Latest / The Scene Projects / Mark Mowry: Music, Mission Work, and Balancing Life
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome in to a very exciting episode of the scene.
- 0:04I am your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is singer songwriter and agent of change, Mark
- 0:09Mowry.
- 0:10Welcome to the show, Mark.
- 0:12Thank you, Bubba.
- 0:13Nice to be here with you and your audience.
- 0:16Hello out there.
- 0:17Yeah.
- 0:18Well, it's a pleasure to have you, Mark.
- 0:19We haven't got to see each other in quite a while.
- 0:21We we collaborated on a show.
- 0:23Oh, jeez.
- 0:23It must have been seven, eight years ago now, I think.
- 0:26But go ahead and for our listeners, kinda give us a little backstory of who you are and what
- 0:32you do now.
- 0:35Well, I guess I was happy to do something with you because of that, you know, prior
- 0:39experience.
- 0:40And then since then, I guess, you know, kinda through the grapevine, I I knew you'd become a
- 0:45podcaster along with your music career.
- 0:48And so, anyway, what I'm doing now right actually, right now, we're building a a new
- 0:56home in Spearfish.
- 0:58So that's taken up a lot of my time.
- 1:00But, I'm also, you know, kinda hitting the the music projects again.
- 1:06Let me just, scan.
- 1:08I'm downstairs in my in my studio.
- 1:11I don't know how well that's all gonna show up.
- 1:13Yeah.
- 1:14It looks lovely.
- 1:15We can see the guitars back there.
- 1:17Yeah.
- 1:18So, yeah.
- 1:21Right now, I guess one of the things I'm doing is, I made a few parodies about current events,
- 1:29mostly politicians and that kind of thing.
- 1:31I hope I'm not, you know, deteriorating in my songwriting craft and that kind of thing, but
- 1:38some of those things can and maybe as you've talked to other songwriters, the songwriting
- 1:44thing can, you know, can ebb and flow quite a bit.
- 1:48So I've been in quite of a a period of what I might call a lull.
- 1:54And, you know, I I wouldn't mind changing that.
- 1:57We'll see what what the lord has in store for me, but maybe it's you know, I'm gonna squeeze
- 2:04out another season of my life of being more, you know, active with the songwriting and, just
- 2:10just, you know, performance type stuff.
- 2:13But I'd have taken a break from it.
- 2:16A lot of that since, the COVID thing.
- 2:19You know?
- 2:20Things really changed around, 2020.
- 2:24So and it wasn't
- 2:26And prior to that, it wasn't in 2018 that you were running and running your political
- 2:33campaign?
- 2:34No.
- 2:35That really began after, 01/06/2021.
- 2:41So it's the 2022 when when you really started pushing in that election year.
- 2:45Okay?
- 2:46I felt, you know, I don't know if I'll be remembered as the South Dakotan who ran against
- 2:53John Thune, but I know I won't forget it anyway.
- 2:57Well and and that was a that was a major thing to me.
- 3:01I know listeners of ours know that we have the Patriot Broadcasting Network and that project
- 3:06kinda going as well because we felt a calling to to represent South Dakota values.
- 3:12I think bringing politics to the forefront of what we do, yes, we focus on arts and music a
- 3:19lot, but I feel that art and politics have always gone, kind of hand in hand, and they're
- 3:25both a reflection of the culture.
- 3:27So I I was very I was very proud of you to see you step out into that political theater, and
- 3:32it opened my mind a little bit to what's possible, maybe even for myself moving forward.
- 3:38I think my, record of felonies will probably keep me from ever getting elected.
- 3:43But to be around campaigns and to have real South Dakotans that continue to have real South
- 3:53Dakota values, I think is important.
- 3:55I think what we've exposed from our, you know, from our senators and the people that, you
- 4:00know, we've been sending to Washington is that they are more Washington than they are South
- 4:05Dakota.
- 4:05And I I was very proud of you for standing up to that big machine.
- 4:09I mean, these people got millions upon millions of dollars to run against you, and but you
- 4:15stood up there, and you chose to put your name in the hat to represent the people of South
- 4:20Dakota, and it's it's worthy of praise, Mark.
- 4:22It's not an easy thing to step up against a a foe like a, political rival as powerful as John
- 4:29Thune is?
