mark cline bates

​Mark Cline Bates (from the album King of the Crows available as a self-release)
Studio recordings have gotten the cold shoulder in the Indie world of Americana, a pent-up resistance to music getting mechanized by gimmicks and kno-twirling wizardry. King of the Crows, the recent release from Mark Cline Bates, is an example of how to use the studio experience to enhance the singer and the song. King of the Crows, the fifth album from the West Virginia native was produced by Don Dixon (R.E.M., Chris Stamey, Tommy Keene), the sound a marriage of moods and meaning, the grit of a Folksinger spitting out the words, the music accenting a Rock’n’Roll Roots beat with echoey thunder. A hushed tempo crawls underneath the confessions of “Caged Bull” as a lazy groove moves like molasses with “Ginger” and “Highway Signs” are read over slow-paced yet constantly rolling rhythms. 
 
Listing shortcomings, Mark Cline Bates gives full disclosure marching orders on the military pace of “I Don’t Know Why” as King of the Crows exercises “Self- Control” on drifting chords while the album travels “Mississippi” on a steadily circling beat. King of the Crows is a three-part musical effort, the songs of Mark Cline Bates backed by piano, bass, and drums. A waltz turns slowly under the small-town lights of “Apathetic Moon” and a deep rumble carries the memories of “Devil” as Mark Cline Bates high-steps on the optimistic dreams of “Don’t Worry”.
 
Listen and buy the music of Mark Cline Bates from AMAZON
http://markclinebates.com/
 

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