In the mid-1990’s my brother Virgil and I got into an artist named Mark Heard. His story is somewhat sad in that he was an incredibly gifted, complex, and subtle artist working in the CCM industry, which at the time had little room for either complexity or subtlety. He passed away after a series of heart attacks, the first occurring during a show at the Cornerstone Festival. He left behind a wife and daughter.
He provides an interesting place in my music listening journey, because he was one of the first artists I listened to who honestly reflected on the difficulty of life, even from a Christian perspective. I can remember talking to Virgil about whether listening to his music was quite healthy for the emotions and one’s spiritual life. It was a completely valid question for me at the time, but seems somewhat quaint now.
Sadly, Mark Heard really lived at the wrong time. In today’s environment when Christian music has become more open and less restrictive and after the alt-country boom of the 1990’s, Mark Heard would have had no problem thriving.
Mark Heard is not always the easiest person to listen to, as his vocals are not his strongest suit. My friend Tim Garrett was saying last night that Mark Heard is like Bob Dylan for him, in that he likes his songwriting and lyricism but much perfers it when he hears someone else singing his work. There are some tribute albums where you can do just that and hear other people interpret his work, though the covers are by no means always better.
The best album to get into the music of Mark Heard itself is High Noon (which you will likely have to buy used),

as it collects the past songs off of his last three albums or so. Here are the lyrics to two of my favorites songs, with a link to listen to the latter provided a the end of this post.
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I Just Wanna Get Warm
The mouths of the best poets
Speak but a few words
And then lay down
Stone cold in forgotten fields
Life goes on in this ant farm town
Cold to the lifeblood underfoot
All talk and no touch
And I just wanna be real
I just wanna be real
The colors here are monochrome
Studies in one shade of grey
The good times and the hard times
Cut from the same grey cloth
And all the fires that crackle here
Consume but do not burn
All light and no heat
And I just wanna get warm
I just wanna get warm
The days they rattle past me
Like a tunnel round a train
Landscapes and heartaches
I don’t know what I feel
All I know is my condition
Is worse than I can tell
The small talk and the slow burn
And I just wanna be healed
I just wanna get well
There are things I should remember
But I have forgotten how
I’m all tied up with no time
Trying do too much
And the thoughts that I’ve avoided
Are the ones I need right now
Like a warm wind and love’s hand
And I just wanna be touched
And I just wanna be real
And I just wanna be well
And I just wanna be healed
And I just wanna be warm
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Strong Hand Of Love
Down peppers the rain from a clear blue sky
Down trickles a tear on a youthful face
Feeling in haste and wondering why
Up struggles the sun from a wounded night
Out venture our hearts from their silent shrouds
Trying to ignite but wondering how
We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
Young dreamers explode like popped balloons
Some kind of emotional rodeo
Learning too slow and acting too soon
Time marches away like a lost platoon
We gracefully age as we feel the weight
Of loving too late and leaving too soon
We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
Click here to listen to “Strong Hand of Love” sung by Bruce Cockburn.