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John Mark Heard (December 16, 1951 - August 16, 1992) was a record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia.

Mark Heard released 16 records in his lifetime, and produced and performed with many other artists as well, such as Sam Phillips (aka Leslie Phillips), Pierce Pettis, Phil Keaggy, Vigilantes of Love, Peter Buck of R.E.M. (who co-produced VOL's album Killing Floor with Heard), John Austin, The Choir, Randy Stonehill and Michael Been of The Call. Heard produced part of Olivia Newton-John's The Rumor, which also included a cover of Heard's own "Big and Strong" (originally called "How To Grow Up Big And Strong").

History

After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1974 with an ABJ (bachelor of arts in journalism) degree in television, Heard travelled to Switzerland to study at L'Abri under the influential evangelical Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. Singers Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill literally stumbled onto Mark one day playing his guitar. Norman was so impressed by Heard's abilities that he soon signed him to his record label, Solid Rock Records. Heard and his wife Janet moved to Glendale, California in 1977 to begin work on his Appalachian Melody album for the label, but would also maintain a close relationship with the people at the L'Abri for years. Heard would also record and release Fingerprint on a Swiss label in 1980.

In 1981, Heard began a recording contract with Chris Christian's Home Sweet Home Records. Although Mark's sales did not attract attention from the Major Christian Labels, Christian felt Mark's music was unique and fresh and deserved to be heard and funded his projects with no production oversight which Mark wanted. His signing to the label was a departure from the commercial Artist that Chris traditionally signed and produced on the Home Sweet Home label. Heard released five albums for the label; 1981's Stop the Dominoes, 1982's Victims of the Age; 1983's Eye of the Storm; 1984's Ashes and Light; and 1985's Mosaics. The overall experience was not one that Heard enjoyed, partly due to his personal experiences with record company executives, and partly due to compromises he felt under pressure to make in order to make himself and his songs more marketable to Christian audiences.

In 1984, Heard began recording in his home studio, which he dubbed "Fingerprint Recorders," after the title of one of his earlier records. From that point on, his albums were largely made at home, with just a handful of friends and relatives lending a hand. In 1986, Heard decided to try something a little different and recorded the experimental Pop/Rock album for What? Records entitled Tribal Opera, under the name iDEoLA. When asked about the unusual name, Heard replied "It's not supposed to be mysterious or anything; I just put a band together and right now I happen to be the only one in it." Heard also directed a music video for the single of that album, "Is It Any Wonder."

With the formation of Fingerprint Records and his studio, Heard began to produce albums for a number of artists including two albums for Randy Stonehill, Jacob's Trouble, Pierce Pettis and 1992's Vigilantes of Love album, Killing Floor, which he co-produced with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. Stonehill's Until We Have Wings including a song co-written by Heard, "Faithful," although the CD liner notes credit the song to Heard's pseudonym Giovanni Audiori.

The early 1990s saw a return to recording albums of his own, with 1990's Dry Bones Dance. Fans and reviewers alike hailed the new release as one of the best of his career. Heard followed Dry Bones Dance with Second Hand in 1991, and, finally, Satellite Sky in 1992, which would turn out to be his final release.

On July 4, 1992, Heard had a heart attack on stage while performing with Pierce Pettis and Kate Miner, at the Cornerstone Festival, near Chicago. Heard finished his set and went to the hospital immediately afterwards. Two weeks after being released from the hospital, Heard had a cardiac arrest and died on August 16 of 1992. Before Heard's death, he had been included on the Legacy II sampler from Windham Hill's High Street label, and was nearly finalizing a mainstream contract with Bruce Cockburn's label, True North Records in Canada. There was also interest from Sony's Columbia Records label for distribution in the US.

Tributes & Influence

In 1994, many artists came together to record a tribute album called Strong Hand of Love. Artists lending their talents to the project included Phil Keaggy, Victoria Williams, Chagall Guevara, Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Daniel Amos, The Choir, Bruce Cockburn, and the Vigilantes of Love. The project was later reissued as a two-CD set with additional tracks and retitled Orphans of God. Cockburn frequently calls Heard his favorite songwriter and even wrote and recorded a song dedicated to Heard for his Dart To The Heart album, "Closer To The Light." Daniel Amos dedicated their album MotorCycle to Heard in 1993, and The Swirling Eddies dedicated Zoom Daddy to Heard the same year. Julie Miller also wrote a song in tribute to Heard called "All My Tears" which has also been recorded by Jars of Clay, Emmylou Harris (studio and live versions) and Selah with Kim Hill.

In 2000, a group of fans gathered together to help Fingerprint Records release Mystery Mind, the first collection of previously unreleased material from the songwriter. There were plans to release a full length collection that same year, but those plans never came to fruition.

