Marc Douglas Berardo is a different kind of singer/songwriter. In what amounts
to song length works of fiction, Berardo’s sharply drawn portraits
cast a net on unusual and interesting characters and places. With a painter’s
eye for detail, and music firmly rooted in the great American sound, Berardo
sings about circus retirees, expatriates in Florida rum bars, union iron
workers, old poets, aimless New York City debutantes, near death car crashes,
hard nosed fishermen and of course, the changes that experience brings to
everyone. He does this “simply and well” with what Rambles Cultural
Magazine calls: “careful images and great tunes.”
“I try to write about people and situations that interest and entertain
me. Subjects and places that I feel a connection with and that are unique
in a quiet way. Real people and places caught in the moment, almost like
a documentary film or a novel. At the same time, I need the music itself
to take me somewhere…to make me feel something. The words have to
sing and the music has to work. The kind of song that does those things
is my idea of a good time.”
Based in the port town of Westerly, Rhode Island, Berardo performs an
average of 150 nights a year everywhere from bars and coffeehouses to
theaters and national festivals. Places such as the legendary Town Crier
Cafe and Postcrypt Coffeehouse in New York to the world famous Trade Winds
Cantina in North Florida and even St Anne's Chapel in Vatican City, Italy.
Along the way he has shared the stage with a variety of national acts
including, Peter Rowan, The Marshall Tucker Band, Little Feat, NRBQ, Guy
Clark, Vassar Clements, Ralph Stanley, blues legend Chris Smither, Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame members The Buffalo Springfield, Brooks Williams,
Norman Blake (Oh Brother Soundtrack), Steve Forbert, and Eric Anderson
among others.
In April of 2006, Munga Music will release Berardo’s fourth CD (his
first for the CT based label), entitled HARBOR. The highly anticipated
collection produced by Prof. Dick Neal (Plexigrass, Larry Deming, Mockingbirds)
is musically adventurous, oozing with integrity and just plain good for
your soul. The thirteen new songs are framed by emotional string arrangements,
exhilarating front porch clap a-longs and fine grooves that ease in like
a quiet fog and leave a lasting impression.
Accolades for the new CD and songs therein are already mounting, including
an ASCAP PLUS AWARD, Finalist honors in the Suwannee Springfest Song Contest
(FL), Wildflower Arts Festival (TX), Just Plain Folks Awards (CA), Mid
Atlantic Song Contest (D.C) and The Plowshares Song Contest (PA). The
February 2006 National Folk DJ Radio Survey listed HARBOR at #35, tied
with a trio of legendary names: Jackson Browne, Pete Seeger, Rodney Crowell.
"Every little recognition for a song, every chance to play at a
large festival or showcase feels great. I love to play and want to do
it a lot. The validation that you feel when you know that you and the
tunes that you made up are getting out there is a big part of what makes
me want to write more songs. Besides, it is too late in my life to find
another job so I am happy to have the work. I am glad to be out there
among the people.”
Plans for 2006 include live shows and radio appearances anywhere with
some neon in the window and room to play with what Minor Seventh Magazine
called: "Berardo's lonesome and clear voice."
Buy Marc
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