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Nashville
Cat Marc Harris Is More Than a Honky Tonk Man
Sunday nights find Harris and his acoustic guitar at Destin’s Funky Blues Shack, a great showcase for artists who play original material. Harris adds flavor to the Allman Brothers’ Sweet Melissa with some compelling slide guitar. When he does Roger Miller’s King of the Road, everyone is inspired to sing along. Harris performs the song like he’s lived it—like any true artist, he gives the tune his own unique voice and arrangement. He does other country songs, too. On Merle Haggard’s I’m a Honky Tonk Nighttime Man, the unusual sounds coming out of Harris’ acoustic guitar fooled me into thinking he’d switched to electric when I wasn’t looking. After a short break, friend and bassist Steven Montz joined Harris. The two did an original from Harris’ six-song EP, the moody, introspective Here and Now. Another Harris composition—Sara Please—was up-tempo and catchy. Harris made some Chris Isaak and Wallflowers favorites his own—his voice is easy to listen to and he doesn’t strain to reach those impossible notes like I do when I’m in the car singing along with the radio. Nowhere was the man’s guitar skill more evident than on the B.B. King standard The Thrill Is Gone. Bob Marley, Sting and Bill Withers also got the Harris treatment. He ended the set with some good Chuck Berry-influenced playing on the Motown/Barrett Strong classic Money (That’s What I Want)—a song Harris first discovered, like me, on The Beatles’ Second Album. In addition to his Sunday night appearances at Funky Blues Shack, Harris plays every Thursday at Capo’s with Montz and a full band. There are also Wednesday and/or Friday afternoon stints at the Beach Java coffeehouse in Seagrove Beach. Some Harry T’s gigs are scheduled, as well as an appearance on Pensacola NPR’s Radio Live. Harris will celebrate the release of his full-length CD on June 30 at the Funky Blues Shack. Harris also spins discs by his favorite artists at Seaside Radio 107.1 FM. I dropped by during his noon-3p.m. shift on a recent Tuesday, hoping to yak on the air endlessly and throw in some of my favorite tracks, but all I brought was the new reissue of Chuck Berry’s seminal 1964 long-player St. Louis to Liverpool. Harris happily obliged by airing several tracks from the CD—“He’ s the father of rock and roll!”—and introduced me to a great Etta James version of Money (That’s What I Want). The radio station gig appealed to Harris because he could have friends like Nashville musician Steve Allen join him live in the studio. “That was the ultimate goal, to focus on different people, unheard of artists or old artists who need to be heard,” he said. Growing up in Music City exposed young Harris to a lot of influential sounds. “They had a thing in Nashville when I was a kid, the Italian Street Fair. I’d pretty much hang there all day. I’d also go to friends’ houses and play piano and guitar for hours, whether I knew how to or not. I got my first guitar at age 13,” he said. Harris started playing in clubs at age 15. After high school, he played guitar in the band Radio One and got his first taste of the touring musician’s life with lots of college gigs. “We did one independent record, produced by Brent Maher, who produced the Judds among others. I learned a lot from him. He was a real purist,” Harris said. “The band did showcases for Virgin and A&M Records—we came close, but no cigar.” After that experience, Harris made the switch from band member to touring sideman with country artists like Lee Roy Parnell and Stacy Dean Campbell. In 1993, Harris toured with John Berry and saw the audience response to Berry’s hit single Your Love Amazes Me evolve from small honkytonks to large venues. The crowd’s enthusiasm grew crazier as the song climbed the charts. Harris spent three years on the road with Berry before attempting to launch a solo career. A relationship kept him in Nashville, although he’d spent plenty of time camping at Grayton State Park and grew friendly with some 30A business owners, notably Ed and Joyce from Fermentations. After another few years of plugging away, Harris decided to move here for good in January 2001. “I was looking for a change. Not to be anti-Nashville, but you get a certain role as a sideman guitar player, and that’s what they expect you to do all the time. I was looking for a way to break out of that,” Harris said. Harris’ main focus upon relocating was his web site business. The idea came about when a keyboard player and computer enthusiast in Berry’s band spoke of the then-emerging Internet. Harris’ interest was also sparked during a stint at a Nashville voice-over studio. “Everything was recorded straight to hard disk. I really focused on the audio side and did a lot of MIDI work before I got into web design,” he said. As his business grew successful, Harris still managed to find time to refine his songs. “Some of them I’ve been working on for years. The songs have been evolving, and they finally came together when I moved here. Within a year, I started playing in little venues here. As I started playing more, I reached the point of no return.” Judging from the melodic songs on Harris’ six-track EP, I wasn’t surprised to learn that his writing process doesn’t begin with jotting down poetry and trying to set it to music. “It usually starts with the ‘na-na version’,” he said. “You find this guitar riff when you’re doing something else, then ask yourself, ‘Is this worth stopping what I’m doing and finding this song?’ I usually find the chord progression and melody and literally listen to the ‘na-na version’ until the big lines come out.” SIDEBAR: Marc Harris’
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Marc
Harris grew up in Nashville, but don’t label him a country
musician. His original songs are the best kind of singer-songwriter
material—intelligent, well crafted, and accessible to twang
lovers and haters alike—and his cover versions encompass
a wide range of musical influences.Copyright © The Beachcomber, Inc. 2003 - 2008. All rights reserved.