The Grand Parade – The Songs and Stories of Mark Harrison

THE GRAND PARADE: THE SONGS & STORIES OF MARK HARRISON

Original roots songs for today that sound like classics

Mark Harrison is an established, multi-award-nominated singer-songwriter, storyteller and guitarist with an ever-growing reputation for being unlike any other artist out there. He performs all-original songs in his own very individual style, with elements of rock, folk, blues and Americana. He has been frequently featured on BBC Radio, including the Radio 2 Pick of the Week show and the Radio 2 Folk Show, and he and his band have been live guests on Cerys Matthews’s Radio 2 show. He has been described on the BBC as an artist who ‘makes you think afresh’ and by countless reviewers and audience members as ‘uplifting’ and ‘inspirational’. He has brought something genuinely new and distinctive to the roots music scene.

Mark’s shows feature his memorable melodic songs with proper tunes, and thought-provoking and wry song introductions (which are not add-ons but are integral to the show and very much part of the songs and the audience experience). The songs cover a very wide range of topics of a kind that other people don’t write songs about. He sings and talks about the shared experiences, thoughts and concerns that many people have in their lives today, making audiences both laugh and think. Many of his songs tell a story, and some cover aspects of cultural and musical history in a fresh and original way. Mark’s songs talk to you, not at you, there is no lecturing or politics, but rather observations that many people relate to.

Mark is widely considered one of the top roots guitarists, with a very distinctive style on resonator, 12-string, and slide guitars. He gets a great reception wherever he goes, and audience members of all ages and backgrounds regularly come up to say how moving and emotional the experience was for them, as well as how much fun they had.

Mark tours extensively. He has done sold-out headline shows at the wonderful Minack Theatre in Cornwall, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues and Celtic Connections, and appeared at numerous top festivals of many kinds, including the UK Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival, Lakefest, Beardy Folk Festival, Jazz FM Love Supreme Festival and Bearded Theory. Mark has released eight albums which have been unanimously acclaimed across a wide range of areas of the music world, receiving a very great deal of airplay and highly enthusiastic reviews in the UK, Europe and the US. Mark has been nominated multiple times in the UK Blues Awards (including 2025).