Some people travel the world searching for themselves and their sound, others ultimately find them in their comfort zone back home. Mark Cline Bates is definitely the latter. After stints living and recording in Los Angeles and Nashville, Bates went home to the mountains of West Virginia Though he recorded his new album King of the Crows (out June 28th) In Charlotte, West Virginia permeates the songwriting he brought with him.
With Don Dixon producing (R.E.M., James McMurtry), Bates laid down a set of songs that are sometimes haunting and always honest. Whether speaking from the first person perspective or as an outside observer, the stories in these songs come alive through his accented vocals and vivid lyrics. For most of the album, Bates sits behind a piano with little more backing him than bass and drums on most tracks. The subject matter on the songs is both grounded and varied.
Glide is proud to premiere “Mississippi” by Mark Cline Bates – a slow-burning number that divulges the brutal honesty and tenderness of Neil Young’s Tonights the Night along with Leon Russell’s melancholy harmony. Â
“I still live in the hills of West Virginia and have a deep love for them…but our communities here feel can feel insulated at times and I often dream of running off into the unknown,” says Bates. “This song captures my restless spirit and the realization that my burdens would surely follow me across whatever great divide I crossed over. “
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Photo by Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