- 4:29I mean, now the senate majority leader.
- 4:32Yeah.
- 4:33Yeah.
- 4:33Well, you know, and and I have to say that he's, you know, he's supporting the president
- 4:38now with a new agenda, a new mandate.
- 4:41I don't know how genuine that is.
- 4:44You know, I mean, that would have to mean that that he's taken a, you know, complete a 180
- 4:51degree turn from where he was at.
- 4:53Well, I got I saw a picture of him posed up with Zelensky just two years ago.
- 4:58So, I mean, come on.
- 5:00It's all a lot of lip service.
- 5:02And, Mark, that's what I mean when I when I say I'm so proud of you that, you know, it's it's
- 5:07not easy.
- 5:08And even for me to step out into that theater a little bit took some, you know, I was very
- 5:14adamant about, you know, the need for having president Trump this year.
- 5:19There was really no one else to run against that machine that was gonna make a difference.
- 5:24Now, do I agree with everything that's there?
- 5:28No.
- 5:28But I think we're headed in a much better direction now than we were and seeing what's
- 5:33been done to kind of undo some of the, some of the things that have been done.
- 5:39Right?
- 5:39So
- 5:39Yeah.
- 5:40I'm glad to hear you say that.
- 5:41Well and now, I love that you're kind of bringing your political life and your artist
- 5:48life that they're kinda coming back together with the music.
- 5:51You've sent me a few of your parodies.
- 5:53I thought they were great, a a great start.
- 5:56And, obviously, with building a new house, I hope there's gonna be a studio space in that
- 6:00one as well and that you're gonna be recording a lot more of this stuff.
- 6:04So, obviously, you had the inspiration.
- 6:08It is plentiful for for more political parody tunes.
- 6:12Mhmm.
- 6:13Well, you know, I'm getting back to the music.
- 6:17You know what?
- 6:18Over the years, and it's been many years, I've I've produced a lot of music, Bubba.
- 6:22I mean and I've just I grabbed these right before, you know, thinking, well, if we're this
- 6:29is going to be a Zoom meeting, I can, you know, show off some of the stuff, the products I've
- 6:33had.
- 6:33But this is the first how how do I do
- 6:38little higher.
- 6:38Yeah.
- 6:39Up a little higher.
- 6:39Bring it up a little higher.
- 6:41This was my first, you know, maybe you might say Look at that.
- 6:44Product for sale.
- 6:46And I made this, in India back in, I guess, around 1994 or something like that, '95.
- 6:56I came home with about 500 of these.
- 6:59And
- 7:00Printed over there?
- 7:01Did they they produce the cassettes over in India?
- 7:04Yeah.
- 7:05I I what had happened is, after I became a Christian, I more or less laid down my music my
- 7:13music ambitions, aspirations.
- 7:16You might say, you know, I I made that effort.
- 7:20I mean I took that stance.
- 7:22And but then when I got over to India and I was working with a with a ministry over there, they
- 7:29had a coffee house.
- 7:30I started playing guitar there, and then this grew from that.
- 7:35I found out how cheap it was to do a recording, and it was like, wow.
- 7:39That's amazing.
- 7:40It was a four track studio, but back in 1993, you know, there was still a lot of the work
- 7:46that was being done was analog.
- 7:49So, but I was right there in that cusp of when everything started going digital and
- 7:54everything.
- 7:55And so
- 7:56Well, and I had totally forgotten until you brought up the tape that, yeah, I mean, your
- 8:02kids were raised in India for a time and this whole part of your life.
- 8:07Let's talk about that.
- 8:09Obviously, you know, your your, you know, a mission, right, to to if through Christ and and
- 8:17going into a foreign land.
- 8:19And how long were you guys there, Mark?
- 8:22Well, we're still there because we go we we come and we go, but worn a lot of hats.
- 8:28And, Bubba, I've had I've had a million jobs over the years.
- 8:32You know?
- 8:32Because in in India I'm in India, then I'm back home.
- 8:37You know?
- 8:37I'm picking up day work.
- 8:39I'm I'm the, I'm a gig worker from way back when before, you know, that that term was even
- 8:47used, I think.
- 8:48You know?
- 8:50You know, just I don't know how long this will take, but I'll try to do a quick synopsis.
- 8:55But I I played an bar band, from the eighties on, three piece, four piece, three piece, bar
- 9:04band.
