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Part 2

Happy New Year, Everybody! (Even if you're reading this in July....)

Across the last five seasons of American Song, we've traveled the arc of American music and listened to some of the greatest songs ever recorded, by some of the best loved artists over a century of thrilling music that changed the world.

But what about all those artists whose music is as good, if not better, than those "giants", who (but for the fickle finger of fate) never got the massive acclaim that those rarified few received? What is it within a songwriter that drives their art and compells them to write, even if they're not filling stadiums, or winning Grammy's (questionnable why some of the folks who do receive them deserved it!).

I've been fortunate to share many road miles with one of these artists for most of my life, and in today's episode, I introduce him to you.

In 1995, LA Time music critic, Mike Boehm, said this about Mark's first album: "The two albums I couldn’t stop listening to in ’95 were a tie for the number-one position in my Top Ten. [One of these was] Mark Davis, “You Came Screaming”. Davis’ first album is graced by superb melodies and hall-of-fame influences. His intensely realized subject is the embattled condition of idealism in a fallen world."

Other music critics have said this:

"Getting at large truths with songs full of human-scale detail and unsentamentalized beauty. - Los Angeles Times

“Davis is truly a master of his craft… able to lift spirits even while supporting the weight of the world.” - Orange County Register

I hope you'll listen closely to this two part episode. I have a special feeling that when you do, you just might come to love this music and appreciate this artistic soul as much as I do.

Learn more about Mark Davis and support his music through these links:

https://songrites.com/mark-davis-and-the-inklings

https://markdavisinklings.bandcamp.com

Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook.

There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

Get in touch!

Part 1

Happy New Year, Everybody! (Even if you're reading this in July....)

Across the last five seasons of American Song, we've traveled the arc of American music and listened to some of the greatest songs ever recorded, by some of the best loved artists over a century of thrilling music that changed the world.

But what about all those artists whose music is as good, if not better, than those "giants", who (but for the fickle finger of fate) never got the massive acclaim that those rarified few received? What is it within a songwriter that drives their art and compells them to write, even if they're not filling stadiums, or winning Grammy's (questionnable why some of the folks who do receive them deserved it!).

I've been fortunate to share many road miles with one of these artists for most of my life, and in today's episode, I introduce him to you.

In 1995, LA Time music critic, Mike Boehm, said this about Mark's first album: "The two albums I couldn’t stop listening to in ’95 were a tie for the number-one position in my Top Ten. [One of these was] Mark Davis, “You Came Screaming”. Davis’ first album is graced by superb melodies and hall-of-fame influences. His intensely realized subject is the embattled condition of idealism in a fallen world."

Other music critics have said this:

"Getting at large truths with songs full of human-scale detail and unsentamentalized beauty. - Los Angeles Times

“Davis is truly a master of his craft… able to lift spirits even while supporting the weight of the world.” - Orange County Register

I hope you'll listen closely to this two part episode. I have a special feeling that when you do, you just might come to love this music and appreciate this artistic soul as much as I do.

Learn more about Mark Davis and support his music through these links:

https://songrites.com/mark-davis-and-the-inklings

https://markdavisinklings.bandcamp.com

Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook.

There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

Get in touch!

Part Five starts with a funeral and a realization: when Bruce's friend and former Castile's band mate, George Theiss, dies, Bruce becomes the last man left from his teenage band. That shock pushes him into Springsteen on Broadway, Western Stars, and Letter to You—projects that ask what kind of ancestor, and what kind of citizen, you want to be when you’re running out of time.

We follow him into those late-career marathon shows and finally to a 2025 European stage, where he calls out a "incompetent, corrupt, and treasonous administration" and then sings about hope, duty, and “we the people” anyway.

This final chapter ties Bruce back to everyone we’ve studied in 2025 on American Song—including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, Randy Newman, Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne —and makes the subtext plain: if we want a better America, we’re going to have to live up to the American values embodied in the songs of the artists we say we admire.

Music In This Episode: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

• My City of Ruins
• Shackled and Drawn
• Rocky Ground
• Sundown
• Hello Sunshine
• Last Man Standing
• One Minute You're Here
• The Power of Prayer
• Long Walk Home
• We Shall Overcome

Archival Interviews

• Rick Rubin/ Malcolm Gladwell

Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook.

There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.