BACKSTAGE: Mark Erelli

LISTEN: Backstage interview with Mark Erelli. [ show notes ]



I first met Mark Erelli four years ago in a small local bar where almost nobody came to hear him perform.

Since then he has played at our house, officiated the night when I proposed to my wife, Juliet, let me start his discussion group, let me gather and publish an archive of his Monthly MP3's, and always listened to my seemingly good advice.

The last bit he like so much that I flew to Salt Lake City for the weekend.


LONG HOT SUMMER
Mark is on the road this summer, criss-crossing the US and Canada, playing guitar for Lori McKenna, who is opening for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour.

Lori's stock has been rising ever since Faith picked three of Lori's songs for her last album and its name, Fireflies (read more). She eventually made it on Oprah and then got picked up by Warner Brother's in Nashville. Her new album, Unglamorous, was co-produced by Tim and is due out in August.

Mark's known Lori for a decade, having both been on the same small label (Signature Sounds), but he's been playing lead guitar for her off and on for the last two years. In a video of Lori's career, look for Mark on the right in a red shirt in the band shots when Lori's performing.

So when I heard about the tour and whimsically suggested it would be fun to do a backstage interview, Mark got excited. Well, as excited as you can in an email.


SALT LAKE
I have a childhood friend, Hope, living in Salt Lake City, where Mark would play after stops in Nebraska and Minnesota. I called Hope and asked if she like to come. She's more of a blues fan but loved Lori's story and later bought Tim McGraw's greatest hits album to get ready.

Mark pulled a few strings, and thanks to Lori and her tour manager, Autumn, Hope and I got backstage passes for Monday night's sold-out show at the 20,000 seat Energy Solutions Arena. Or the center formerly known as Delta (read the review from the Salt Lake Tribune).

Going to Salt Lake is always a great excuse to get outside so close to the city. The view of the Wasatch Mountains still takes my breath away, so I came out a few days ahead to do some hiking with Hope and her family.

Along the way, we made quite a few Lori and Mark fans, as we got to tell the story over and over again of why I came out and what Hope was going to do Monday night at the concert.


ARENA
We got to Will Call at the arena in downtown Salt Lake City and picked up our tickets. We were shocked to find out we'd be sitting not only on the floor but only five rows away from the stage, which would be at half-court if there was a basketball game. Extending from the stage were four runways, all 90 degrees apart, and at various times that night, either Faith or Tim would be as close as an artist in a house concert.

Mark, Lori and Russell Chudnofsky all took the stage to a pretty full house. They played five songs, mostly from Lori's new record, the last three being "Witness To Your Life," "Stealing Kisses," and "Unglamorous." I still can't get "Witness" and "Unglamorous" out of my head!

Lori and her band stayed in the center for their set, with Lori moving from one side of the circle to the opposite side to give the fans a glimpse of her in a patterned white tunic, jeans and knee-high brown leather boots. Mark and Russell stayed put for most of the show; Mark only had the one mic to sing backing vocals while performing on guitar and mandolin. Russell had a bit more freedom to roam, since he was only playing lead guitar.

The sound wasn't oppressive but it's still an arena, so if you didn't know Lori's songs, you'd have a hard time picking out the lyrics. Having said that, Mark and Russell filled out the rest of the sound behind Lori's vocal quite well, even without bass and drums.


BACKSTAGE
After their short set was through, Mark met us at an elevator to take Hope and I down into the backstage area underneath the seats of the arena. Mark walked us in to what would otherwise be a sports locker room to meet Lori and Autumn and thank them again for such good seats. Lori went back to her Mac laptop where she was trying in vain to use iChat to talk back home as they had the night before, much to their delight.

Then Mark and I pulled up some chairs and recorded a 15-minute interview live to tape...or really live to MP3. You'll hear Faith echoing through the walls as Mark and I talk about the tour, the perks, songwriting, etc. And in an exclusive, Mark revealed that just that day he and Lori wrote a song together. It was a waltz, since Mark and others thought Lori didn't have enough songs in 3/4 time.

LISTEN: Backstage interview with Mark Erelli. [ show notes ]


TECH NOTES
My apologies for not having my digital camera with me, but it was enough to think of how I was going to get recording equipment into a major sports arena, and my brain fried on any other details. The images I did get were from a cell phone, but the equipment I used for the audio recording (iRiver 799, Griffin stereo LapelMic) was discrete and worked well. Many thanks to Hope for snapping the photos of Mark and me and suffering through my avocation!


13 JUN - Check out some great pics and a wonderful write-up of Mark and Lori's travels two days later in Portland, Oregon.