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Mark Gibson - Guitars,  Vocals   

  As a professional guitar player,  born and raised here in Nashville,  TN,  I'm what you'd call a "late bloomer".  Although I started playing guitar in my teens,  I spent my early career as a bass player.  Most notably,  in the '80's I spent several years w/ the band Radio One touring throughout the southeast and showcasing in various locations such as The Exit Inn in Nashville, TN in support of our self-titled album.  But in 1989,  I grew tired of the road and actually retired from music completely for several years.  Then in 1997 the "blues bug" bit me and started a whole new chapter in my musical life.

    It was hard picking up the guitar again.  After all,  I hadn't played it since I was a teenager and it was very frustrating.  But it was also a labor of love and I was determined to be the best I could be.  I started getting my feet wet by sitting in w/ some friends and playing every weekend for 7 months,  just for the experience ... and for free!   Then I co-founded a local Nashville band named Cool Papa Baker & The Rhythm Makers and played steadily for 2-1/2 years locally.  This 5-piece band played classic rock covers and a few blues tunes.  The latter being much more to my liking,  although we didn't do near enough to satisfy  my new desires.

    In October, 2002 I joined the band Jack after the departure of Peter Cronin.  J.R. had been sitting in w/ Cool Papa Baker... since that January on a semi-regular basis whenever we were in need of a bass player.  As the months went by,  and our friendship grew,  J.R. kept me up to date w/ his band's progress and goals.  We talked about the blues and I discovered we shared a lot of the same ideas musically.  When the opportunity came,  I jumped at the chance to join Jack and have been having a great time ever since!

    This band has challenged me a lot,  but I feel I've grown tremendously as a guitarist because of it.  Playing in a trio is quite a bit different than what I've done before where there was always another guitar and/or keyboard player to help fatten up the sound.  I've had to learn a lot of "tricks",  like playing all over the neck, double stops, "lead rhythm",  and other techniques that I didn't need before.  I've had to do a lot of "homework",  but I feel it's just made me a better player - and I love it!  It's also helped me to understand one of J.R.'s philosophies about each player "thinking like a producer" instead of only concentrating on my own parts.

    This band is a lot of fun to work with.  We've all get along great and the gigs just keep coming.  I'm looking forward to what the future brings and hope you can come see us sometime soon.  (I'll be the one in the "Mack-daddy" hat)

    Mark

   p.s. - I'm a 99% Fender man.  I love the Fender Stratocaster and have 3 of them,  as well as a Telecaster.  My amp is a '65 Fender Super Reverb reissue.  I also have a music store full of stomp boxes that I'm addicted to!  My guitar influences are Stevie Ray Vaughn,  Eric Clapton,  B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.  I think you can hear this in my playing.