The Joy of Connecting with People through Music: Interview with Mark Winters

A rocket scientist walks into a guitar shop with a wildly romantic plan: learn to play and sing in six weeks so he can surprise his wife at their anniversary dinner. What happens next becomes the beginning of an entirely new life. I’m Shannon, and I sit down with Texas rock singer-songwriter, poet, entrepreneur, and bona fide aerospace engineer Mark Winters to trace the unlikely path from math-and-physics precision to music that’s built to move people. 

We talk about the origins of Mark’s creativity and how it transformed from his hard-charging, analytical personality. He has been able to create an artistic voice inside, and how discipline and structure can actually protect creativity rather than crush it. 

Mark also shares the songwriting craft behind fan-favorite song, “Fake Gravity,” a love song designed to be fun, groovy, and emotionally true without losing its bite. The conversation turns deeper as Mark shares a time in his life which carried a deep grief and became a way to help others feel what they’ve been holding in, as well.

If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a creative spark, and leave a review so more listeners can find Starseed Evolution. What’s one part of yourself you’re ready to stop “squishing” and finally let speak?

More Information about Mark Winters and his website along with his upcoming 2026 Tour.

Mark Winters website: https://markwintersmusic.com/

Mark Winters Upcoming Tour and Dates: 

https://markwintersmusic.com/shows/ 

Thank you so much for this awesome interview Mark!

Transcript

Engineering Roots And Early Career

Shannon 0:03

Hi, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Shannon, and this is Starseed Evolution, bringing the wisdom and insight of the cosmos to you. I'm grateful that you're listening. So today we're here with Mark Winters, and he's a Texas-based rock singer-songwriter and a witty poet, a passionate musician, entrepreneur, optimist, family man, and bona fide rocket scientist. Here's a quote from him about the kind of things that he approaches in life. My music starts from a place of poetry and creative inspiration. I use my rocket scientist brain to find structures that help me explore that initial burst of inspiration and feeling, like writing haiku. And Mark originally started back in the day with aerospace and astronautical engineering. So what I want us to do is start towards the beginning of his life so that we can see the left brain, how it engaged with the right brain, which is creative, and then created what he now has. I'm grateful to have you here, Mark, with us today. So let's start at the beginning. Your degree in aeronautical engineering. So how did that start you in your life?

Mark 1:40

Well, thank you for having me, Shannon. And thank you for your amazing energy today. Um I uh I started off just with a mind of wonderer, right? I always wondered how things worked. Yeah. Um, you know, I'd pick things up and take them apart and try to put them back together again. I found myself uh often doing that. Uh just had a great mechanical inclination. So I used to help my dad and my grandpa fix stuff. And I think just that that curiosity and wonder about how the world worked was sort of uh, you know, the foundation. Um in my mind, like math and science and applied physics, which I ended up really leaning more into as I went through high school, yeah, um, were just extensions of that, right? I loved math, it helped me understand.

Shannon 2:28

Yeah.

Mark 2:28

I had an aptitude for it. Yeah. Uh so it was good. You know, my grandfather was an engineer, uh, electrical engineer. I used to do drafting with him and pen and ink drawing. Um, and so just you know, a lot of great places and opportunities for myself to explore the the uh the inner scientist in me. Um, I was really into sports too, so I had to like trade back and forth between sports and science and math. Uh, but I ended up finding uh aerospace engineering, which you know has two main branches to it. One is called orbital mechanics, which is the study of space and the way objects move in space, and one is atmospheric flight or atmospheric uh objects moving through fluids, uh air or water, and uh how they how they work. I I personally loved the atmospheric stuff. Yeah, I love racing motorcycles and going fast and turning and feeling G. You know, to me that just was more appealing, I guess.

Shannon 3:32

So experiencing it.

Mark 3:34

Yeah, yeah. I didn't see myself as an astronaut. I ended up uh getting the opportunity to work at Bell Helicopter in Dallas Fort Worth, designing uh what is the V22 Osprey now and some other things. Um, and then I worked for a flight simulations company for a little bit, uh, doing uh helicopter and uh jet trainers for military test pilots uh to teach them and to teach the uh other pilots how to fly and how to maneuver and uh how to recover from things that you don't want to recover in a real real airplane for, you build uh trainers for that. And so I had a great time, met a lot of great people, had amazing mentors, you know, solidly in the uh the math and the science and the applied physics camp with uh with a a minor in rollerblading, surfing, tennis, football, movement, yeah, that all those things. Yeah.

