When Mark Karan takes a break from life on the road as lead guitarist with Bob Weir's RatDog, what does he do for fun? He hits the highway with his own band!
Since 1998, Mark has been touring with offshoots of the Grateful Dead (including The Other Ones, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum and Bobby Weir's Ratdog).
Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Paul Carrack, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young, Alex Call and Sophie B. Hawkins.
Mark has appeared on the Today Show, Austin City Limits, Regis and Kathy Lee, and Late Late Night with Craig Kilborn, in addition to numerous radio stations nationwide, and has been making fans around the country. You can hear why on his bands CD entitled "Jemimah Puddleduck" (Quacktone Records/available at www.markkaran.com). In addition to original songs like "Time Will Tell" & "Rock Your Papa", Mark covers a wonderfully eclectic range of material… from the stanky funk of Johnny Guitar Watson's "You Can Stay (But the Noise Must Go)" to the aching country-soul of Gram Parsons' "She"… from the reggae tinged jamminess of Mark's take on Peter Tosh's "Don't Look Back" to a raucous rave-up like Lowell George's "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" with vocals by Mark's ever-funky bassman, Bob Gross.
Other available recordings featuring Mark on guitar include both "Evening Moods" (2000) and"Live At Roseland" (2001) with RatDog, The Other Ones' "Only The Strange Remain" (1999), "Sounds From Home" by Delaney Bramlett (1998), "Spin This" (1998) by The Rembrandts…Whether with "Jemimah Puddleduck" (Mark's band with premier drummer John Molo) or one of the many combinations of well known musical talent and wonderful "lesser known" players, we've taken to calling "Mark Karan's Buds", Mark brings his soulful blues-based vocal stylings and passionate, inspired guitar work to some of the tastiest tunes around… a passionately delivered mix of rock meets R&B, with flashes of folk, blues, reggae, jazz and whatever other muse might pay a visit in the moment… often surprising… always "the real deal"… Mark Karan.
Mark Karan uses PRS, Gibson and Fender guitars, A. Brown Soun "Tone Tubby" cabinets, Two-Rock amplifiers, and Pyramid Strings.
