Written by: Dave Cantrell

It is, to some extent, both a vanishing breed and a breed that refuses to vanish not just now but forevermore. Which, duh, when a ‘genre’ (for want of a better) boasts roots that first burst out of the cultural milieu when Herbert Hoover was president and the combustion engine was in its infancy and within a decade would emerge from the Dust Bowl dust undaunted like a djin not least in the person of one Mr Guthrie from whom an ever-evolving always burgeoning band of followers would emerge in ever-increasing numbers as the art form passed from one generation to the next (and, to get it out of the way, insert the incomparable presence/influence of one Mr. D here), surging then receding then surging again and it was in the midst of what arguably was the surge (at least in this writer’s lifetime) that grew out of that brief edenic moment born in the wake of Woodstock, arriving all golden and stardust and never to really recede again, that underscores the artist in our midst today.

Gary Marks, as much as anyone one cares to mention, was at the very heart of that moment, releasing three watershed solo albums that established the indisputable fact that an indisputably talented songwriter had, as they say, arrived in our midst and while it’s from the middle LP of that run – 1974’s Gathering – it also happens to lie at the center of the career-spanning compilation Crossroads (Lantern Heights Records) a 2026 Record Store Day UK / Europe selection that if there’s any kind of God at all will find its way in to the stacks over here on this side of the pond. But, as we wait (possibly in vain) for that to happen, we can at least indulge ourselves in the guy’s impeccable and close-to-incomparable songwriting which may – and, really, should – inspire further exploration because, really, that’s what this whole music obsessive shebang is all about, isn’t it? Personally, I’m beyond grateful to have another skilled, insightful and truly intuitive talent to explore.