A Childhood Poetry Awakening

Shannon 4:30

Well, so you know that's um our brain tends to be left side, right side. There are Some people that never know that they can end up crossing over and bringing the right side, which is creativity, which is writing, which is painting, which is, something that brings the different part of us in. Moving from the left, what what part of you brought in the right creative side for yourself?

Mark 5:06

Yeah, you know, I would say you know for me, almost happenstance. Like, I don't know, I have a series of these unintended uh events.

Shannon 5:17

Like, what happens?

Mark 5:19

Okay, so my first, my first unexpected, you know, unexpected event. I'm uh I'm in East Texas with uh I have four four boys in my family. So my three brothers and I were out uh with my grandparents. I'm five years old. Okay, we're running around the backyard, I'm like chief troublemaker, yeah, running everywhere, out of control, like doing my thing. And uh, and then like not a real blackout, but like a blackout moment in my memory. I don't remember. Yeah, but somehow I'm sitting in my grandma's sewing room.

Shannon 5:52

Okay.

Mark 5:52

I can feel well, I'm not sure what that kind of valour or plush chair thingy was with wood, and and I've got a pen in my hand and I'm writing poetry on a piece of paper, right? That my grandma had given me. And I can see her uh, she had this little flower stationery, right? So I'm like, and I look down and I've I've written a poem about lilies. Okay. I'm like, okay, how did that happen? How did I get here? What? I'm waking up from a dream. Is this a dream? I don't know. What reality am I in? Uh and then I remember this feeling like, hey, that was fun.

Shannon 6:32

Yeah.

Mark 6:33

And I asked her, can I read it to you? And she's like, Well, of course, Mark. Right? Like in that grandma way.

Shannon 6:40

Right.

Mark 6:40

Uh, and so it was so special for me to read her the poem that I had. Yeah. And of course, being a true artist, yes, herself, yes, she received the intent behind my poem.

Shannon 6:52

Nice.

Mark 6:52

Uh, I wish I still had it because I don't have that poem anymore. That's it. But I'm sure it was not the best poem in the world, but she received it in this grateful way. And I remember feeling, wow.

Shannon 7:03

Isn't that amazing when that happened?

Mark 7:05

Uh uh, yeah. Uh, it was phenomenal, uh, Shannon. I just didn't know what, and then I remember sort of going back out to play with my brothers, but I was in this state of calm.

Shannon 7:15

Yes.

Mark 7:16

Like, that's not my normal gear. My normal gear is full charge ahead. Yeah, that. Uh, and so that created this connection with my grandmother and I, and sort of as I inch forward in this artistic journey, yeah, she and I would write poems for each other and send them to each other. And we started painting. And so uh you you mentioned left side, right side brain. I think of it as hands. So I'm sitting down with my grandpa, yeah, and I'm doing drafting in pen and ink, and I do that right-handed. And then when I paint and I write poetry, I do that left-handed.

Shannon 7:56

Interesting, because that's the right side of the brain.

Mark 7:58

I don't know. I don't know what happened, but that's just how I was ambidextrous growing up, sort of writing. Nice. And that's just how I picked the pen up to write poetry with my grandma and to paint. And so I have these moments where I remember getting a poem or a postcard, or my grandmother loved watercolors. And so I do watercolors left-handed with her.

Shannon 8:16

Okay.

Mark 8:16

Um, and so I remember just getting a variety of little things throughout my life. And so there's these little sparks happening on the creative side. And then every now and then, like, you know, hard-charging engineer Mark would write a poem for my friends.

Shannon 8:31

Yes.

Mark 8:31

Like I remember I have a really good friend that I graduated college with and we did some business endeavors with. And I wrote him on his 30th birthday, I wrote him a poem.

Shannon 8:42

And how did he take that in?

Speaker 8:44

Very oddly.

Speaker 3 8:45

Did he? He's like, What are you doing?

