Mark Erelli

Mark Erelli is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose folk-based work has been shaped by an unusual route into music. Born in Boston and raised in Reading, Massachusetts, he earned a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before making music his career. He has since built a body of work across nine solo albums and three collaborations, and has worked as a sideman for Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter, as well as writing songs recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot and Red Molly.

His self-titled debut appeared on Signature Sounds in 1999, the same year he took the New Folk Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The follow-up, Compass & Companion, included a title-track duet with Kelly Willis and spent ten weeks in the Top Ten of the Americana chart. In 2005 his co-written song "People Look Around", made with Catie Curtis, won the Grand Prize at the International Songwriting Competition. Hope & Other Casualties (2006) drew on the political climate of its time, and Delivered (2008) was financed by fans through a crowdfunded project Erelli called a barn raising.