I had the pleasure to interview Uncle Mark of Uncle Mark’s Music, live from “The Mother Ship”. He is a busy guy, so I was glad he gave me the time and was willing to share. Below are some of the highlights from our 30-minute Zoom call.
Where are you located, where were you born?
Mark Piper, AKA “Uncle Mark”, going on 62, lives in True Lake, NY, close to the Canadian border. He’s having fun running a boutique Bed & Breakfast with his wife Sharon. He cooks breakfast!
Born in Washington DC, Mark has lived and played all over the place. He traveled the south, playing music on the street in Jacksonville and Port Salerno, later landing in Memphis. In Memphis he played on the street with a cool old dude named Uncle Ben Perry. Mark shared Uncle Ben taught him a lot by yelling at him. After that he also played on the streets of New Orleans, worked at a lodge in Montana playing in a hotel lobby and bar, played around Glacier National Park, and even opened for Rob Quist.
How did you get to be known as Uncle Mark?
Mark says his nickname was in some ways inspired by Uncle Ben but claims he’s the uncle type due to having several nieces and nephews, so his wife encouraged adopting and sticking with the nickname, “especially since now he’s as old as Uncle Ben was”!
You always start out your training videos with Hey, Hey, Hey?
Mark did some voice over acting in past. He said from those experiences he learned the importance of consistency, doing or saying the same thing all the time, so people will remember what you did, and you. He started using “hey, hey, hey” as a conversation starter or introduction and soon people started doing the hey, hey, hey back to him, so he decided to stick with it.
You’ve been a musician for a long time, teaching for over 20 years?
Mark plays the 6-string, CBG, shovel guitar and ukulele. He’s been playing guitar in classic rock bands since he was about 13-14 years old. He’s been doing CBG lessons for a little over four years now. Mark shared he found teaching beginner guitar, figuring out the mental state of his students, then explaining things to students, was a breakthrough for him. It helped him learn more about his own playing and eventually evolved into how to specialize in helping beginners. At his website http://www.unclemarksmusic.com Mark offers free on-demand song lessons, video workshops for a fee, private coaching, as well as live classes using zoom. You can even buy his new sing and play along song books on Amazon and use them to play along with his video lessons.
Who made your cigar box guitar?
Uncle Mark got his first CBG on 9/29/17. The electric CBG he uses in his videos was built by Rob Wrobel, of Destin FL. He has since bought 3 others from Rob, including a slide CBG. Mark gets a lot of guitars sent to him but says he has enough and doesn’t want any more. He suggests instead people should donate a CBG to a school or to raise money for Ukraine. In addition to his collection of guitars Uncle Mark also has several Ukuleles. He is definitely thinking about a cigar box Uke. “I absolutely want one”
What unusual thing about you can you share?
Mark claims he’s “just a normal guy”. He works out every day so he can keep up with playing music and playing out at gigs. Recently he took up paddle boarding, gets out religiously during the summer, but stressed he’s staying above the water! He also got into photography at the beginning of this year, says he’s having fun with it and its “giving him the ability to learn to suck as something new!”
Who’s your favorite musical artist?
“Today or tomorrow?” He’s got a lot of music he listens to, so can’t pick a favorite. Mark says Eric Clapton’s Layla got him about 1973. He loved that “break your windshield” sound and decided he just had to play the guitar. Mark shared he also got a lot of inspiration from going to live concerts like Led Zeppelin (1977) and The Band in the 90’s. Mark says Ozzy and Black Sabbath with Van Halen opening in 1978 “was mind shattering”.
What’s your goal with your business, what’s next?
Mark plans to get back into playing live music in the street. Says it will be a way to share his music and help others learn about and take interest in playing the CBG.
At 25 he saw a guy playing on a stool at a bar. He went to the bar owner and said he wanted to be in the same chair, just a different night. Played a few tunes, got the chair and eventually owned it, replacing the guy before him. He says today he feels he’s in the right chair, loves what he does and is happily married to a beautiful woman for 30 years. He gets to play for and teach people all over the world. Mark says he’ll keep doing what he’s doing until someone else takes the chair away from him; just like he did to that old guy at that bar. With the time he has left in his chair he hopes he can make a difference in the world of music, like Uncle Ben did for him, and before someone else grabs the chair!
Wrapping the interview up Mark shared he loves musical instruments of any kind. He stressed not to forget about your 6 string! However, he said his weird Martian brain says, “stick with the 3 string”!
Related:
See Samantha Fish rock out live on her Cigar Box Guitar