Mark 8:49

He's like, Okay, here's Mark. The thing, you know, the the this mark. Ah, right. And I'm like, Oh, by the way, I wrote you a poem over dinner. Let me read that to you. Right. And he's like, Okay, okay, thank you for that. Right. Exactly. And so, like, my whole life, like, I I I remember writing poems for a few other friends. Uh, I wrote a poem for my wife who who did receive it with the heart of an artist, and she still has that on her wall.

Shannon 9:18

Nice.

Mark 9:19

Um, along with the first origami I made for her. Nice. Um, and so it but I felt it always felt like weirdness. Like I would I would go to do something like that, like paint.

Shannon 9:30

Yes.

Mark 9:31

And I would have to get one piece of paper and just all over it, right? Just nothing. It was a nothingness, right? Like shaking up, I gotta shake off because it's too much in the driver's seat. Yes. So one piece of paper was just blah.

Shannon 9:47

Yeah, just to get it out.

Mark 9:49

Yeah, and then I would that that one would go in the bin, right? And then I would actually let my left hand loose to do the thing.

Shannon 9:56

Nice, right?

Mark 9:57

Kind of stoppish and startish. And so all of that periodically leading up to you know, another weird awakening. So, yeah, that's kind of the beginnings of the the origin of my my art.

Learning Guitar For Love

Shannon 10:10

And so when you take the left brain, the analytical and the technical, and the right brain, and then so what happens is in the center, there's these crossover sites for it. And when we're open to it, it creates being able to bring them together. So, in what ways did your experiences bring the music forward for you as this musician? Like, how did that come about for you?

Mark 10:42

Another weird moment in time, Jan. Right. So, like, okay, imagine me, like, okay, I'm I'm uh riding motorcycle and I've got the stereo turned up to full blast, or I'm surfing, or I'm rollerblading, or running, or studying. Um, music is like this thing that just permeates my being and it it potentiates, it it expands the experience for me, right? And so I I had this thought uh in 2011. I'm like, okay, I really want to do something musical.

Shannon 11:17

Yeah.

Mark 11:17

Right. Because it's always in my life. Uh I'd never done anything musical. So I'm like, all right, uh, what am I gonna do?

Shannon 11:24

Yeah.

Mark 11:24

And I had the idea, because I'm a hopeless romantic, I'm gonna buy a guitar and sing a song for my wife for anniversary.

Shannon 11:31

And is it a song that you wrote? Um or a song that you borrowed.

Speaker 3 11:36

Okay.

Mark 11:37

I had never written a song before. I'd never sung a note, I never played, I never did anything. I just uh decided I'm gonna do a thing.

Shannon 11:46

Yes.

Mark 11:47

And when I'm gonna do the thing, then you know, how am I gonna do it? And I don't know. And so for me, you know, I had this moment, I want to express something to my wife through music, right? Because it's inner because I was thinking of my anniversary. What can I give her? I've written a poem and whatever else. And so that's kind of where it came from, this feeling of love. Okay, and so I didn't have a notion to write my own thing. I had a couple of songs that I that I really liked, and some songs from I think her parents introduced her to that we like. We saw like a uh an old band that was very popular that came back through on a you know, like a reunion tour. Yeah. And the name of the band's called Tesla. Okay. And they have a song called What You Give. It's not what you got. It's what you give.

Shannon 12:31

Yes. It's not the life you choose, it's the life you live. It's only what you give to someone else that's important, right? And I love the lyrics for it. Well done. And I love the melody for it. Has this really cool guitar hook in it that I really loved. And did you teach yourself guitar?

Mark 12:50

When I uh the answer is no. Okay. Uh, for this song, I went to a guitar shop.

Shannon 12:56

Okay.

Mark 12:56

And I talked to the owner, it's local guy, Steve, with Smack Guitar. And I said, Hey, Steve, uh, I want to do this thing for my wife. And he's like, Oh, that's so romantic. I'm in. Right. And I'm like, Well, what kind of guitar do I buy? I don't know anything about guitar. Right. And he's like, Well, uh, probably an acoustic guitar if you're gonna play and sing, because you're not gonna play her like you know, a heavy metal anthem.

Shannon 13:17

Right.

Mark 13:19

You're right. And so we had these two models, and like, I'm a the right side, right handed, I'm gonna use the wrong part of the brain. I'm gonna use hand. That's okay. But my the right-handed me is gonna analyze to find the perfect thing. It's the perfect instrument, right? And uh, so I was trying to optimize the price, and and he's and so yeah, I was down to two guitars, one simple basic, one that had a little nicer finish.

