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. Two songs from his second album , If I Get to Heaven,  garnered Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting Awards from the Great American Song Contest and the  album was nominated as Best Local Recording (all genres) by the San Diego Music Foundation.  

Mark"s  live performances, often accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Lenny Bole , now include  original selections from his newest album, Apricot Moon.