Satellite Sky

For me, Mark Heard was one of those names I’d come across now and then while reading CCM Magazine–i.e, interview was on page such-and-such; his 1982 Victims of the Age had made the 100 best list; he produced the next Randy Stonehill album, etc.

From what I had gathered in just that small amount was that he had a raw, singer/songwriter flavor, akin to Bruce Cockburn, and was a good pick for Stonehill’s early 90s acoustic-style albums. But it wasn’t until had suffered a heart attack during a performance at the 1992 Cornerstone Festival, dying soon afterward, that I really started to take note. As one would expect, a flood of tributes came pouring in from artists and CCM writers all around, talking about just how profound his lyrics were, and that his skill as a musician and songwriter matched his gift of poetry. Though his music never resonated with the average CCM listener, like last week’s look at Rich Mullins, that’s what made him more appealing to the artsy crowd looking for a more authentic expression of the Christian life that we could relate to.

When his greatest-hits and tribute albums were subsequently released, I had to snag them. I have to admit, his music did take a bit of getting used-to. Afterall, this was the early 90s, and this ripped-jean, mullet-headed rocker wasn’t quite used to his unique pop/Appalachian craft. But a few songs certainly did stand out, and the best of those songs were from his final album, Satellite Sky.

You could say, as with Rich Mullins’ Jesus Record, God gave Mark his best for last.

Satellite Sky opens with the upbeat “Tip of my Tongue,” followed by the somewhat Country-Rock title track, then the rockabilly-esque “Big Wheels Roll,” a hauntingly beautiful, “Orphans of God,” and then to what might be the most commercial song (though not lyrically, I suppose) “Another Day in Limbo.”

The music bounces along these lines throughout the whole 15-track album, with that tinge of Appalachian woven throughout. It’s hard to quite describe the style of the album–at least for this reviewer. If anyone reading can pinpoint his style, please let me know in the comments. It’s unique, but yet, you’ve heard it before. It’s Country, Rock–maybe even Alternative in some places, especially when he utilizes some U2 -style rhythms. What also makes this album a little hard to categorize is Mark’s use of an electric mandolin, which (don’t tell anyone) gets to be a little too much after a while.

Yes, this album does take some getting used to, and is probably why his music was so overlooked during the latter part of his life. You could tell, after listening to his more commercial releases such as the aforementioned Victims of the Age, that he probably wanted to expand his horizons as an artist, and most likely the ‘powers that be’ snubbed their noses at it. If that’s the case, then it also goes to explain why he founded his own record company, Fingerprint Records, so that he could be free to develop his craft.

I don’t know if streaming helps or hurts artists today–the ones who want to break out of the mold like Mark Heard, that is. It may give them a bigger distribution in some ways, yet they may also get lost in the crowd. When Mark was creating music, at least we’d come upon his tapes on the shelves of the local Christian bookstore, maybe see an ad or read a review in CCM, and so we’d pop the tape in the sample machine and give it a try.

At any rate, I think finding an honest and talented poet who is equally musically true to his heart as Mark Heard was, would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Artsy music certainly isn’t found on bookstore shelves anymore (wherever one might come across Christian bookstore shelves these days) but maybe, just maybe, we can still find someone out there who still embodies the Mark Heard/Rich Mullins/Larry Norman misfit spirit online.