Shannon 13:42

Okay, right.

Mark 13:42

And I said, Okay, Steve, if you sell me, I'll buy the nicer, you agree to teach me to play and sing the song. Yes. He's like, I'm so in, I love it. He's a music teacher as well, right? So I'm so in. Uh, you know, so we're we're checking out. And uh he says, uh, okay, you know, what other instruments have you played in your life? And I said, Zero, but uh and he's like, okay, he's like, okay, great. Uh well, uh, did you sing in choir or you're you know, do you sing at church? Right? I'm like, I sing happy birthday. He's like, yeah. Uh and he's like, loud and proud, by the way. And he's like, uh, okay. He's like, okay, how much time do we have to work with? And I said, well, uh, it's six weeks to my anniversary. That should be plenty of time, right? And he's like, oh my god. But what did I just get myself into? Uh so we set up a schedule and I had to sneak over to his shop to learn.

Shannon 14:46

Okay.

Mark 14:47

Right. I I didn't want my wife, my wife to know I was doing the school. What was happening? Yeah.

Shannon 14:51

Yeah.

Mark 14:51

So I set the schedule up to do the thing on the slide, and I'm doing the thing, right? And we show up to our anniversary dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant in Houston. Uh, and I'd called uh, you know, the the owner up and said, Hey, you know, um Carlos, his name, Carlos. Yes, uh, I said, Hey, Carlos, uh, do you mind if I sing a song to my wife for our anniversary? And he said, Oh my goodness, Mark, please come to my restaurant, do this, right? For Italian gusto. I said, Yeah, okay, I'm I'm just warning you, dude. I've never done this before, right? So you know, you don't know what you're gonna do. Oh, it's gonna be wonderful, right? We'll give the guests a little extra one, it'll be good. Okay. So um, so uh I get there and we sit down, and I oh, I forgot something in the car, sweetie. So I go back and bring my guitar down. What? What are you doing? What is that? Exactly that. What are you doing? Uh you know, I'm like, I'm not robbing the place, I promise, right? It's not a gun. Uh so uh I sat down and I I I sang this song to her. And and you know, Shannon, the there's there's this moment that I remember looking at her face while I'm starting to sing the first chorus. Uh still get little goosebumps.

Shannon 16:08

Yes.

Mark 16:08

Uh her face was so aglow. I could feel the energy coming in. I'm like, oh my God. Because she was receiving it and it was coming out. And yes. It was like, oh my goodness. It's like I transcended. I'm like on this other plane of existence where I can feel this energy and love coming in. And I'm just pouring out this love myself, and it's like, oh my goodness. As a matter of fact, you know, you I ran out of breath singing a couple of times because I was just so in the moment.

Shannon 16:40

Yes, so intense and loving.

Mark 16:43

Well, I it was my first time to sing too. So you know, hey, I'm doing the thing, right? Uh and so it was the most amazing moment. And I came home and my soul was on fire. I was like, oh my goodness, this is so amazing. Where has this been my whole life? And so I get to this point back home then where I don't want to, I want to feel that again. Now, what's the middle part of your brain you were saying? What's what's that?

Shannon 17:10

Well, it's where it crosses over, and so they interact with each other, but if people don't know how to open that space, then they stay separate. And so what happened is you allow the two to cross over to communicate with each other right in that center part. It's the neurological part of the brain.

Finding Voice Through Song

Mark 17:31

Well, that to me, when I got home, felt like for the first time, it's like I've been squishing this little left-handed voice of mine, right? Yes, you know, like it gets to write a poem every now and then, then like, you know, shut up and go back to being you where you were.

Shannon 17:47

Keeping it down.

Mark 17:48

Yeah. And so I let it out. And but I need the right side of me because the right side of me is like discipline and structure and intensity. Yeah. Right. And so I started applying that part to learn. I got to teach myself music. I don't know anything about it. And so I put a little band together and just wanted to play a show as a band. Yeah. And just sort of nurturing these different journeys inside of music. And I think both, it was the first time in my life where I really feel like it wasn't an either or. Like I wasn't letting one be in control of the other. It was like together.