- 9:05And I was a drummer back then and a vocalist.
- 9:07That band was called Out of the Out of the Blue.
- 9:13And, so, anyway, I moved from that into then I then I had my born again experience, and I
- 9:23didn't wanna do the club scene anymore.
- 9:26And I I had wanted to play guitar for a long time, and I have been playing guitar a little
- 9:32bit.
- 9:33But it just kinda more gelled when I started picking up, guitar style that, you know, kinda
- 9:40worked for me, singing and playing and everything.
- 9:43And and, yeah, it helped me also to move towards the songwriting thing.
- 9:48But that's when India came into all that.
- 9:51So, anyway, I've always been a songwriter whenever I could, you know, get my hands on a
- 9:57guitar.
- 9:58And those influences I I did wanna talk about some of the guitar influences.
- 10:03So I've never really been a heavy duty rocker.
- 10:06I mean, I enjoy rock.
- 10:08But I realized in my playing and everything that I was really into a lot of kinda soft
- 10:13stuff.
- 10:14Like, I remember being a fan of Cat Stevens, you know, going way back when, and Paul Simon,
- 10:21Simon Garfunkel, that kind of stuff.
- 10:24Anyway but when I got into, like, country blues, Delta picking, and, more like, country
- 10:32country blues and that kind of stuff.
- 10:34Did I say Mississippi John Hurt?
- 10:36Anyway, I just love that sound, and I kinda picked up on that.
- 10:40So, anyway, those years and then, yeah, after, making that cassette, I went back to me, India
- 10:48immediately after making that cassette that I just showed you with the idea that I would, you
- 10:55know, go to India to produce music.
- 10:58So, that hadn't been the primary reason to go, but now I had a new calling.
- 11:04So, and it was, you know, more the digital thing.
- 11:08I worked with some Indian artists, but a lot of the stuff I did, also, I used a d r five.
- 11:14Are you familiar with that old d r five machine?
- 11:16I'm not.
- 11:17No.
- 11:18A multitracker.
- 11:19Pretty amazing stuff, you know, back then.
- 11:22But, anyway, so then I have this other product.
- 11:26I I came back home from India to South Dakota, and there was a guy in Reliance, South Dakota.
- 11:33And he wasn't able to do much because the tracks had already been, you know, made.
- 11:38But he kinda did some editing, put together this jacket cover, and so I knocked around
- 11:43South Dakota.
- 11:45Anyway, that's kind of you know, I've I've I kind of returned.
- 11:51I never really returned to the club scene very heavily, but I when I came back to India, from
- 11:59India again, about 02/2014, I did play a lot, like, say, like, firehouse and quite a bit down
- 12:10on the Southern Hills.
- 12:11We were living in Custer, and there were some nice jam sessions down there too.
- 12:16There's a place on the way oh, Buffalo Gap.
- 12:22On Saturday nights, the community would come to the hall there, and I did some drumming and
- 12:28some guitar playing, a bunch of other cowboys, mostly, you know, cowboy music.
- 12:33But, yeah, I'm covering a lot of ground here.
- 12:36But, as I say, you know, always kinda wanted to have my, you know, my my toe in the water, so
- 12:45to speak, or whatever in some fashion.
- 12:47But, really, when with the COVID thing, that that really shut down a lot of things.
- 12:54I mean, even people's attitudes.
- 12:57I started finding out that I was, you know, not intentionally, but being at odds with so many
- 13:03people.
- 13:03And I think it was the virtue signaling that was coming forth.
- 13:07I don't know if you if you ever felt or any of that or not, but suddenly, you know, like, you
- 13:13know, it almost felt like, you know, if if I wasn't supposed to more or less apologize for
- 13:18my outlook on life, you know, I could just, you know, go eat dirt or something.
- 13:24And so
- 13:25Yeah.
- 13:26Yeah.
- 13:26Dude, I felt a lot of that too, Mark, and I just I don't know.
- 13:30I've never been one that cared very much, and I just kept moving forward.
- 13:34I mean, those years are a big reason why my wife and I moved to Tyndall, South Dakota is
- 13:40because, you know, I I was a big Joe Rogan fan.
- 13:44I was listening to his podcast all the time, and he was obviously in Los Angeles at the
- 13:48time.
