Search - Artist/Band: Mark O'Connor

• Name: Mark O'Connor
• Birthday: 08/05/1961
• Birth Place: Seattle, WA
• Decades Active: 1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Country
• Styles: Bluegrass, Classical Crossover, Progressive Bluegrass, New Acoustic, Jazz Instrument, Saxophone Jazz, Instrumental Country, Progressive Country
• Moods: Earnest, Earthy, Literate, Organic, Reverent

Title	Release
Essential Mark O'Connor	04/03/2007
Appalachian Waltz Trio	2004
In Full Swing	01/14/2003
The American Seasons WA	09/25/2001
Fanfare for the Volunteer: Three Pieces for Violin and Orchestra	10/19/1999
Midnight on the Water	04/28/1998
Liberty WA	10/28/1997
The Fiddle Concerto	1995
Johnny Appleseed WA	08/30/1994
Heroes	1993
The Night Before Christmas WA	1993
The New Nashville Cats	1991
Retrospective WA	1990
On the Mark	1989
Elysian Forest	1988
Stone from Which the Arch Was Made WA	1988
Meanings Of... WA	1986
Soppin' the Gravy WA	1981
Markology	1978

Born and raised in Seattle, O'Connor was always a bit out of sync with his teenage peers. Understandably so, since he was winning fiddle contests and had mapped out a sketchy career path. O'Connor moved to Nashville in 1983, already a former sideman for jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, a job that allowed him to play the stage at Carnegie Hall. At the time O'Connor arrived in Music City (the post-Urban Cowboy era), fiddle was hardly in vogue, and it took a couple of years for him to make his mark. Finally, in 1985 the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band used him in their single "High Horse"; thanks to that work, O'Connor's phone number became a popular one with country record producers. Over the next five years he played on 450 albums, including such stellar projects as Trio by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris; Always & Forever by Randy Travis; Killin' Time by Clint Black; and Loving Proof by Ricky Van Shelton. Despite his success, O'Connor gave up session work to concentrate on his own solo career, increasingly rooted in the classical realm thanks to collaborators including Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, and Edgar Meyer. ~ Tom Roland, All Music Guide