Mark McGuinn country singer songwriter death, Digi Mart USA News (Greensboro, North Carolina): Mark McGuinn, the jazz-trained North Carolina singer and songwriter whose offbeat charm and clever storytelling carried “Mrs. Steven Rudy” into the country top 10, died October 26. He was 58.
Arriving in Nashville with a trumpet, a beatnik style and a head full of songs, he became one of the most refreshing surprises of country radio in the early 2000s. His songs were later recorded by Lonestar and George Jones.
Mark Albert McGuinn was born August 19, 1968, in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he attended Grimsley High School. A gifted multi-instrumentalist, he played guitar, piano and trumpet, honing his skills in a jazz band.
He also dreamed of playing professional soccer, but when an injury changed his path, he followed his heart to Nashville in 1994 to pursue songwriting.
In 2001 he signed with the new independent label VFR Records, which released his self-titled debut album that May. The label had planned to lead with “That’s a Plan,” but a disc jockey at KPLX in Dallas started spinning another track, “Mrs.
Steven Rudy,” a witty, sly tale McGuinn wrote with Shane Decker. Listeners loved it, stations across the region followed, and VFR made it his first single.
Considered a dark horse thanks to his jazz roots and unconventional image, McGuinn took “Mrs. Steven Rudy” to No. 6 on Billboard’s country chart and No. 44 on the Hot 100. It was the best-selling country single in the nation for five straight weeks.
His album “Mark McGuinn” entered the Top Country Albums chart at No. 18, setting a record for the highest debut by a first release from an independent label. It topped Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and reached No. 2 on the Independent Albums chart.
Produced by McGuinn and Decker, it featured songs including “Heaven Must Be Missin’ You,” “If the World Was Mine,” “One of Their Own,” “Silver Platter,” “All About the Ride,” “Love Don’t Float” and “Busy Signal.” AllMusic praised its blend of entertaining arrangements and solid songwriting. “That’s a Plan” followed to No. 25, and “She Doesn’t Dance” reached No. 29.
On September 11, 2001, deeply moved by the attacks, McGuinn wrote and recorded the tribute “More Beautiful Today.” He asked that it not be promoted to radio, offering it instead as a free download on his website, yet so many listeners and stations embraced it that it still reached the country chart. He also wrote “Unusually Unusual,” which Lonestar recorded on their 2001 album “I’m Already There” and took to No. 12 on the country chart as a single.
After VFR Records closed in 2002, McGuinn stepped away from the spotlight to start a family. He returned in 2006 with “One Man’s Crazy,” released on Blue Flamingo Records, the independent label he founded with songwriting partner Jim Foster.
On the album he played nearly everything himself, from guitars, Dobro and mandolin to Wurlitzer and trumpet. He shared the duet “Better a Painful Ending” with Georgette Jones.
Highlights included the title track, “Bring ’Em Back,” written with Stacey McGuinn, “Deep,” “Turtle,” “Trampoline,” “Everest,” “Wide Open” and a new recording of “More Beautiful Today.” That same year he joined Wayne Warner and the Nashville All-Star Choir on “God Bless the Children.” In 2008 George Jones released “You and Me and Time,” a song McGuinn co-wrote. He released the single “Til U Got Home” in 2011.
From a Greensboro kid playing trumpet in a jazz band to the songwriter who heard his music come through radios across America, Mark McGuinn always followed his own unusual path. True to the song he gave Lonestar, he was unusually unusual, and country music was richer for it.