Shannon 18:26

Them working together.

Mark 18:27

Yeah.

Shannon 18:28

Yeah. Which is amazing. And that's not everybody gets there because of trying to control things to make it a certain order. Because when you bring in that creativity, sometimes it can be like, ah, but it's cool that the two sides, when they work together, can actually complement each other to be structured, but also be creative and then you know, bring new stuff into this world. And um, when you do that, like what like currently as a musician, in what ways does because part of what you do is wanting to give to others through the music that you create. That's even the larger um view of things and the love you have in your life is the creativity to care for others, the community around you. You're not just about yourself. And so, can you talk a little bit about how that came forward for you?

Mark 19:36

Yeah, you know, that's an interesting part of my journey to find my voice, Shannon. I've always been intense, I've been competitive, and I've been kind, right? And so for my whole life, I'm the biggest defender. If there's a bully around, I'm about to get in front of them to protect the person they're trying to bully, right? That's just my personality, my innate defend yourself. And and so I have this, you know, when I look at a person, I see the little beautiful pieces of them.

Shannon 20:10

Yeah.

Mark 20:10

That's what I'm, that's what I see. And I want to pull those out.

Shannon 20:14

Yeah.

Mark 20:14

And so um, you know, people for for myself, you know, if if a situation, if I'm fighting a headwind in an area, I'm looking for a way through it, and I'm gonna have fun finding it, and I'm gonna apply all my skills to get there. So just I have this inherent positivity. A couple of my songwriter friends tell tell me I'm the most relentlessly positive person they've ever met. Uh, and so it's like, you know, we all have our trials and tribulations in our life, but I just that's just how I see things. And so I feel like, you know, that, you know, I'm a spiritual person. I feel like God's given me extra positive energy and extra strength. Why he's given it to me is because I'm supposed to share that with other people.

Shannon 20:55

Yeah.

Mark 20:56

Right. And I think about it with sort of both sides of my brain. You know, I think about it as extra protons.

Shannon 21:03

Yes.

Mark 21:04

From my science point of view. Like I'm gonna, I'm just gonna give you some of that extra shiny proton energy. And the artistic side of me wants you to wants you to receive it and to take it out somewhere else and share it. Uh share it with yourself and with others. Um, and so finding that part of my voice has been weird because like I'll write a song, right? And it's too preachy. It's like, ah, okay. So I get back to this kind of this, uh, I have this construct in my mind. If I want to make a difference in the world, then I have to do it in a way that people are willing to receive it. And that's competitive with other messages that they're getting.

Shannon 21:46

Yes.

Mark 21:46

Because if it's not, okay, if I sing a song and it's all out of tune, people are gonna, it doesn't matter what I what I wanted, what I intended. Literally, okay, let me let me scroll past.

Shannon 21:55

What's wrong with that?

Mark 21:57

Right? So you got to do it professional. You have to do it, you know, it has to be original, you know, has to be, it has to be natural, has to be organically me. Yeah. Right. Um, but it needs to connect with people in a way that the proton that I'm intent intending to give to you is received. And so I've had to learn to do three things. In the beginning, I wrote way too poetically because the poet in me was strong.

Shannon 22:22

Okay.

Mark 22:23

You know? Yes. You know, which is a natural thing to start from.

Shannon 22:27

Yeah, yeah.

Mark 22:28

The force is strong in this one. Like I wrote these, I wrote these songs, and people are like, wow, the poetry is beautiful. But what are you saying? Right? Okay, stop that. And so then I'm like, okay, then you know, I go uh a little bit away from that, and I write something that's too scientific. I write a song about refraction, light waves, and people are like, okay, we don't know. What are you talking about?

Shannon 22:53

I don't even know what you're saying.

Mark 22:55

Yeah, what is that? Right? What is the theory of relativity? And why are you writing about calculus, Mark? What I've learned, uh, and and for me, it's like three. So I have the poet and I have the scientist, and then I have the positive uh energy. Okay. And so I have uh so I've had to learn, it's almost like learning to surf, right? You have to learn to get to feel the ocean. You have to learn to feel your center of balance, and you have to learn to pop up, learn to feel the wave. And so at some point in time, you actually are surfing, right? And so for me as a songwriter, I've gone through the extremes. And now uh I feel like, first of all, I've put my 10,000 steps in to learn to play the guitar and to sing and to play the piano. And so that's organic. I've written a lot of songs. I know how to write a song instead of poetry. So the lyrics, you know, are are are better. I'm able to better form them and melodies. And so now for me, you know, it's it feels more organic to capture and I and I I can see the sides of my brain working together to find the right that central line. Yeah, everything, right?

