Mark Montijo

Mark Montijo began playing original material in clubs and festivals in the mid-1960s. During an era when folk music was melding with topical rock and roll, his influences included then unknown singer/songwriters like Jackson Browne, Tom Waits, and JD Souther, who played the same West Coast listening clubs that he did at the time. Mark performed both as a solo artist and with bands before leaving the music scene to do other stuff.  

Other stuff included “marrying well, following a good child around, helping to build a small local museum into national significance, designing and building a few houses, directing construction of a Spanish Galleon, and helping to create an effective local non-profit arts and music organization.”  

A couple of years back, musician friends and former fans persuaded Mark to go into the studio and get a few of his tunes out of the closet and into a permanent medium. The resulting album, History, generated a modest buzz, including a feature article in American Songwriting magazine; and Mark has now started performing again, often accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Lenny Bole.