- 13:48And hearing those early those early days, I mean, I started hearing about COVID before it
- 13:53ever really affected anything in South Dakota.
- 13:55Right?
- 13:55I was hearing about it in the early parts of January and going, what what's going on?
- 14:01You know?
- 14:01And then realizing that there was gonna be this flood out of California, and the property was
- 14:08already so expensive in the Black Hills at that time for us.
- 14:11Right?
- 14:11Making you know?
- 14:12I think I was making $16 an hour or something when I started out, welding.
- 14:17Right?
- 14:18This is $20.18.
- 14:19I was fresh out of prison.
- 14:20And then, I was like, we're not gonna be able to afford to buy anything ever.
- 14:24We're we're paying, you know, $800 to rent this 900 square foot townhouse, and, like, this
- 14:31isn't living.
- 14:32This is so much you know, we gotta be able to buy something and we just couldn't find
- 14:36anything.
- 14:37There was nothing.
- 14:38I mean, even a comp we found, the house that we ended up buying was like $85,000 here in our
- 14:43little farm town.
- 14:44And we looked for comparables around in the hills.
- 14:47We found one that was in Sturgis, and it was completely gutted down to the studs.
- 14:52And a complete fixer upper was gonna need another 85 to make it livable.
- 14:56Right?
- 14:57And it was like, yeah.
- 14:58We we can't afford to live here anymore, and it's only it's only gotten worse since then.
- 15:03You're right.
- 15:04Yeah.
- 15:05We it's, it was more or less, you know, for us to be building a house, I never would have
- 15:13guessed that, you know, at this stage of my life, I'd be building a new house in the Black
- 15:17Hills, but it wasn't the hard times that fell upon us.
- 15:21It was just the opposite, but a big, you know, a big bundle of money that we didn't know how
- 15:28to invest otherwise, but just real estate seemed like the safest way to go.
- 15:33So here we are, you know, the Black Hills, you know, property owners again.
- 15:39We do have a nice house here in Spearfish.
- 15:41So, but, anyway, that's kind of the way we took it.
- 15:46Now, Mark, did you say that you're still traveling back and forth to India to this day?
- 15:50You you guys go for a period of time every year then?
- 15:54Right.
- 15:55Right.
- 15:55I've managed to squirrel away some acoustic guitars in two different places in South India
- 16:02where we go.
- 16:03We assist some people with the education program there.
- 16:06And, you know, by this time, I've never really had much of a pulpit ministry that never really
- 16:12felt like my calling.
- 16:14And even as a, you know, as a musician, I've never really felt much as being much of a
- 16:19worship leader and that kind of thing.
- 16:21But I'm still a musician, and, I mean, I think it it takes all kinds of people.
- 16:26Right?
- 16:28Know?
- 16:28And all kinds of giftings and all kinds of callings.
- 16:31And I think, you know, sometimes my calling is a little closer, you know, to, this space here
- 16:38than, you know, to some of the more heralded positions.
- 16:42But, you know, I love it all.
- 16:45I mean, I love serving the Lord, and I love, you know, being able to be with the people.
- 16:49And and in this case, you know, there are children involved that, you know, they're
- 16:54hungry for you know, to learn English.
- 16:57And, well and we're kinda strange.
- 17:00We come from USA and kind of a what would you call that?
- 17:04A novelty.
- 17:06But anyway Mexico.
- 17:07I lived in the heart of Mexico for a year, Mark.
- 17:10I know all about that feeling.
- 17:11Yeah.
- 17:13Right.
- 17:14So you get that.
- 17:15And then also, there's another place that we go in the Northeast India.
- 17:19So, you know, that's it's right bordering to, Burma, Myanmar.
- 17:24So totally different culture, totally different looking people.
- 17:28But, as I say, I've got a I've got what kind of guitar is that called?
- 17:34It's an acoustic and kinda has, a British something about it doesn't matter.
- 17:40It's a it's a playable acoustic guitar, and I got it squirreled away with a friend there.
- 17:45And, you know, hopefully, I said, hey.
- 17:47Play it, you know, and and, you know, use it.
- 17:50But when I get back there, hopefully, I can just grab it and and, you know Yeah.
- 17:54Sing songs.
- 17:55And that's such a like, to try and bring a guitar over with you every single time doing
- 18:01international flights and everything.
