Mark Gillespie - guitar and mandolin

The Nashville-based mandolin/guitar picker joined Trace’s band in _____.


In the mid 1990’s Gillespie and longtime friend Lee Rolfes were both criss-crossing the country, performing music and were well known in the Cincinnati, Ohio, club scene with a band called Bucket. Bucket was formed in Cincinnati in 1997 and takes its name for drummer Rick"Bam" Powell's bucket-in-lieu-of a bass drum. Their music is a mixture of genres made up of catchy, spirited anthems of American life experiences that are mostly optimistic, occasionally cynical (but without the angst) and always witty.

Gillespie played on Rolfes album “Further Down the Line”. The 1998 release includes songs "The Harley Song", "Playing Dead" and "Deep Freeze"

Gillespie’s resume also includes playing for Nashville singer Claudia Church and Paul Brandt. Gillespie packed his mandolin and guitar in 1999 and left the Midwest to tour with the pair.

During that time Gillespie met up and coming Nashville star Challe Tennison at an IBM corporate event. He joined her 2000 tour and the courting began. At first she resisted.

“I was gun shy, to say the least,” she admits. “Plus, I’d vowed never to date a musician again. When Mark first started playing in my band, I thought, ‘What a sweet, gentle, kind man.’ But when he pursued me, it was, ‘You’re a musician – leave me alone.’ He was so charming, though, that eventually I said I’d go out with him. Even then, I said, ‘You can’t handle my life. You’ve never been married. You don’t have kids. This is too much for you.’ After two months, he met the kids. He fell in love with them, and they fell in love with him. Well, that was it. In December he asked me to marry him.”

Chalee and Mark toured together throughout the following year and on Nov. 10, 2001, they married, in Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains. Tyler walked her down the aisle, Tiffany and Haley were her bridesmaids, and her friend Paul Brandt sang his song “I Do.” Two weeks later, James Stroud signed her to DreamWorks Records.

Gillespie and fellow Band member Brian Wooten also played on Brandt’s album “Small Towns and Big Dreams’ released in 2001.

In 2003 Gillespie played Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Gut String Guitar on Rodney Atkins’ album called “Honesty”. He also played on Chalee Tennison’s album “Parading in the Rain”.

1 comment:

JEDI said...

Goooon-lespie you crazy bastard I missed you last time you were in town. Next time you show up down here give me a call.

ATL
The all terrain lover

Paul

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