curses: A Killer Selection of Americana Murder Ballads. Other than the closing track,"Wyoming Wind" written by Erelli, the collection of songs are covers. They include Woody Guthrie's "Philadelphia Lawyer," Bruce Springsteen's "Johnny 99," and Kevin "Blackie" Farrell's "Sonora's Death Row," to name three. "Whether sweet and mellow or raw and raucous sounding, this homicidal assortment is bleeding great!"

With Chuck Prophet and klipschutz In 2018, Erelli visited San Francisco and over two days wrote three songs with Chuck Prophet and Prophet's longtime writing partner, the poet/songsmith klipschutz (pen name of Kurt Lipschutz). Erelli subsequently recorded and released two of those songs: "Her Town Now" (Blindsided, 2020) and "While the World Goes Mad All Around You", with Barnstar! (Furious Kindness, 2024).

Discography Studio Albums Year Title Record label 2023 Lay Your Darkness Down Self-released 2020 Blindsided Self-released 2018 Mixtape Self-released 2016 For A Song Self-released 2015 Sit Down! Get Up! Get Out! (with Barnstar!) Self-released 2014 Milltowns Hillbilly Pilgrim 2011 C’Mon! (with Barnstar!) Self-released 2010 Little Vigils Hillbilly Pilgrim 2010 Seven Curses (with Jeffrey Foucault) Self-released 2009 Darwin Song Project Shrewsbury Folk Festival Records 2008 Delivered Signature Sounds 2007 Innocent When You Dream Signature Sounds 2006 Hope & Other Casualties Signature Sounds 2004 Hillbilly Pilgrim Signature Sounds 2002 The Memorial Hall Recordings Signature Sounds 2001 Compass & Companion Signature Sounds 1999 Mark Erelli Signature Sounds 1997 Long Way From Heaven Self-released

Songwriting credits Year Song Artist/Album 2014 Pretend Red Molly/The Red Album 2014 Tired Eyes Rose Cousins/Stray Birds 2012 Juliet (with Antje Duvekot) Antje Duvekot/New Siberia 2011 Why Should I Cry Red Molly/Light in the Sky 2011 Ghost Red Molly/Light in the Sky 2009 Vertigo (with Antje Duvekot) Antje Duvekot/The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer 2007 Hollow Man Chuck E. Costa/Where The Songs Come From 2006 Passing Through (with Catie Curtis) Catie Curtis/Long Night Moon 2006 Let's Make A Family Camille Te Nahu/Recovered 2006 People Look Around (with Catie Curtis) Catie Curtis/Long Night Moon 2005 My Love Camille Te Nahu/Not Without You 2003 The Only Way Ellis Paul and Vance Gilbert/Side of the Road