Shannon 24:03

So you can serve. Yeah. So what's uh uh one of your favorite current songs that you've created?

Mark 24:11

I have two songs that I'm okay, I'm uh excited about. Okay.

Shannon 24:15

Um you can go through both of them if you'd like.

Mark 24:18

Okay. Yeah. Um so I just released a song that I wrote for my wife that is a nerdy little nerdy little love song. I told her I was gonna write a song with as many little nerdy words in it as possible.

Shannon 24:35

Nice.

Mark 24:35

But I was gonna make it in a way that people were gonna like it. And she's like, oh, people don't want to hear that.

Shannon 24:40

Right.

Mark 24:40

Too much nerditude. Um, but uh it turned out to be one of my more popular songs.

Shannon 24:47

Nice.

Mark 24:47

Um, and it's a song called Fake Gravity.

Shannon 24:50

Oh, yeah, I just listened to it yesterday. It's beautiful.

Mark 24:53

Uh thank you. And it's got this really cool. Uh I I grew up, I learned to play John Mayer songs on my guitar. That's kind of you know where I get some of my groove tendencies and chord progression tendencies, amongst other people. And then, you know, some, you know, I like this of every kind of music. And so I wanted it to have a really strong groove, and so it's got this kind of cool, chill vibe going through it. And then, you know, standing on a cliff looking down at the ocean's break. You're standing on a cliff looking down, and then you're feeling that vertigo that comes with standing up high on a, but that's the feeling sometimes that love introduces into your life, right?

Shannon 25:33

Because it's unexpected, like what?

Mark 25:36

And it's a force, yeah, right. And so, you know, it's uh so I play around with the concept, you know, you you lift me up, you hold me down, it don't make sense, but it's truer now than uh any uh other force, it's stronger than any other force on earth. If you're really real, if your love is really real, then maybe gravity is fake. Um, and so a lot of fun, it's a cool vibe. I love singing it. I put a piano hook in it.

Shannon 26:03

Nice.

Mark 26:04

I got this guitar thing going. When I play it live, I'll I'll either loop the piano and play the the guitar or play the guitar or loop the guitar and play the piano, and I get the vibe with it. It's got this really nice. Um, so I really love that song and and uh it's been well received. Uh, I got to co-write that with a friend of mine, Nash. I wanted I wanted a little bit of pop sensitive sensibility in the song. Yeah. And Nash, he's a great pop writer, and so we we had a great time making that. So that one uh just is a super fun song, and I'm always smiling when I'm playing that.

Shannon 26:37

Nice.

A Song Of Grief

Mark 26:38

Um, and then uh on a little more of a somber note, I had a younger brother um who uh who passed away. He he committed suicide. Uh-huh. And um I was his mentor and confidant.

Shannon 26:53

Um how long ago did that happen?

Mark 26:56

A number of years ago.

Shannon 26:57

Okay.

Mark 26:58

I carry this guilt with me of not being there enough. You know, I tried to do all the things I could do. I tried to get him as much help as possible, and I just it just wasn't enough. It was very emotionally difficult for me to write a song about that. But as I was talking with a friend, I was talking with a friend of mine who just lost someone in a similar circumstance. And I was I was just consoling them, right? I was just giving them a big hug. I shared that I had some uh some of the same experience. And uh when we finished talking, that person said, you know, you you have so much of a great story and wisdom going through this that other people need to hear that. I said, Well, you you just did hear that.

Shannon 27:45

Because they go through it too and need a space in order to help them as well, you know, through the emotion.

Mark 27:52

But I never thought to write a song about it. Yeah, you know, I was just talking to my friend, right? And just being a good friend. Yeah. And they're like, no, you need to write a song about that. I'm like, oh my goodness, I could ever write a song about that. And they're like, that's exactly why you need to write it. Yeah. That feeling you're having, everyone else is having who's having to go through that.