In 2002, the Cornerstone Music Festival held a songwriting contest in honor of Heard. The following year, Paste Magazine released Hammers and Nails, a CD of previously unreleased recordings by Heard. An authorized biography of the same name was also released by Cornerstone Press, written by Matthew T. Dickerson.

The Americana Music Association held its annual Americana Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, September 2005. The Song of the Year Award was presented to the late Mark Heard for "Worry Too Much" (originally featured on Heard's 1991 release Second Hand). Buddy Miller, who performed the track on his latest release Universal United House of Prayer, accepted the award on behalf of Heard. As well Miller received the award for Album of the Year for Universal United House of Prayer.

In Paste Magazine #22 June/July 2006 - a Special Collector's Issue featuring the 100 Best Living Songwriters - Mark Heard was remembered as well under the heading Wish You Were Here: "Mark Heard's lyrics are weighted with such a wry longing that they'll forever reflect a fresh turbulence."

On 16 December 2007, a new collection of Solid Rock era Demos was announced, to be entitled: The Lost Artifacts of an American Poet.

Discography

• Setting Yesterday Free with Infinity+3, 1970/1972 album
• Mark Heard, 1975 album
• On Turning To Dust, 1978 album (Reissue of Mark Heard)
• Appalachian Melody, 1979 album
• Fingerprint, 1980 album
• Stop the Dominoes, 1981 album
• Victims of the Age, 1982 album
• Eye of the Storm, 1983 album
• Ashes and Light, 1984 album
• Mosaics, 1985 album
• Tribal Opera, 1987 album (as iDEoLA)
• Dry Bones Dance, 1990 album
• Second Hand, 1991 album
• Satellite Sky, 1992 album
• High Noon, 1993 "best of" album
• Mystery Mind, 2000 album
• Hammers and Nails, 2003 collection of previously unreleased demos
• The Lost Artifacts Of An American Poet, 2007 collection of previously unreleased demos
• The Lost Artifacts Of An American Poet - PART II, 2008 collection of previously unreleased demos

Compilations

• Adventures in the land of big beats and happy feets, 1989 compilation, includes previously unreleased song by iDEoLA
• At The Foot Of The Cross, Volume One Clouds, Rain, Fire, 1991, Mark performs "My Redeemer Lives."
• Mark Heard Greatest Hits, Home Sweet Home Records, www.markheard.com "
• Reflections of A Former Life, www.markheard.com "
• Acoustic Best of Mark Heard, www.markheard.com "

Tribute Albums

• Strong Hand of Love: A Tribute to Mark Heard, Various Artists 1994 tribute album
• Orphans of God: A Tribute to Mark Heard, Various Artists 1996 tribute album

External links

• Mark Heard website
• Mark Heards music from Home Sweet Home Records website
• Mark Heard lyrics project
• The Mark Heard Tribute Project
• Mark Heard MusicZone Yahoo!Groups
• Book on Mark's life and music by Matthew Dickerson
• Cornerstone Festival book discussion
• Internet Movie Database Profile
• Solid Rock online store
• Solid Rock online store - Appalachian Melody

Videos

• An animated tribute video featuring Mark Heard's "Lonely Moon"
• The "Treasure of the Broken Land" video
• The "Is It Any Wonder" video (iDEoLA)
• A music video by Buddy Miller - a cover of Mark Heard's "Worry Too Much"
• Emmylou Harris featuring Buddy & Julie Miller - Live in Concert, covering Julie Miller's "All My Tears", a Mark Heard tribute
• Bob Bennett with Bruce Carroll and Buddy Greene - Live in Concert covering "Heart of Hearts" at 1992 Tribute (Nashville)

From Wikiquote

John Mark Heard (1951-12-16 - 1992-08-06) was a record producer, folk-rock singer and songwriter.

Sourced

Life in the Industry: A Musician's Diary

• I much prefer making music to talking about it. There's something visceral about instruments and voices that transcends words.

• Sounds are indeed like colors, and my hunger for a truer palette of colors grows day to day.

• I am apt to hire musicians sometimes because I know they will have some good jokes to tell.

• That's what music is about, and those are the types of experiences I value most in looking for the visceral and unidentifiable thing it is that makes music music, and not something else.

• We were recording a song called "I Don't Ever Want To Be Without You." The same Christian record company radio guy called me and asked me if we could change the song's title and lyrics. when I asked why, he said, "Because there are two negative words in the title-don't and without ... I'd like some positive ones; can you call the song, 'I Always Want To Be With You?"'

• It's terribly demeaning to write something that tells its story in its own way and be told it fails because it might scare somebody. My God, must we speak with all the candor of a wax Elvis?

• I'm not sure what ministry really is, and that whatever it is, God seems to be kind enough to wrap it into our efforts and sometimes wise enough to bestow it in spite of them.

