Mark Schatz

Mark Schatz

Musician · b. 1955 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Wikipedia
Best known for Bass Lead Vocals

Mark Schatz is a two-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year and one of the most distinctive multi-instrumentalists in modern American roots music — equally at home on upright bass, clawhammer banjo, guitar, and mandolin, and a master clogger and hambone performer besides. His bass playing has anchored landmark recordings by Béla Fleck, Tony Rice, John Hartford, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Claire Lynch, and many others across more than four decades.

  • Born Mark L. Schatz on April 23, 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, near Boston, in a musical family; began formal training on cello at age 10, later switching to string bass.
  • First performance was in 1971 on electric bass in a high school rock band. Picked up guitar, mandolin, and clawhammer banjo, and learned to clog-dance while working with the Boston-based folk-dance group Mandala.
  • Earned his B.A. in Music Theory and Composition from Haverford College in Pennsylvania (1973–1978). Studied for a year after graduation at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
  • In 1977, met banjo innovator Béla Fleck, beginning a multi-decade collaboration. Worked with Fleck in Tasty Licks and Spectrum, and appeared on Béla’s landmark albums Crossing the Tracks, Natural Bridge, Double Time, Inroads, Drive, Tales from the Acoustic Planet Vol. II, The Bluegrass Sessions, and most recently My Bluegrass Heart and the Grammy-nominated Rhapsody in Blue.
  • Relocated to Nashville in 1983. Initially played electric bass on country sessions; returned to acoustic bluegrass in 1985 when he joined the Tony Rice Unit.
  • From 1990 to 1998 was one of Tim O’Brien’s O’Boys, appearing on Oh Boy! O’Boy, Red on Blonde, and When No One’s Around. Two-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year (1994, 1995). Won IBMA Instrumental Recording of the Year in 1992 for Jerry Douglas’s Slide Rule.
  • Released two solo albums on Rounder Records: Brand New Old Tyme Way (1995, produced by Béla Fleck, featuring clawhammer banjo and original compositions) and Steppin’ in the Boiler House (2006).
  • Played bass with Nickel Creek from 2003 through 2007 and on their 2014 reunion tour, appearing on Why Should the Fire Die? and A Dotted Line.
  • From 2008 to 2016, was bassist for the Claire Lynch Band, adding color with hambone, clawhammer banjo, and clogging. Appeared on the Grammy-nominated North By South (2017).
  • Longtime Musical Director of the acclaimed Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble (formerly the Fiddle Puppet Dancers), a role he took on in 1993. His late wife Eileen Carson Schatz was the group’s director until her death from pancreatic cancer in 2019.
  • Since 2020, has toured in a duo with fiddler/singer Bryan McDowell. Their 2021 album Grit & Polish reached #1 on the Folk DJ charts. Has also developed a solo show, “Mark Schatz — The Solo Concert,” featuring banjo, bass, guitar, singing, stories, poetry, and dance.
  • Currently lives in Berkeley, California. Available for touring, recording, workshops, and private instruction. Teaches at numerous music camps including Common Ground on the Hill in Westminster, Maryland.

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