- 18:03Yeah.
- 18:03What a nightmare that would be.
- 18:05I've got some
- 18:06fortunate to have some places, you know, that that you can leave things.
- 18:10And and I'm sure you have people that are family there to you over all of these years.
- 18:15I mean Yeah.
- 18:16You you don't visit these places and form these relationships without, forming a deep, deep
- 18:21bond with all of these people.
- 18:23So
- 18:23Absolutely.
- 18:24I think
- 18:25No.
- 18:25Was on a six piece band over in New Delhi while we were there.
- 18:31Was called Big Bang Blues.
- 18:32And, so, yeah, I was actually kind of a charter member of a band.
- 18:36It's still going.
- 18:37It has a lot different lineup over the years.
- 18:40But a lot of what I was doing then was playing the harmonica because we did have a lot of
- 18:45guitar, you know, guitarist.
- 18:47And
- 18:47Well, stringed instruments are very popular in India still.
- 18:51I mean, the sitar, originates from the Indian Peninsula.
- 18:55Correct?
- 18:56Well, there's this the sitar.
- 19:00Is that what you were saying?
- 19:01Yeah.
- 19:02Well and I assume there's probably a million other instruments that I've never seen and
- 19:06don't know the names of as well, but they have a passion for stringed instruments.
- 19:11So it would make sense that the guitar would be very popular as well.
- 19:15Oh, yeah.
- 19:17Yeah.
- 19:17That's, you know, where you get into the and I'm no expert on, you know, Indian music
- 19:23styles.
- 19:25There's a Hindustani classical and a Carnatic.
- 19:27Carnatic is more in the South.
- 19:29But that's when they come up with those microtones or something.
- 19:33So you know?
- 19:34And not that the neck of a sitar or anything is that much different.
- 19:40I mean, the the interval on a fret, I think, is still a half step.
- 19:45But it's really you know, it's kind of the origin probably of the slide or the slur that
- 19:51and, you know, which then comes in the blues and, you know, that but that kind of whininess
- 19:58or whatever those that that does you know, goes way back when I don't in in Indian music.
- 20:05So but they actually have names for those quarter tones, I guess, is what they're called.
- 20:13You know, very concise.
- 20:15And when you learn when you learn the, like, the singers, the vocalist, you know, rather
- 20:22than say, like, you know, going from c sharp d, there's gonna be something in between c sharp
- 20:29d, and they'll have a name.
- 20:31You know?
- 20:31Let's just say it's bop.
- 20:33You know?
- 20:33So it's b b b or whatever.
- 20:35And, you know, they're listening for a conciseness in those quarter tones.
- 20:41Very challenging.
- 20:42I mean, you find that out about and so playing with Indian musicians, they're kinda nitpicky
- 20:48for me.
- 20:49I'm a little too, you know, loose shoes for that, for what they like.
- 20:53So I stick to my, you know, American Americana sound and, you know, it but it it goes.
- 21:01Yeah.
- 21:01Well, and that's what, you know, I realized going when I went to Mexico, I mean, I was
- 21:05surviving my family by going out and playing in the Mercado and playing on the square, and they
- 21:11love American music.
- 21:12Obviously, you know, American pop culture has, you know, spread all all over the world since,
- 21:19you know, the fifties.
- 21:20Right?
- 21:20And and it was really interesting to me.
- 21:24I mean, I played Hotel California maybe three times a day.
- 21:27Right?
- 21:28Because I was out there to make money, and that's the one that no matter when I played it
- 21:34would would fill up the, would fill up the guitar case with pesos.
- 21:39So I can imagine that because there's not many people playing American music and doing, you
- 21:45know, traditional blues stuff or, you know, even the folk the folk things as well, that you
- 21:50would find a nice little niche just being yourself and being the American novelty and
- 21:55being able to, to just survive in that little space.
- 21:59Mhmm.
- 22:00Right.
- 22:01Right.
- 22:01So, yeah, you sometimes you gotta give them what they wanna hear.
- 22:05Although sometimes it's you know, it can be, a challenge.
- 22:10As a songwriter, do they wanna hear your songs?
- 22:13You know?
- 22:14I mean, familiarity is, you know, is a nice thing.
- 22:17So like a lot of, like, I think a lot of performers, you know, I I compromise.
