Press For Mark O'Connor's Crossing Bridges Memoir

 

June 21st, 2023

THE STRAD MAGAZINE ARTICLE/INTERVIEW:  "Fiddler Mark O’Connor: An American music story. Fiddle player Mark O’Connor, one of the most influential musicians in the American tradition, talks about his extraordinary life, overcoming musical prejudice and the importance of teaching improvisation to string players from the very start, in conversation with Alexandra Petropoulos" (read the entire feature article here)

April - May, 2023  

BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED REVIEW:  "Mark O’Connor has written an emotional detailed account of his experience as a child musician... Mark delves into the many problems of growing up in a dysfunctional family.  He had to deal with an abusive alcoholic father and bullies at his junior high school.  Music and other activities, including skateboarding, were an escape from the tortures of growing up. While still in his teens Mark became an important part of support for the family with his prize money from the many contests he won.   I found reading about his passions and overcoming such harsh conditions very inspirational. The story goes into great detail about the competitiveness and jealousies in the world of contest fiddling.  Many of the older fiddlers resented a young phenom taking so many top prizes.  At one contest they spiked Mark’s cokes with alcohol in an effort to gain an advantage." (read the entire review here)

 

STRINGS MAGAZINE REVIEW:  Fiddler Mark O’Connor’s Memoir ‘Crossing Bridges’ Chronicles His Wide-Ranging Virtuosity. MAY 1, 2023. By Laurence Vittes | From the May-June 2023 issue of Strings magazine.  "Mark O’Connor has lent his wide-ranging instrumental virtuosity to folk, jazz, rock, and classical music. He has recorded and toured with icons of all genres, composed fiddle concertos, and translated his signature fiddling style into a comprehensive, widely used teaching method. O’Connor has now written a 430-page memoir detailing his experiences from the time, rising from humble beginnings, he burst on the scene in 1974 as a 13-year-old fiddler and flatpicking guitar champion until he began working with guitarist and producer Chet Atkins in 1982." (read the rest of the review here)

 

THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN: BERKELEY'S NEWS • MAY 09, 2023. A&E MUSIC: On the road: Mark O’Connor talks memoir ‘Crossing Bridges,’ star-studded childhood. "A touring musician since he was 12 years old, O’Connor has designed a life with music at its center. He is a virtuosic fiddle player, composer and author — but even broad introduction underwhelms the sweep of his career. His achievements have accrued over decades, and his influence on American music swells too big to encapsulate in a singular way." (read the entire article here)

 

March, 2023  

AMERICAN BLUES SCENE:  Interview with Mark O'Connor, whose career spans almost half a century across multiple genres with artists that include Chet Atkins, Merle Haggard, Roy Acuff, Yo Yo Ma, and Alison Krauss! "A white fiddle that looks like it’s been around the world and had its strings beaten to death more times than can be counted takes center stage with fiddle legacy Mark O’Connor on his current Crossing Bridges tour. “I picked it up and couldn’t put it down. It was a cannon of an instrument, and that was the white fiddle that entered all the competitions all through my teens and won.” O’Connor is currently on a tour that marks the release of his memoir Crossing Bridges." (read the rest here)

 

CONCERT REVIEW: Crossing Bridges memoir-release concert review from The Egg Performing Arts Center in Albany Saturday night. “There are child prodigies, and then there’s Mark O’Connor, a child prodigy on steroids who held a crowd of 300 at The Egg in rapt attention Saturday night, March 11th. Now 61 years old, he’s married to Maggie, another great fiddle player who accompanied him and occasionally sang. He is widely considered the greatest fiddler who ever lived. He set out to prove it in a three-hour presentation that covered styles ranging from bluegrass to western swing, from gypsy jazz to classical…” -Nippertown, Albany, NY (read the rest here)

 

GBH NEWS BOSTON WITH HOSTS JIM BRAUDE AND MARGERY EAGAN: Violinists Mark and Maggie O’Connor performed at the Boston Public Library for a Live Music Tuesday

 

NIPPERTOWN: Mark O’Connor plays The Egg Saturday (March 11) as part of his Crossing Bridges tour marking the release of his memoir of the same name. Chet Atkins called Mark O’Connor the greatest fiddler that ever lived. He cut his first record for Rounder when he was 13 years old, the youngest artist ever signed to the label. “It wasn’t just a copycat Memorex situation,” he explains today. “I came to Rounder Records with my own sound and style and rendition of the old timers.” I’ve interviewed a lot of child prodigies but never anyone with as extensive a resume of early success as O’Connor. (Read the rest here)

 

CHARLOTTE IS CREATIVE PODCAST: "Now, he's written a memoir entitled Crossing Bridges about his journey from child prodigy to fiddler who dared the world. He and his beloved, the extraordinary musician Maggie O'Connor, have been touring the country playing book release concerts, but they took some time to sit down with us on the Charlotte Is Creative Podcast!"

