Artist Profile: Mark Topel

Full disclosure: the clown on the left is my brother. And while I might make fun of him to his face, behind his back, when talking about my family, and in almost every other possible situation, it's becoming more and more apparent that, maybe, he's pretty talented.

The most recent piece of evidence came last night, when he was one of two winners in a songwriting competition held at the University of Texas. As a winner, he'll now travel to and perform at the Kerrville Folk Festival, which is a pretty big thing. To win, he straight-up brought the house down with "Bottle Of Whiskey" and "In The Cane." With a little onstage banter and by taking some chances by really opening up the vocals of "Bottle Of Whiskey," the crowd and the judges were equally impressed, and it took abut 20 minutes for everyone to stop congratulating him.

It's been a lot of fun seeing him develop as an artist... from initially quitting the guitar soon after convincing our parents to buy him one of those guitar/amp starter sets, to dabbling with the violin (thank God that ended), to really committing the time and practice to becoming an excellent guitarist, and finally... to somehow developing vocals and a deftness at songwriting, he's earned his recent accomplishments. His music is grounded solidly in the style of classic songwriters (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, and Neil Young, to name a few) with a hint of modern artists like Bill Callahan, Daniel Rossen, and Sufjan Stevens... all without being completely derivative like so many other artists.

I could go on and on and tell a lot of embarrassing stories, but I'm saving those for any future magazing pieces if/when he "makes it." For now, I think I speak for all our family and friends when I say that we're incredibly proud of Mark. If you haven't heard him yet, please check out the MySpace. If you like it, let us know! We'll pass along the good wishes. As always, thanks for supporting GSATW, and by proxy, Mark. Take care!