Mark Huff

Not everyone can leave Las Vegas full of riches, but award-winning songwriter Mark Huff did and brought them to Nashville. Growing up in Las Vegas, Huff found it a challenging place to make independent, original music. Performing in clubs and theaters that fall far to the left of the Las Vegas lounge scene, Huff forged ahead and built a loyal following. Mark honed his skills until he was touring with his own band throughout the Western United States. He soon landed gigs in prestigious venues such as The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and the House of Blues, and was playing sold out shows opening for acts like Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. Huff became the local Vegas favorite to open for artists like Chris Issak, soul legend Al Green, Matthew Sweet, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Smithereens, Peter Case, Chris Whitley and Peter Himmelman to name a few.
After feeling he had outgrown his potential in Vegas, he pulled up his stakes and settled in Nashville in 2003. He formed a friendship with Allison Moorer who was taken with Mark’s writing, and soon became her opening act on three US tours. After hearing his music night after night, Moorer’s guitar player, Adam Landry, offered to produce a new cd for Huff. Following the release of Skeleton Faith in 1998 and Clean in 2001, Huff has just released his latest offering, Gravity. Producer Landry was able to assemble a band of some of the best talent in Nashville. Gravity features Adam Landry (The Sways and Allison Moorer) guitar, bass and keyboards; Bucky Baxter (Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams and Steve Earle) guitar; Dan Baird (The Georgia Satellites) bass and guitar; Brad Pemberton (Ryan Adams) drums; and Moorer background vocals.
Living in Nashville gave Huff a new perspective on his songwriting. “There are so many good songwriters here - I felt I had to raise the bar on myself,” said Huff. Mark Huff’s music is built to last and travel far. Armed with just an acoustic guitar or backed by a full band, Huff performs a collection of honest rhythms with engrossing lyrics and melodies.
Jarret Keene of Las Vegas City Life proclaimed “Mark Huff is a singer/songwriter of great depth and profound insight into the murky affairs of the human heart. It doesn’t hurt that his songs – which boast all the poetic, steeped-in-truth lyricism of Paul Westerberg, John Prine and Tom Russell – are melodic and memorable to a fault. Indeed, Huff’s music breaks your heart and makes you want to raise hell, sometimes within the same song. We could go on and on about Huff’s superbly crafted tunes, but we’ll let you be the judge…”
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**"Gravity" Album Reviews**
CDreviews.com
“Smokin cigarette butts from a dirty ashtray.” Builds a mood right away, doesn’t it? Great songwriters who can pull off lines such as this usually have no trouble establishing mood not only in their songs, but also sometimes throughout entire albums. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it a concept album, Mark Huff’s Gravity is one of most interesting “love” albums I have heard in some time. Even though most of its songs deal with heartbreak, by giving its tunes a lyrical and musical hard, bar room bluesy edge, Huff delivers a record that never becomes too sappy… even for the tough guys. What is that you ask? A heartbreak album… for men? Hard to believe, but it’s true!The music of Gravity is a big reason that the record is so successful. Huff’s vocals on the album resemble Ryan Adams’ at his smokiest. The music reminds listeners of Adams as well. This should be expected considering Huff enlisted musicians who have worked with Adams (Brad Pemberton on drums and Bucky Baxter on guitar) to help him record the album. Dan Baird, from Georgia Satellites fame, also lends his musical chops on bass to help complete the album’s outstanding sound.It is difficult to label that sound though. With the exception of the wonderful “Wrong or Right”, the country influence that marks Ryan Adams’ work is largely missing from Huff’s Gravity. However, the record still seems to feel Southern-flavored, all while having the effective pop-sensibility of Matchbox Twenty, just with more guitar and attitude. Whiskey and Cigarette Pop perhaps? It really doesn’t matter how one describes it though because it works. Musically strong from start to finish, Huff’s album is a sonic treat for fans of all rock and country sub-genres.Perhaps the greatest highlight of the Gravity experience is its lyrical content. It does not take long for listeners to realize that Mark Huff is a very able songwriter, as the album features an extremely strong first half. The opener, “Easy to Love You,” is a great pop number about a man struggling to love his ideal woman. Following are two great rock and roll blues songs, “In the Dark” and the superior “Digging a Hole.” The latter reminds listeners of a Mark Lanegan tune and features a wonderful central metaphor that will captivate any heartbroken soul. The excellence continues through the next three tracks. The title track is the kind of song that Rob Thomas hasn’t written in years, the ghostly “Talkin Insomnia Blues” takes listeners back to Laneganville, and “Sleep it Away” is a song to which anyone can relate. Who hasn’t wanted to sleep away a bad day… or week? Huff realizes this as a songwriter, and captures the feeling perfectly in words. While there is some dropoff in the second half of the record, there really is only one track (“Killing Me Slowly”) that could be considered filler. The remaining tracks are still solid listens, and two of them, the previously mentioned “Wrong or Right” and the lyrical masterpiece that is the tearjerker “Something That I Broke,” are outstanding.The biggest question that arises about the album is why it took so long to release it. His previous album released almost a decade ago, we can only hope that we won’t have a similar wait before Huff graces us with his brand of “Whiskey and Cigarette Pop” again. However, besting this effort will not likely prove to be an easy task for him. Like the woman Mark Huff discusses in the opener, it truly is easy to love Gravity… and listeners don’t even have to “try like hell” to do it!
(Jared Morningstar-CDreviews.com)
Las Vegas City Life
Mark Huff is a singer/songwriter of great depth and profound insight into the murky affairs of the human heart. It doesn't hurt that his songs- which boast all the poetic, steeped-in-truth lyricism of John Prine and Tom Russell- are melodic and memorable to a fault. Indeed, Huff's music breaks your heart and makes you want to raise hell, sometimes within the same song. (Jarret Keene- Las Vegas City Life)Dailyvault.comGravity is Mark Huff’s fifth independent release and is a showcase for his strong songwriting and lyrics. His words show a maturity and sophistication usually not found on the independent circuit or music in general, these days. Huff writes about the common aspects of life and does so in an interesting and poetic way. Mark will always have an advantage in that he can always tell his own stories and create his own songs and do so in a way that speaks to the listener. (David Bowling- Dailyvault.com) Check Out this Review of "Gravity" from Belgium!