Wilson Marks studied jazz in the city of New Orleans, destitution in Portland, a two hour layover in Honolulu and tacos in Austin TX. His songs often feature word play, alliterative turns of phrase, and furry chords. They veer from irreverence and fancy (Ethel and the Merman, Big Box Store) to the personal (I Hope the Healing has Begun, Wheels). He writes songs of hope and longing amidst a handful of swinging tunes that sound like they sashayed in from Tin Pan Alley still wet with the rain.
When not playing front-man for his own trio, he plays as a side-man for a variety of other projects, most notably The Love Leighs, an outfit with a unique style that could be called jazz twang. Sometimes they even let him play the accordion. They've occupied a residence at the White Horse in Austin for the past few years but have yet to receive mail there. He also plays out with McMercy family Band, The Sarah Sharp Project, Datri Bean Band and others. His multi-instrumentalist work can heard on The Sparrowmakers "Lost Cities," several of J Wagner's albums, Jenn Hitt's 'Amphibious Heart', Katie Sachs' 'Giantness of Little Things and others.
The cover of his latest release, Spring 2015, "What was Made for Weathering" features a house he once lived in that was made of barge-wood that floated down the Mississippi river 100+ years ago. Since they couldn't send the barges back upriver for repeat use, they were often disassembled and restructured into shotgun houses. The idea that what was a boat can become a house. What was a house can go under or over water, be turned into something else entirely: songs of loss, hope, love, change and transformation.
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