Bio

Mark graduated from the Almond-Bancroft Public High School (WI) in 1982 as valedictorian.  He also played football and was a all-Conference basketball player.

Mark then attended the University of Wisconsin - Stout, graduating in 1986 with a 4.0 GPA and a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics.  He even spent some time on the Track & Field team.

After working in southern CA at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace for a few years, he returned to the midwest and worked as a software engineer for Cray Research Inc., Silicon Graphics Inc., Cray Inc. (same people, different company names).  While at Cray, Mark attended the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) and obtained a Master's Degree in Computer Science in 1998.  Mark was also named a Principal Engineer during his career and is listed on a U.S. Patent with some coworkers.

Mark retired from all that in 2018.

As Mark was about to turn 40, in 2004, he decided to learn to play guitar.  It had been a lifelong desire but so much of life got in the way.  He ended up taking lessons at Brickhouse Music in River Falls WI for about six months.  Again, life got in the way, raising two wonderful daughters, coaching basketball, performing in community theater, etc.  The guitar saw very little action but was always on his mind.

By 2015, Mark was really getting more motivated to play and sing.  It was about this time that a new Country-music themed night club opened in Hastings MN - "Country Nites Saloon".  They really wanted to have some kind of musical entertainment every night of the week and Mark became a bit of a regular.  He was really able to spend a lot of time learning more and more songs.  Unfortunately, the saloon closed its doors but Mark continued to play area bars, festivals, and wineries.

Now, Mark and Barb travel full-time and Mark plays all over the country.