Mark Wallace
Common Chords:
Back to His Bluegrass Roots
Also, Mason alumni find success in Nashville music scene
Although he doesn't live in Nashville, Mark Wallace, M.A. English '01, still has country music in his blood. Wallace, who is working on his Ph.D. in Scottish history at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, recorded his third studio album, Bluegrass State of Mind, in 2001.
Having grown up in a musical family, Wallace began singing bluegrass and gospel music at an early age. By the time he reached his 12th birthday, he had already recorded two bluegrass albums with his band, The Mark of Bluegrass, and was playing about four shows a week. "I had to balance my school work with music," Wallace says.
When he entered the College of William and Mary as a freshman in 1995, he knew he had to put his music on hold for a bit. He practiced and had a bluegrass radio show for a number of years. While earning his M.A. in English at George Mason, Wallace was the bluegrass music correspondent for Broadside and continued to be interested in the style. Even though he couldn't commit all the time he would've liked to his music, he still considered it more than just a hobby.
"Because bluegrass has had such an impact on me, I consider it a way of life, almost a state of mind. There is no in between in bluegrass music—to be the best you have to give all you can," he says.
Bluegrass State of Mind has been featured on numerous radio shows, including Back to the Blue Ridge, National Public Radio's bluegrass and folk music program. Wallace says he tries to incorporate different elements of a variety of genres into his music. "I listen to a lot of jazz, classic rock, disco, R&B, southern rock, big band, techno, swing, and Latin," he says. "I never know what I am going to write or what kind of sound will come out of my banjo."
Although currently immersed in his study of Scottish history and freemasonry, Wallace never lets his musical roots slip away. He is working on another album and hopes that this music will offer something new to both his style and the bluegrass tradition.