The Music of Gary Marks | Albums, Songs & Lyrics
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Gary Marks: Five Decades of Music
Gary Marks’ recordings—from his 1970s folk-jazz albums featuring John Scofield, Art Lande, Paul McCandless, David Samuels, and Mark Isham through his 2026 Record Store Day album Crossroads—have received independent coverage from Noise11, EARMILK, It’s Psychedelic Baby!, The Arts Desk, Stereo Embers Magazine, FAME Magazine, PopDust, and Americana Highways.
Read the Gary Marks biography and explore press, reviews, and interviews.
Five Decades of Music, Album by Album
Gary Marks has released twelve albums since 1974, moving from 1970s folk-jazz through a long private-release rock period to his 2026 return with Crossroads, selected by RSD UK / Europe as an exclusive release.
Every album above links through to its own page, with the full story behind the songs, the players, and the reissues.
The 1970s: Gathering, Upon Oanda's Wing, Thoughts of Why
Gary Marks's recording career opened with a folk-jazz trilogy: Gathering (1974), his self-produced debut featuring John Scofield and David Samuels in their recording debuts; Upon Oanda's Wing (1977), recorded with ECM pianist Art Lande and his band Rubisa Patrol; and Thoughts of Why (1978), which added trumpeter Mark Isham and oboist Paul McCandless. All three have been reissued multiple times in Europe, Japan, and Asia, most recently in 2025, and all three are still cited in press coverage of Marks's catalog today.
1985-2021: Eight Privately Released Albums
Marks stepped back from touring in the 1980s but kept recording: Only Time Can Tell (1985) marked his turn toward rock, The Real World (1988) featured guitarist Stef Burns, If All They Said Was True (1994) paired new songs with an anthology, Bountiful (2003) and A Whisper Can Change the World (2007, mixed by Jim Scott and Mark Needham) followed, then From Here (2010, mixed by Needham), No Turning Back (2013), and Alien Nights (2021). None of these eight went through a conventional label; each was recorded and released entirely on Marks's own terms, which is part of why so much of this catalog went unheard for years before Crossroads brought it back into view.
2026: Crossroads
Crossroads, Marks's official Record Store Day UK/Europe 2026 vinyl release on Lantern Heights Records, spans all five decades in fourteen tracks, nine of them previously unreleased, plus five songs drawn from the first three albums above. It has drawn independent coverage from Noise11, EARMILK, It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine, The Arts Desk, Stereo Embers Magazine, FAME Magazine, PopDust, and Americana Highways, more press attention in one year than most of the catalog received across the previous four decades combined.
All Gary Marks's songs are registered with ASCAP.
When his original company, Arewea Company, was dissolved in 2008, all of its rights were transferred to Marksland Entertainment, LLC.
Marksland Entertainment is now the sole rights owner and publisher of the songs he wrote alone. Co-written songs are excluded.
Note: This page refers to Gary Marks, American singer-songwriter, musician, and author. Not to be confused with Gary Marks, the UNC political science professor, the professional golfer, or other individuals sharing this name.