The Short Version

Mark Cassano, a.k.a. Little Ole Wine Drinker, is a guitarist/singer/songwriter based in Calgary. Think of him as the metaphorical musical love child of Nat King Cole and Dolly Parton…..  hmm… how about Wille Nelson and Norah Jones? Maybe Julie London and Lyle Lovett? Okay… that is not getting any less creepy, but you get the idea. His original songs are a blend of folk and jazz with a touch of blues and country. His set list consists of songs that he loves listening to and learning – and, here’s the challenge, songs that he can do some semblance of justice to. They range from classic jazz standards to old time country to Americana. And he will make sure to play his wide variety of homemade mid-life crisis ballads and anthems.

Mark has finished recording the main tracks to a forthcoming album and has released Manhattan Fades as a single on all major streaming platforms.

The Long Version

Mark Cassano (LOWD) is now entering the third decade of his mid-life crisis. How did he get this little, this old, and this wine drinking?

As a young ten year old lad, with a full head of hair, growing up in Connecticut,  Mark took up (acoustic) guitar and soon put in many hours and miles playing with a church folk group, Together (the aforementioned miles was due to being ousted from their home parish). Eventually he picked up the electric guitar and started a couple of high school bands (Landslide and Crossroads). By his senior year, he signed on to play lead guitar for the straight-edge hardcore band Violent Children – one highlight being playing at CBGB’s in NYC, thinking how grateful he was to be on the stage, safely above the mosh pit.

Upon graduating high school, Mark opted to go to NYU and pursue a degree in economics. But his trusty white Ovation Balladeer (that’s a fibreglass bodied guitar for you non-picking readers) rarely left his side – ok, the Ovation was briefly cast aside when his dorm roommate brought David Byrne’s Stop Making Sense Martin D-18 to their room. Mark, with permission of course, was able to do his best Psycho Killer on the aforementioned celebrated guitar and Psycho Killer remains one of his most requested songs. Mark also enjoyed writing and recording (on his high tech Fostex 4-track cassette recorder) a slew of angst ridden, why-can’t-he-get-a-girlfriend numbers, typical of someone going through an early-life crisis.

Once NYU gave him a fancy piece of paper, termed a B.S., he couldn’t help but remain cuddled up in the ivory tower…  he went back to Connecticut to do a Ph.D. in Economics at Yale. He was fortunate enough to run into some similar geeky musicians and the band What The Cat Dragged In was born; although “fortunate” might be a stretch, as it likely added a couple of years in the time it took to finish his dissertation. The band mixed Folk with Blues with Reggae with Pop with… well, you get the idea. After two albums, Scratch Tracks and In Retrospect, and many gigs, the band decided to call it quits and move on with their fancy schmancy degrees in hand. As did Mark… after a short stint on Lawng Eyelan (pronounced Long Island), he moved to Calgary, Alberta for a faculty post with the drop-dead-sexy title of Associate Professor of Finance. It was around that time he left his early-life crisis and dove head first into his mid-life crisis.

Once in Calgary, the artist formerly called Mark, started frequenting open mics and met a new breed of musician… termed a “Canadian musician”. They spoke a slightly different language (“the hip”, “april wine”,..), but he soon learned some of their strange ways and customs. Through a songwriting group, he met Nancy Laberge – who, at the time, he swore was a Catie Curtis clone. Mark eventually became part of her project, The Backyard Betties… The Betties (still going strong) got to do some touring and playing at folk festivals and Shriners events and Stampede parties and house concerts and a bunch of other bizarre shows that will go unmentioned here on this public site. He also worked with Laurene Palmiere for her first CD release and they created the band Across the Sound. Lastly, he’s played accompaniment for several singer songwriters.

Eventually, Mark decided that, before his late-life crisis begins, he should try his hand at a solo project. Continuing his rich history of bizarre musical act names, he decided to go with Little Ole Wine Drinker (LOWD). It was a name that he can comfortably grow into. He is developing a set of songs that he loves listening to and learning – and, here’s the challenge, songs that he can do some semblance of justice to. They range from classic jazz standards to old time country to Americana. And he will make sure to play his wide variety of homemade mid-life crisis ballads and anthems.

Mark has finished recording the main tracks to a forthcoming album and has released Manhattan Fades as a single on all major streaming platforms.