• I told him I just want to write some more songs and put them on tape. I figure the content of the songs and how I choose to answer for myself is my business. He says he is sorry, even cut to the heart, but he cannot and will not sign me, as, alas, I cannot say the things he wanted to hear. I say I am sorry he cannot hear the things I'm trying to say.

• After a ten minute prayer, the gist of which was, "Oh Lord, just sing through Mark tonight and keep him out of the picture altogether," I considered the prospect of lining up a great number of such concerts, then staying at home and sending a cardboard likeness of myself for God to sing through.

• Why pray to a god who would rather speak through say, a stone? Too bad that God made so many people who are interested in music and so few stones who are.

• Life is much more of a compromise than I ever imagined.

• But the music business is no more about truth on the outside of the Christian ghetto than it is on the inside.

• Perhaps we have more in common by virtue of our common humanity than we have differences by virtue of our religions.

• Music is a solace for me now. As I age, contrary to common sense, I am more and more drawn into it and apt to spend more of my waking and some of my sleeping hours thinking about it, or just feeling about it. It is my escape.

• I am increasingly irresponsible, it seems, in that I take on the mantle of Peter Pan and follow the second star to the right directly between a pair of speakers, or to the case that holds my mandolin.

• I wish sometimes that I just didn't have to think about any of this, and could drone away my life. It would be easier.

• Writing brings about a catharsis of my own terror and pity. It is something I have to do.

• When you can see through the fog for an instant, and you understand haltingly and briefly what good is, and how God is connected with that, it cannot help but put a hell of a perspective on things you perceive as problems, and help you discover multiple ways in which you have been numb. For that brief moment you feel that God's in His heaven and all's right with the world.

• Maybe those inclined towards the arts are so spiritually retarded to a degree that we must go through the whole process of cathartic expression just to discover how we really feel.

• Artistic expression might be seen as a Darwinian protection device for the psyche of fragile individuals, for whom sensuous contact with the outside world is too much to bear, and is repressed, and must be brought up and thrust out into the open from time to time at great effort in order for them to simply survive emotionally.

• I must at least tell somebody, even only God and myself, what I have seen and felt.

• Maybe I'm just a selfish maniac who is wasting his time trying to transfer feelings which perhaps no one cares about onto a fretboard and a piece of magnetic tape. Maybe it's the modern petroglyph, or the modern way to write on the wall of your cave: "I was here." Maybe it is a cry to God about how much I hate the bad things and how much I love the good things.

Liner Notes

• I guess it will always be that way until the Church learns how to take lessons from culture and from history, and stops... putting labels of "spiritual" and "unspiritual" on things which God never labeled. -Appalachian Melody

• I don't believe God wants every Christian who plays an instrument to try and form a ministry from it. After all, you don't expect a tire salesman to form a ministry with his expertise on tread design as the basis. -Appalachian Melody

• Most Christians would say that the music should in some way glorify God. Obviously, one assortment of notes on the scale can't glorify God more than another. Neither can certain assortments of words. -Appalachian Melody

• A lot of times I wonder what Adam would have written songs about. -Appalachian Melody

• It is really a kind of a slap in [God's] face to refuse to use the abilities He gave us just because there is danger involved. Just because adultery exists is no reason to avoid marriage. Just because gluttony exists is no reason to quit eating. We shouldn't be anhedonics under the guise of spirituality. -Appalachian Melody

• In my skeptical days, people who wanted to appear very spiritual were always telling me to forget my questions, to shove them under the rug and go on in "faith." In fact, some of my friends thought my questions were my own devices to dodge the "real issues." They thought I must be morally decadent to voice such questions. -Appalachian Melody

• I have heard people say that reason leads to agnosticism, but I don't think that is necessarily the case. It was the other way around for me - it led to faith. -Appalachian Melody

• I think seeds for doubt can be sown when a Christian is taught a narrow perspective in certain areas, and later, when that teaching is challenged by alternatives, the person panics. -Appalachian Melody

• Did you know that Bertrand Russell dropped all belief in God because he wasn't able to voice his doubts in the company of believers? -Appalachian Melody

• Until we learn the language of those outside the Church, the language of their hearts and the language of their minds, we will never be able to communicate properly. -Appalachian Melody

• If every Christian would treat just one other person with real love, I'm sure more would come to faith than do at present, with all our mass harvesting techniques. -Appalachian Melody

• Regular life, our humanness, often gets pushed aside. -Fingerprint

• Any system of thought which allows no value to human thought will destroy its own efforts. -Fingerprint

• Sometimes it seems Christians confuse their human nature with their sinful nature. The former we were created with, the latter we chose. It does us no good to try and escape our humanness and in so doing think we are escaping our sin. -Fingerprint

• Trying to avoid clichés helps life become fresh again, helps us remember what life is about in the first place. -Fingerprint

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Mark Heard

• The Mark Heard Lyric Project - where all of these quotes are pulled from