- 22:24So, you know, I add some familiar stuff and then throw in my some originals here and there
- 22:30and, you know, hope for the best.
- 22:32But, I don't know if you if you write songs yourself, do do many originals.
- 22:39Or
- 22:39Yeah.
- 22:40Yeah.
- 22:40I I that's really where my my passion has always been, and it was the reason why, you
- 22:46know, the scene projects kinda came about was as I did I released the song last year.
- 22:51It was around this time, and I kinda did the media tour.
- 22:54Right?
- 22:55I had a couple of podcasts I had done.
- 22:57I was on the local news.
- 22:58I was getting on the local radio to promote it.
- 23:01And what I realized was, you know, I I kinda spoke before.
- 23:04I thought I was quitting my job to be to be a rock star.
- 23:07Right?
- 23:08To be on that side of the microphone and then quickly realized that actually there's a much
- 23:13larger need on this side of the microphone to talk to all of these people.
- 23:17There's not very many people that are willing to put in the effort, to put in the time, or
- 23:22even that good at interviewing people and relating and having conversations, to be
- 23:27perfectly honest.
- 23:27I think we can thank COVID in 2020 for that, you know, and the cultural shift that, well, if
- 23:34you don't agree with someone, you just don't talk to them and you call them crazy and and
- 23:38then walk away.
- 23:39And I'm trying to kind of break that.
- 23:41Right?
- 23:41And the easiest thing to do it is to do it with music.
- 23:44Right?
- 23:44I'm talking to people from all different backgrounds, and it's also a reason why I kind
- 23:49of separated maybe a little bit of the political content that I was doing so I could
- 23:52have a little bit deeper conversations over there.
- 23:54I wasn't locked into, you know, it being having to dodge it.
- 23:59Right?
- 24:00Because it was something that I wanted to talk about.
- 24:02And now I realize that, you know, with with podcasting that everyone can do that.
- 24:07Everyone can have those conversations that they want.
- 24:09They can create their own.
- 24:10It wasn't that hard for me to do all of this.
- 24:13So we're trying to shorten that learning curve for everyone.
- 24:15To train a million podcasters is my big goal now, and just keep growing.
- 24:22Keep growing and teaching people how to it's really about confidence.
- 24:25Anybody can sit on Zoom and talk.
- 24:27Right?
- 24:27Like, this is easy.
- 24:28It's having the confidence to do all the stuff behind the scenes and just to be in front of a
- 24:33camera that most people think that they don't have.
- 24:36Right?
- 24:36Like, they don't have the confidence.
- 24:38They have the ability.
- 24:39They just don't have the confidence.
- 24:40So writing a book and getting, more familiar with, you know, speaking engagements and
- 24:45getting just out and just doing this, getting these podcast episodes out there is is my way
- 24:51of doing it.
- 24:51This is my pulpit.
- 24:53Right?
- 24:53This is my church.
- 24:54This is how I'm trying to bring people in.
- 24:56I've said, a lot on the podcast lately that this is how God is speaking through us,
- 25:01especially sharing, a lot deeper, stuff, you know, shows like Get Better Together Project
- 25:07where we're going into family trauma and we're going into, you know, the things in your life
- 25:11that you don't wanna tell anyone and bringing it out to the forefront of our lives.
- 25:17And whether a million people see that or not, it's kind of out of you.
- 25:21You've gotten this story out or whatever has damaged you can get out.
- 25:25It's on tape.
- 25:26And whether we post that or not, I know it's been extremely valuable to me.
- 25:30It's been a form of therapy, beyond just being in a room with one other person and, you know,
- 25:37kinda having those conversations with someone who's making a buck off you.
- 25:40Right?
- 25:40Like, I think the therapy system in this country, especially talk therapy, is nothing
- 25:45more than lip service.
- 25:46It might as well be politics at this point.
- 25:49Well, you know, when you were talking about how you, you know, thought maybe you were gonna be
- 25:53a rock star and that kind of thing and that whole you know, that's a campaign.
- 25:59And I've been through a few campaigns myself.
- 26:02You know?
- 26:02And so you're you're wanting things to catch fire and but they're, you know, then duty calls
- 26:08in so many different ways.
- 26:09I mean, you're a family man and as as I am and, you know, was and am.
