My musical journey began as a young child around 8 or 9 years old when I would listen to my father play music. He was in the army at the time and would often invite other musically inclined army buddies over to play music all night on a Saturday. From there, when my parents divorced, my sister and I were sent to live with my grandparents on a 20 acre farm in Washington State. When I turned 12 yrs of age, my father came to visit and gave me my first guitar, an acoustic Gibson J series flattop. He showed me a few basic things and the rest I would be on my own.
As I got into my teenage years, I joined 4 other friends and we formed our first band “The Shelby 5” in recognition of the Shelby Mustang car popular at the time. We practiced 3 or 4 times a week and played our first paying gig at the local Jaycees club.
We made 15 dollars apiece 😊
We were still in junior high school at 14 and 15 years old. But from there I started playing on weekends with a five piece band that included a female lead vocalist.
We played Friday and Saturday nights for the grand total of 35 dollars each. That was 17.50 a night !
We were all underage minors and because we weren’t 21, we had to go outside for our 15 minute breaks. From those days, I still played in church on Sundays and gained valuable lessons not only in music and the gospel style but helped mold me into the person I am today.
After high school, I got a phone call at 19 yrs of age to join a group playing bass guitar with a band in Missoula Montana.
It was my first experience traveling away from home to work as a professional musician.
Many years of traveling in different bands and seeing different places and people was both rewarding and inspiring.
Of course not all memories were good and there was many pitfalls and hardships along the way.
But I was blessed to meet so many famous and not so famous people and artists along the way.
Many I played with and many I watched and admired myself as a onlooker.
After 25-30 years of doing music almost exclusively, I finally retired from all the traveling and barely making ends meet and had to get a real job !!
Fast forward to the present, about 8 to 10 years ago I started doing cover songs on social media like Facebook and other occasional “gigs” playing at jams, open mikes and invites to friend’s homes and a few music festivals.
Presently, my focus for the last 2 or 3 years has been to write and record original material.
I had written many songs through the years but never did anything with them until being introduced to Donny Hammonds who owns and operates a professional recording studio.
We have worked on original projects for a couple of years or so and have recorded enough songs for an album.
My goal is to continue to write originals and hopefully figure out a way that we can continue to work together since I no longer live in close proximity to his studio.
We live thousands of miles away from each other but once my technical skills get up to speed, we may be able to put songs together through the process of the internet and my simple but useable material recorded with my recording devices.
The book is still out on that and we shall see.
But even if I can’t do the main vocals on an original song of mine, I still want to be involved and in the process of recording.
I am very proud and honored to let others do the vocals and arrangements as long as I’m able to do it. I would love to keep going, being inspired and compassionate about the written originals that I and folks like Donny can send out to the world for others to listen and enjoy.
I owe everything in my life to my faith and beliefs in a higher authority, our Heavenly Father whose Spirit leads and guides me daily.
Many thanks go out to the people who have supported me through the years. There’s too many to mention individually by name, but you know who you are.
I sincerely thank each of you , the public who believe in me and encourage me to continue in this musical and personal journey we call life. God bless y’all and know that I love y’all as well.
For any questions or contact information, please get in touch with me through my website and my producer, engineer and dear friend, Mr Donny Hammonds, care of The Afterdark Studio located in Cartersville, Georgia.
He can be contacted as well through his website and information. Thank y’all sincerely, Marko W Self/ Indie artist