Anyhow, when it’s a musician, given time, I listen to a song or two to see it is suits my fancy. Mark McKinney’s songs immediately captured my attention. The music was loud with a rough edge in the mold of the better southern rock bands but the lyrics reminded me of John Mellencamp. Rooted in real soil.
I noticed Mark lives in Austin but was raised in Big Spring, just down the road from my place of birth. There ain’t a hell of a lot to do in a place like Big Spring. On a Friday night there’s football, but Big Spring always gets its ass kicked, having the misfortune of sharing the same district with Odessa Permian, Midland Lee, and a few other perennial powerhouses. Stinking-ass oil refineries with lots of lights and plumes of billowing smoke pollute already desolate countryside and there’s not much to be had in the way of entertainment in the town itself. It’s no small wonder that a bright young man like Mark McKinney would want to liven up the place.
A year or so later I noticed Mark was playing down the road from me at the River Road Icehouse. Leah was out of town. I was bored and alone so I decided to catch his show.
Mark has a full band, complete with lights and smoke—not one but two lead guitar players—both of which have chops, a red-headed cousin playing the bass and a good drummer to back the band. The sound is good, the energy high, the visual aspect of the band fun to watch.
Mark played songs he wrote, aside from one very good cover of Mellencamp’s Authority Song, which I think pretty much sums up the attitude of Mark and his band. These are the boys pushing the limits of the law, yet rooted in working class goodness: farmers, construction workers, oil filed workers and general laborers who love their country, love their families, work hard at jobs five days a week but then take the time to have fun on the weekend.
I bought Get It On, the band’s only CD and listened on the way home. It delivers. Later I contacted Mark via his MySpace page and he scratched out this bio. Note that this is done on the fly without spell check. Obviously, the boy can write:
I was born in Big Spring in 1973, grew up in the same old rock house on 10 acres that my dad was born and raised in, built by my grandfather. Started my first band with my older brother Eric, who still plays lead guitar for me, when we were in 6th and 8th grade. Recruited Rob Dennis as my drummer who quickly became my best friend. Played all through high school all over Midland, Odessa in rough bars while we were only 14 or 16 with my Dad there to take up the slack, haha.. Graduated half a year early from high school to head down to Austin to get into a real music scene. Had falling for a beautiful girl in high school, that I had to leave behind while she finished 2 more years of time at BSHS. We had a 2 year long distance relationship, lots of letters and speeding tickets making that long drive, she finally moved to Austin and we married in Wimberly in 1995. We are still together and have 2 kiddos, a little boy 4, named Jagger Lee, and a 1 year old beautiful girl named Cypress Grace. Well my buddy Rob moved up to Nashville, where he has done very well. My brother and me played in several bands in Austin, one called the McKinney Brother Band, we shared a drummer with Kevin Fowler and his band “Thunder Foot”, an old buddy of Kevins from Amarillo, Me and my brother Eric dig lots of giggin around. Then formed a band in 2000 called the Cosmic Cowboys, with my old buddy Rob back on drums. We went back and forth from Austin to Nashville. Cut an album for Virgin Nashville that never came out as they closed their doors. Stopped playing for a few years and worked on my song writing. During all this music stuff, I had to work to make real money. I always worked for myself, I did construction, built decks, painting, hung sheet rock, etc…, paid the bills to support my music habit.
These days I do some work in Real Estate on the side for an Investment Co, helping them locate little homes to sell owner finance. Just got my Real Estate License.
Rob and I got Excited about some of the songs I had written and we made this album, “get it on” I was really ready to make the hardest push at this I had ever made in my life. I put together my band, calling on my brother and my cousin Ryan Coggin to play bass, he played bass in Cosmic Cowboys…
Have had lots of good things happen this first year and a half…
Ask any questions you want, I just ran into my office to escape the hollerin kids for a moment, and just started typing to ya, guess I felt like writing a little…
Word of warning: if you don’t like your music loud, buy a set of earplugs on the way to the show. I didn’t. It rained that night so the show was forced inside and I paid the price. Nevertheless, I’m glad I did.
Mark McKinney and his band is one of the bright new bands out there. Check him out if he comes your way.
