THE WNEW INTERVIEW: MARK KARAN

Mark Karan is one of the greatest treasures of the jamband community and has played with a number of great bands and artists. He’s been a member of the Grateful Dead family playing in the various configurations of Dead-related projects and since 1998 has been a member of Bob Weir & RatDog and also has his side band Jemimah Puddleduck. Now Mark has decide to unleash his first official solo release, Walk Through the Fire, due out in stores tomorrow through Quacktone Records/DIG Music. We’ve been waiting for a solo album from him for quite some time and it was totally worth the wait. Mark was kind enough to call-in so we could discuss the album.  It seems that the title came to him while undergoing chemotherapy as he has been battling cancer for the past few years. Listen up:

Mark also produced the record himself and recorded it in multiple locations with a variety of guest stars spanning his whole musical career. Whether it was an artist that he played with, enjoyed, or paid tribute to – each collaboration brings it’s own special sound that makes this collection truly unique. Here’s the first taste for you, this is Leave A Light On, dig it:

The list of contributions from Mark’s good friends like Delaney Bramlett, in one of his final recorded appearances, Little Feat’s Bill Payne, Jefferson Starship/Jorma Kaukonen Trio’s Pete Sears, and some other heavies like organist extraordinare Mike Finnigan, bass player Hutch Hutchinson, and percussion by Wally Ingram. Here’s how the lineup was chosen and why the time was right for the album to come out now, Listen Up:

On the songs that stands out the most to me is Rock Your Papa, with Little Feat’s Bill Payne on the Wurlitzer and some supporting vocals from The Persuasions. Here’s another taste of the goodness of Walk Through The Fire – here’s Rock Your Papa, dig it:

Now since Mark’s been such a close member of the Grateful Dead family, it’s no surprise that he added a cover from the band. Now, in all the songs that he’s ever heard/played from the band – it seems that his choice to do his own version of Easy Wind was to be a tribute to one of his favorites in the band Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. Listen Up:

There’s a few other covers on the album which pull from prolific songwriters like Robert Johnson and Randy Newman. These provide some extra spice to the flavor and showcase Mark’s talent to interpret other composer’s music and make it his own. Here’s why he chose the songs and how these artists have influenced him. Listen Up:

Mark will be taking some time in between his busy Bob Weir & RatDog tour schedule to do so some solo shows playing the album live. All the dates can be found here (http://www.walkthroughthefire.com/blog/). Make sure that you pick up a copy of Walk Through the Fire tomorrow to experience Mark’s first big solo album and I hope that there’s many more of these to come!