- 26:15So and you're just you gotta hand it to people, you know, who who stick it out and become, you
- 26:23know, success in in the music business.
- 26:26But I think, you know, we've kind of made success almost an unreal thing.
- 26:31I mean, a lot of times, the the the collateral damage from a successful music career is, you
- 26:38know, what most healthy people would not wanna have to pay that price.
- 26:43You
- 26:43know?
- 26:43No.
- 26:43And and I've been very fortunate because I'm still in the music business.
- 26:47Right?
- 26:47Like, this still has my music success story.
- 26:50In fact, it's opened a lot more doors for me to go and play other shows and play out a stage.
- 26:54And I'm in the, you know, Twin Cities area more regularly now than I ever dreamed I would be,
- 27:00but it's because of the podcast.
- 27:02And finally, you know, when my phone started ringing because people wanted to talk to me all
- 27:07of a sudden, it unlocked that that door.
- 27:10Right?
- 27:10I I had been given the key and was like, oh, okay.
- 27:13This is what makes me valuable to you now.
- 27:16And I'm fine with that.
- 27:17I love having conversations, especially with friends like, like friends like you, Mark, and
- 27:22being able to do this and to share a little time together is truly truly a blessing for me.
- 27:28I gotta get you out of here, but I want you to go ahead and plug anywhere that we can find
- 27:32some of your music and where, people out in the Black Hills can go see you play live here soon.
- 27:38Okay.
- 27:39Well, I'll try to wrap it up.
- 27:40I'm known to sometimes be a little long long on tongue, but, my stuff if you'd my name is Mark
- 27:47Mowry.
- 27:49A lot of the stuff that I do, I'd I've made it into Mark Mowry Music Matters.
- 27:55And, so you can find stuff like that on YouTube.
- 28:00There's there is a a video that got quite a bit of play on YouTube.
- 28:05I'm playing with a sitar player, and I'm using the d r five machine that that I mentioned
- 28:11earlier as the drum track.
- 28:13Maybe there's a baseline on it too.
- 28:15But, anyway, doing a Mississippi John Hurt song with a, North Indian, guitar player.
- 28:24His name is Sanjeeb Sarkar.
- 28:27And he's got lots of stuff on, YouTube as well.
- 28:32And, there might be a little bit of Big Bang Blue stuff from the deli.
- 28:37We'd we played at a at the international youth festival involved with the Commonwealth Games,
- 28:44like, 25,000 people in that audience.
- 28:46So that's the biggest crowd I've ever played to.
- 28:49That's amazing.
- 28:49My my music is not really in circulation, but, like, I I apparently have a YouTube channel
- 28:56now.
- 28:56I don't even really know how that works.
- 29:00But that's where I do some of these song parodies.
- 29:03Like, one of them is called, full pardon, making fun of, the full pardon that Joe Biden
- 29:11gave to Hunter instead of
- 29:12And everyone else.
- 29:13Promise you a rose garden, but, my daddy's giving me a full pardon.
- 29:19And then, also, I've got music on SoundCloud, and there are quite a few tracks.
- 29:25Some of them even going back to that CD, which is back then, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
- 29:31You know what?
- 29:32I'm not gonna claim to be a Stevie Ray Vaughan player, but I am a big fan.
- 29:38And, you know, I think he impacted some of my, you know, rock blues sound.
- 29:43So, with just a little bit of looking, you can find out more about me that way.
- 29:49And and I just wanna thank you for this opportunity.
- 29:53Like I said, I'm, maybe if my phone starts ringing, I'm gonna have to give give God the
- 29:59glory and you a lot of credit for that, Bubba.
- 30:02Some something has gotten a hold of you or someone has gotten a hold of you, I'd say.
- 30:08Well, it's definitely God, and the glory, goes there because I I didn't ever dream of this
- 30:16until I was living it, and now it fills my dreams every night.
- 30:20So Okay.
- 30:21It's coming from somewhere else.
- 30:23I've just been connected.
- 30:24It's funny that actually my next interview is with a woman.
- 30:29She's a MD and a doctor from India.
- 30:33Very, very much looking forward to this.
- 30:35And and now I have some commonality to share with her that I I had forgotten about.
- 30:40So, Mark Mowry, thank you so much for being a part of the scene.
- 30:44Most welcome, and thank you.