Shannon 28:09

And how did that go for you?

Mark 28:12

Oh, I cried more writing that song. Yeah, I've played it live twice. I I cry every time. Um, but I've gotten exactly what my friend said. I've gotten so many people who've DM'd me, right, or sent me a note and said, Oh my God, I lost a child, or I lost a sibling, or I lost a parent, and I had this same situation. Yeah. And uh thank you for sharing your music. For me, I have this guilt, like, okay, I didn't do it right. You know, I couldn't find a way to make you love yourself. That's one of the lyrics in the song. The way I sort of coped with it myself, I'm a water person, right? Yes. And so let it rain. Rain on me, wash away my pride, you know, help me heal inside. Um, that's just how I think about just trying to let those emotions pass through me. I don't want to stop them from occurring. I just want to let them have a natural way to flow out. Yeah, to flow out. Good, yeah, good way to see that, Janet. And so, you know, I'm not necessarily excited about that song, um, but I am and it's not about excitement, you know what I mean? It's more about allowing people to, you know, the people around you who listen to it to have a way to also allow themselves to flow that emotion that's connected with it that they can't change. So I think the work you did around that is it's so important, you know. Well, thank you for that. I'm gonna be playing it during my tour. I I've been very thoughtful about what part of the set I choose to put it in because it just tears me up, you know.

Touring Strategy And The Artist Life

Shannon 30:01

And um, so you are currently starting your tour, you know. A couple of days ago you started, and I see that you have a lot of things coming up. Um, how do you create your tour?

Mark 30:13

I am uh I'm still learning. Uh I did my first uh long tour last year. So I did a spring tour and a fall tour.

Shannon 30:22

Okay.

Mark 30:22

Uh so this will be the third time I'm out on a long tour. I typically will build a tour schedule that's about 60 or 70 days long. Most of the venues that I'll say small cap rooms, smaller places, 100, 200 seat rooms. That's kind of my perfect spot, maybe a theater, right? Or something that has a quieter environment like a wine, a winery or a beer garden that likes original music, right? I'm not, I'm not the I'm not gonna play in a nightclub somewhere, right? That's not my thing. I I work really hard to connect with the venue owners.

Shannon 30:55

Okay.

Mark 30:56

Um, they love seeing a hardworking touring musician. So they love seeing the fact that I'm I'm like a little inchworm playing a show every night, working my way towards them. They're like, I see you're coming my way. Can we book you? Right. Um, and so uh, you know, uh, so I it's a lot of hard work, Shannon. I think I use all every every ounce of skill that I developed in my engineering. You got to be polite, you gotta, you have to be humble, you know, you've got to be thoughtful, you gotta do your homework, you gotta work really hard. And so I'm doing that. Um, I'm since I'm doing my uh my tours go west in this in the spring and east in the fall. Okay. So I'm playing this time in the spring, I'm playing a few of the same places that I played last time. Okay. Um, and I had the great fortune of having you know people come out to my shows last year at the spring and they signed up for my email list. Nice. So uh they're coming back, and so it'll be a warmer crowd.

Shannon 31:52

Nice.

Mark 31:53

And so I think over time, for me, that sense of of connection that I get. Um, you know, when we get those shared moments, that's what I'm hopeful for.

Shannon 32:04

Yeah.

Mark 32:05

Um, and uh just a lot of hard work. And um, you know, like everybody else as an as an artist, you have to put out music, you know, every couple of months to stay current. You know, Spotify and YouTube really rewards you a lot for doing that and they share your music with new people. Okay. Um, so I'm I'm doing that. Had to learn how to do that from the road to and so I was gonna ask you, um, because you know, when we're self-motivated, a lot of work that you put into it, you know, and do you have others that help you, or is it mostly out of your own hands that you create the structure and stuff? Yeah, I have a few select people that I've got to help me with a few areas. So uh I have an intern that's really good at helping me sort of a lot of the organization around social media, you know, posting schedules and that sort of thing. And then I have a great group uh that I work with here in Houston. I didn't know I didn't know anything, Shannon, about social media.

Shannon 33:04

I know, right?

Mark 33:05

Being an artist or anything else.

Shannon 33:06

Right.

