Mark Fosson

Songwriter and guitarist Mark Fosson spent his formative years in Kentucky, taking up songwriting during his early teens. Toward the end of the 1970s he forwarded several demos to Takoma Records, the West Coast imprint run by John Fahey, who responded by extending a recording contract. Fosson promptly moved to Los Angeles to begin sessions with Fahey, yet the label soon encountered financial trouble and ceased operations. Fahey nonetheless permitted him to keep the resulting master tapes. While based on the West Coast, Fosson connected with songwriter Edward Tree; their partnership led to the formation of the country-tinged ensemble the Bum Steers in the late 1980s. Several of Fosson’s compositions found their way onto film soundtracks across the following decade. Beginning in 2001 he worked closely with singer and songwriter Lisa O’Kane, who included multiple Fosson pieces on her own recordings, while also tracking the solo album Jesus on a Greyhound, issued by Big Otis Records in 2005. Critics responded favorably, likening his work to that of Americana figures such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Joe Ely, John Prine, and Guy Clark. The earlier Takoma recordings finally appeared as The Lost Takoma Sessions on Drag City Records in 2006. On November 2, 2018, Mark Fosson succumbed to cancer.