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Mark Erelli

Mark Erelli finished up a graduate degree in evolutionary biology shortly after his eponymous debut was released on Signature Sounds in 1999. He has won several prestigious awards, including the Kerrville New Folk contest and the International Song Contest, where a song he co-wrote with Catie Curtis ("People Look Around") bested 15,000 entries to win the grand prize. For the past 17 years, he has maintained a rigorous touring schedule, appearing onstage everywhere from coffeehouses and major folk festival stages (Newport, Philadelphia) to Fenway Park, where he once sang the national anthem before a Red Sox game. In recent years, Erelli has gained notoriety as a multi-instrumentalist sideman and producer, accompanying GRAMMY-winning artists such as Lori McKenna, Paula Cole and Josh Ritter everywhere from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry to London's Royal Albert Hall. In addition to producing two records for McKenna, Erelli's own diverse discography includes collections of western swing, lullabies, bluegrass (with his band Barnstar!) and songs of stirring social conscience, as well as several highly-acclaimed collaborations (2009's Darwin Song Project and 2010's Seven Curses, a collection of murder ballads recorded with Jeffrey Foucault). His tenth and newest solo album, For A Song (slated April 2016 release), has already been likened to "the best of Paul Simon or Jackson Brownes work...stories that are immediately relatable and reflective of the small moments in our lives." (No Depression)