 

WEXT Mark O'Connor Brings the Crossing Bridges Tour to Albany: Listen here:

 

February, 2023

WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO: Fiddler Mark O'Connor brings "Crossing Bridges" book and concert to The Egg on 3/11. Mark’s new autobiography, “Crossing Bridges,” documents his unprecedented experiences as a child prodigy, winning national contests on three different instruments as a teen, performing with the top artists in multiple genres – as well as the personal story of the trials and tribulations of growing up as a traveling musician. (listen to the audio interview here).

 

WMHT RADIO NEW YORK: "Mark O'Connor is one of the greatest American fiddle players ever. Performing since he was a child, the six-time CMA Musician of the Year returns to The Egg in Albany on March 11 with his Crossing Bridges tour, featuring readings from his memoir and performances by both Mark and Maggie O'Connor." (listen to our interview with Mark O'Connor here) 
  

QCLIFE WBTV CHARLOTTE: World-renowned fiddle player talks about unique style, shows off musical skills. Mark O’Connor has devised his own uniquely-American style of fiddle-playing. (watch the interview with Matt Olin here)

 

NPR MUSIC NEWS: Prodigious fiddler Mark O'Connor celebrates 50 years of music with memoir. "Mark O'Connor's story starts ordinarily enough. He grew up in a suburb of Seattle, where his father scraped by as a construction worker and his mother was a homemaker. But everything changed when he finally got a fiddle for his eleventh birthday. He had begged for the instrument for three years, until his parents were finally able to purchase one for $50 from a local musician." Article and audio interview here:

 

* WMOT - Craig Havighurst: “the music of Mark O’Connor, a confounding, dazzling, expansive, boundary-smashing virtuoso whose (main) muse was and is the fiddle....Crossing Bridges: My Journey from Child Prodigy to the Fiddler Who Dared the World...comes out Feb. 10. In O’Connor’s granular way, the book takes 420 pages to cover his life from age 12 to age 20, yet for those of us fascinated with roots music history, it transports us vividly to places we’d go in a time machine if we could – to the Appalachian fiddle contests of the 1970s, to Roy Acuff’s dressing room at the Grand Ole Opry, to recording sessions with bluegrass legends, to David Grisman’s Bay Area inner sanctum at the birth of Dawg Music, and to rock venues with the Dixie Dregs. On the way there’s the drama of a troubled father, a supportive, put-upon mother, a fortuitous encounter with a master teacher, a mystical white violin, the buzz of discovery (in both directions, the world of Mark and Mark of the world) and all the magic and disruption he causes in the staid ranks of classic country music....He will be in Nashville for a run of engagements around the publication of the book: the Grand Ole Opry on 2.10, The Country Music Hall of Fame on 2.12 and the Franklin Theater on 2.13.” Interview here:

 January, 2023

* THE EGG: "Ever since bursting on the scene in 1974 with a recording contract as a 13 year old fiddle and flat-picking guitar champion, Mark O’Connor has lent his astounding instrumental virtuosity to the worlds of folk, jazz, rock and classical music. He has recorded and toured with icons of all genres – from Stephane Grappelli and Yo-Yo Ma – to David Grisman and the Dixie Dregs –has composed fiddle concertos and translated his signature fiddling style into a whole new teaching method used by music teachers across the country. Just when it seemed he had done it all – Mark has now written his autobiography – “Crossing Bridges” – a 430-page book that documents his unprecedented experiences as a child prodigy, winning national contests on three different instruments as a teen, performing with the top artists in multiple genres – as well as the personal story of the trials and tribulations of growing up as a traveling musician."

 

* THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION: "As one of the most accomplished fiddle players of his generation, Mark O’Connor could fill a book with all of his musical achievements. Instead, he goes all the way back to the beginning in Crossing Bridges: My Journey from Child Prodigy to Fiddler Who Dared the World. Retracing his seminal experiences on the stage and in the studio, the memoir concludes in the early 1980s, just as O’Connor is poised to make his mark in Nashville’s country music community. Crossing Bridges is being released on February 10, 2023, in conjunction with the CD titled Early Childhood Recordings and a collection of photos taken by his mother titled A Musical Childhood in Pictures. The Bluegrass Situation is pleased to share an excerpt from the first chapter of Crossing Bridges below."

December, 2022

* THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW: "O’Connor, 61, who will return Wednesday to the Fox Theater for his Appalachian Christmas show, has led such a fascinating life that he penned his memoir, “Crossing Bridges,” during the pandemic. The book will hit shelves in February." (CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE).

 

* PARK RECORD: "The idea to write the memoir “Crossing Bridges,” which will be officially released on Feb. 10, is a story in and of itself, according to O’Connor." (CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE).

 

* BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS: "To celebrate the milestone, Mark has written a stunningly beautiful memoir “Crossing Bridges,” which will be released on February 10, 2023."

 

* CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (CSO. org): "Add the role of memoirist to the long list of milestones achieved by violinist-composer Mark O’Connor...A native of suburban Seattle, O’Connor was a prodigy, starting on the guitar at age 5." (CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE).

Updated as of 3/2/23