Mark Perry
Folk
His music and stories take you on a dynamic road trip thru his love for rural Canada, celebrating triumphs like playing hockey on frozen lakes, the energy of a spring thaw when rivers rise, bluebirds return and you’re finally pedaling your bike or paddling your canoe… to contemplating the tougher stories of our collective Canadian past and present: the legacy of our Japanese internment camps, the tragedy of a sinking passenger ferry, or the dilemma of First Nations people who go missing from our communities. His concerts are both reflective and rollicking with ballads like “Ode” and “Queen of the North” to knee-pumping sing-alongs like “This Town” and “Big Skeena”. Mark’s songwriting is inspired by Northwest BC but his emotional storylines apply everywhere, showing the link between communities from coast to coast. He is a natural storyteller and makes any theatre feel like his living room.
Mark Perry has just released his 11th album and is touring with bandmates Tobin Frank (Spirit of the West) and Mark Thibeault (Hungry Hill). He recorded his 1st album in 1990 with his west coast hero Roy Forbes (Bim), went on to open shows for Canadian folk legend Connie Kaldor on her Western Canada tour, play Vancouver Island and Vancouver Folk Festivals, lead songwriter workshops at conferences like Bluebird North, and produce 10 more albums — the most recent, Right Here, released in 2018, recorded in Whitehorse and Smithers with Jordy Walker (Old Cabin, Jordy Walker Music).
As a kid growing up in small town Smithers, BC in the 70s, Mark got his start when he tuned in to the scratchy late night radio waves coming from Vancouver and heard CCR, the Rolling Stones, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot. He traded an old lawnmower for an “electric(ish) guitar” and into the neighbours basement he went – guitar in hand, trying to play that music. He got good, he learned to survive playing 6-nighters with his road band, then started to write and craft songs. In between raising a family and working the railroad, Mark recorded 11 albums with Roy Forbes, Shari Ulrich, Steve Dawson and others, all the while performing to a growing fanbase in BC.