Since 1998, Mark has been touring with the extended "Grateful Dead family" (The Other Ones, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum, Phil Lesh & Friends and Bob Weir & RatDog). He has held the lead guitar slot in RatDog for the last ten years, touring year-round. Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Paul Carrack, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young and Sophie B. Hawkins.
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Since 1998, Mark has been touring with the extended "Grateful Dead family" (The Other Ones, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum, Phil Lesh & Friends and Bob Weir & RatDog). He has held the lead guitar slot in RatDog for the last ten years, touring year-round. Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Paul Carrack, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young and Sophie B. Hawkins.
In recent years, Mark has performed with Little Feat, Spearhead, New Monsoon, Galactic, String Cheese Incident, Particle, New Riders of the Purple Sage and numerous others in the jamband community.
Mark has toured Europe, playing the Montreaux Jazz Festival, and has played both the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival and Fuji Rock Festivals in Japan. For the past ten years Mark has extensively toured in nearly every state in the US. He has made TV appearances on Austin City Limits, VH1 Classic's All Star Jams, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Late Night with Craig Kilborn, Today Show and Regis & Kathy Lee. Mark has done extensive recording for records, film and television, and is in demand as a studio musician and producer.
When Mark takes a break from life on the road with RatDog, what does he do for fun? He seeks his own muse. Whether with his band, “Jemimah Puddleduck” or one of the many combinations of stellar musical talent, called “Mark Karan’s Buds”, Mark brings his soulful blues-based vocal stylings and 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”.
You can hear why his fanbase is growing on his band’s live CDs, including Live at the Fillmore, Live at the Great American Music Hall, and Live at the Sweetwater (available at markkaran.com). In addition to his original songs like "Time Will Tell", "Rock Your Papa", and “Leave a Light On”, as well as those of songwriter friends Susan Sheller ("Memphis Radio"), and Alex Call ("Annie Don't Lie"), Mark also covers a range of eclectic songs like Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "You Can Stay (But the Noize Must Go)", and Peter Tosh's "Don't Look Back". Whether it's funk, reggae, country, or soul- his unique choices in music are the hallmark of every show, and are evident on his studio album (currently in production-2007). Other recordings featuring Mark on guitar include RatDog's "Live At Roseland” (2001) and "Evening Moods" (2000), and The Other Ones' "Only The Strange Remain" (1999) – all on Grateful Dead Records (gdstore.com).
For more info on Mark’s ever-evolving fascination with gear, see markkaran.com.
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