Mark 33:07

Um, and so the the folks at Studio Sassafras here in Houston, uh, we started doing a small session here, a small session there just to teach me how to how social media works. Right. Uh now I'm a very disciplined learner. I, you know, like everybody else, you can learn anything you want on YouTube. Yeah. Uh and so uh they still help me more with strategy now than anything else. There's a big gap, kind of like if you've been an entrepreneur yourself, yeah. You know, there's a big gap between an artist who has access to good quality help in the area of whatever social media or producing songs or touring, right? The big three uh bits or collaborations, maybe four. There's a huge gap between like everybody and then the people who can fill up 2,000 seat room. You know, so let's call it a couple million people on socials, right? Or a couple million listeners on Spotify. If you're below that, it's do-it-yourself land.

Shannon 34:10

It is right.

Mark 34:11

There's nothing going on in there. There's not enough money for anybody to really help. There isn't. So it's like, yeah, that structure that you have to maintain to like keep, you know, showing up for it.

Inspiration For The Road And Where To Find Mark

Shannon 34:22

Yeah, yeah. As we come to the close of our interview, I just want you to share in this moment, like as you begin the tour that you're starting, if you went inside yourself and thought about like what's inspiring you, like what's your inspiration in this moment and what you want to bring forward?

Mark 34:45

I feel like I'm a great explorer, you know, like I'm an adventurer, I'm out and I'm embarking on this tour. I could do without all of the things we just mentioned. There's so all that, right? Um but you don't really appreciate the fact that you get to go on the journey unless you've done all of that work.

Shannon 35:11

Exactly.

Mark 35:12

And you know the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to do that.

Shannon 35:15

Yeah.

Mark 35:16

Um, and so the inspiration I I find for myself, uh, I'm looking for the joy of the first crowd connection moment.

Shannon 35:26

Yeah.

Mark 35:27

Right. That, and every night I get that that beauty. I could tour, I could tour forever because it just lights me up.

Shannon 35:35

Exactly.

Mark 35:36

So I'm really looking for that connection and the chance to share my positive energy and to receive it back from other people. Yeah, that's just that's what I'm that's what I'm inspired about right now.

Shannon 35:46

That's beautiful. And um, so I'm gonna have you close with um how people would be able to go find out information about you, like your website, and also that there's the tour link on there that shows where people can go see you.

Mark 36:06

Yes. Well, thank you very much, Shannon, for having me. It's been amazing talking with you. Uh, you can find me at markwintersmusic.com.

Shannon 36:15

Okay.

Mark 36:15

Um, on that on my website, you will be able to find uh latest songs and links to your favorite streaming platforms. At the bottom, you can join uh the Positive Vibe Tribe, which is my email list. Um, and then my tour schedule is up under the shows tab. Um, I'll be uh pretty much playing in every state, uh, the lower 48, either in the spring or the fall. So I'd love for people to come out and uh and share some positive energy with me. And you'll be sure, I'll be sure to send you home with some extra protons. And then you can find me at Mark Winters Music uh as well on your social media platforms.

Shannon 36:53

So I'm grateful to have spent this time with you and all the beauty that you bring our world, which in these moments now are the most important, um, not just locally, but globally. Um, there's a lot happening. So needing to really create that positivity, that love, that joy that we can exchange as humans between each other. So I think the work that you're doing as a musician is is beautiful.

Mark 37:28

Well, thank you so much, Shannon. And I appreciate the work that you're doing as well.

Shannon 37:31

Thank you. The famous poet from the 1800s, Rainier Maria Rilke, said this. Describe your desires and sorrows, the thoughts that pass through your mind, and your belief in some kind of beauty. Describe all of these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity. And when you express yourself, use the things around you, the images from your dreams and the objects that you remember. And out of this turning within, out of this immersion in your own world, you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. And as you can see what was shared through this interview with Mark Winters of all that he has transformed into beauty and being present intuitively for others. It brings that forward for you as well. Thank you so much for joining me in this interview with musician, poet, and science-based brain Mark Winters. We're grateful that you've been with us on this episode. And in the written notes below, you'll find two links. One link is the website for Mark Winters, and the second one is the list of the tour coming up and all the dates and locations. I'm wishing you a beautiful day and grateful you've been here for the Star Seed Evolution podcast. Namaste.