We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Kroos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I’ve been playing music since around the age of 12 when I first picked up the guitar. I had always enjoyed singing prior to that and I would plunk around on the piano sometimes, but I was very geared toward sports as a child.

Then when I didn’t make the basketball team in 7th grade, I really began to focus on guitar, on music, fell in love with punk rock :-)

I went to school for music, but dropped out of the guitar program after a year and a half – the program was really geared toward jazz and I really struggled with that style.

After leaving music school, I joined a ska band – that was really fun and healing, playing original music that I truly loved

My first professional job playing music was at Busch Gardens Theme Park in Williamsburg, VA where I dressed up as a cowboy and played in a pop-country band. We played “Friends in Low Places” 500 times that summer, and it’s some of the most fun that I’ve ever had playing music. Amazing people to work with, singers, dancers, musicians – and nobody took it too seriously.

And shortly after my contract was over at Busch Gardens, I started my solo guitar career, which lasted for 10 years before the pandemic.

Each of those experiences throughout my life taught me something about my craft. I learned about stage presence at the theme park, I learned about my love for songwriting in the ska band, I learned how to practice in music school.

And the first 10 years of my guitar career taught me a lot through trial and error. I’ve never been signed to a record label and I’ve done what I do primarily as my own manager and agent. So it was a lot of learning how to talk to people, how to get booked, how to connect with an audience.

And a lot of composition and songwriting is trial and error as well. The way you get good at music is by first being bad at music :-), learn healthy practice habits and practice practice practice.

The pandemic taught me a lot about humility – there’s nothing like building a music career for 10 years based primarily on touring/live performance and have it come crashing down in a month :-) so there was a lot of time and room for growth and personal development in that time – which frankly, we should always make time for. Learning to follow my heart, be true to myself, create the art I really really want to create, love others, love myself….the stuff they don’t necessarily teach in music school haha

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I characterize most of the music that I play as “Instrumental Folk,” played on a steel string guitar, Celtic and Bluegrass influence, and I play a lot of it on 2 guitar necks at the same time.

The easiest way to get a feel for it is by watching / listening. You can search “Mark Kroos” on YouTube or go to youtube.com/mskroos

Facebook is the social platform that I post on most regularly: facebook.com/markkroos

My “Dueling Banjos” video went around the internet pretty heavily in 2013 and just recently, my rendition of “Linus and Lucy” really made the rounds on facebook.

And of course, you can find my music on all major streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. My favorite album I’ve released is titled “Clarity,” and it’s a collection of slow, pretty, meditative tunes.

This year, I’ll release my first full length vocal album which I’m very excited about. It’ll have an alt-country type feel similar to Jason Isbell, Lucero or Turnpike Troubadours.

I got into the music business by jumping in – it was a rough first couple of years, I lived out of my car from 2010-2011 while I got things moving, played a lot of shows to 10 people :-), but it gave me a lot of experience performing. More venues started bringing me in, more folks started showing up to the concerts. When the “Dueling Banjos” video came out in 2013, that really gave the push to where I was able to do this for a living. The folks at Guitar Player Magazine were also very kind and helped me along in that timeframe. The band Sister Hazel puts on a cruise every year (The Rock Boat) with a bunch of big name acts and up-and-coming artists – they are the sweetest guys, and they found out about me a couple weeks before the cruise and invited me to come play – that was 2014, and from that opportunity I ended up getting booked more and more. And it was really special to get to do that.

Once I had a pretty solid network of venues it became relatively easy to just book a tour whenever I wanted – so much to the point where my wife and Nora were just on the road full time for a couple of years. It was a beautiful time and we were blessed to get to do it, but we also got pretty worn out and tired.

So at this stage of my life…(I turn 37 this year) I’m working toward focusing more on balance with my music, doing more online. I still love touring – I’ll have a Midwest tour in April, but I no longer want to play 130 shows in a year…maybe more like 30-40. I’ve been very engrossed in composition and songwriting – lots of different styles, electronic, country, vocal, and I plan to release a lot of music this year :-)

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Well, there are a lot of there :-) But I think primarily the “work yourself to death” mentality that runs pretty rampant amongst musicians. Haha I think it’s the combination of the love for our craft, the fact that it can be tough to make a living as an artist, and the drive for success.

Oh it can be a lovely combination! But it can also turn very toxic if the ego isn’t kept in check. If we can’t see who we are beyond our success – even beyond our art – and we think that’s all we are, all that gives us value…what are we when that goes away? When the viral video dies down? When a pandemic sweeps the rug out from under us?

Learning self love, self care, learning to set boundaries with “Mark Kroos – Acoustic Guitarist” haha and say “no” to overworking, to the part of me that wants to be successful above all else….learning to say “no” to that …and I’m not perfect at it by any means, but I’m getting better at setting those boundaries with my ego.

That’s not to be confused with all night songwriting sessions because you’re so inspired you can’t put the guitar down….those are always worth it <3

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think I would go with just about any time I’ve written a really tough piece and learned to play it. The practice, the repetition of learning music has definitely taken many many hours….

But if you’re enjoying it, if you feel inspired to do it….I won’t say it doesn’t feel like work because it’s absolutely grueling sometimes. But it’s a good burn. If the inspiration isn’t there, then it’s just the gruel…and nobody likes gruel.

That’s why it’s so important to do the art we want to do, not what other people want us to do, not what we “think” we should do. Art from the Heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.markkroos.com
• Instagram: @markkroos or www.instagram.com/markkroos
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/markkroos
• Twitter: @markkroos
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/mskroos
• Other: Lately I’ve been posting a lot of long-form content along with videos on Facebook and is probably my most-used platform

Image Credits
Please credit all photographers (Listed in File Names) Lenoria Kroos Angie Ennis Angela Romano Thank you!