Mark Dignam
A highly poetic singer-songwriter and poignant lyricist.
A powerful performer.
“I think it’s important to have a place where what you think and feel is stored and expressed. A song is that place for me“.
News & Shows
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I have wanted to be able to reach out and communicate with you in a more direct way for some time. This will be a place where I can share my thoughts, news, poetry and details of imminent shows.
I have set up a Linktree
August 2023
Going back to Dublin!!
August 17 Whelan’s, Little Whelan’s, Dublin. 8pm. 15 Euros.
May 2023
!! Exciting news – playing a set before Richard Thompson !!
May 13 Front Porch – The Thunderbird (before Richard Thompson. 6pm.
May 28 Songwriters in the Round – Pittsburgh Winery. 3.30pm.
April 2023
‘Midwest Run-Around’
April 21 Oddfellows Bar, Cincinatti
April 22 The Broadgauge, Petersburg, IL
April 23 Wonderlust Studios, Columbus, OH
Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 3 (AGES 21+)
New York, NY
Saturday, Apr 08, 2023
Tickets on sale now!
March 2023
‘Calm Before The Storm’ 2023 show
I have assembled the tribe and I’m working on the set lists for what will be yet another beautiful installment of this annual show. It fills up, every single year… so make sure to get your tickets early.
Club Cafe
Fri Mar 10th 2023
56-58 South 12th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203
February 2023
4 Thursdays in Feb at the Monterey Pub!
All welcome, bring instruments, your voice or just you for a wonderful evening of song, laughter and community.
January 2023
Pittsburgh Winery
with Ol Whitetail and Zack Rock
Jan 15th – 3.30pm
December 2022
I’m coming to an age soon, where the road is surely longer behind me than it is in front. But, what that gives me, in terms of some existential concern, is also coupled to a peaceful, poignant sense of great perspective.
Some memories are hazy but I see the twist and turns in the rear view mirror of my life, and they look really cool, almost like some kind of grand, pleasing pattern. My history has been a Jackson Pollack painting; a meandering, swirling mess of lines, with apparently little in the way of reason but still immensely entertaining to look at…
I’ve come to believe that the twists and turns are the point… there is no destination. Perhaps the fabric of the universe is made of the living of lives..? I’m beginning to revel in the, not knowing; the vast blank slate-ness of the road ahead, no matter it’s length.
These past few years have been tremendous in all the ways we can construe that word. I’ve had changes trust upon me. I’ve made others myself. Beautiful people have moved in and out of my life, and new beauty is blossoming, with more on the horizon. The lines are swirling, and between us all, we are knitting this mesh of life… it’s amazing, and I’ve learned to love it all.
I can’t name here, all the people who are responsible for the great year I’ve had in 2022. I will just say, you have added to me. You have become a beautiful part of my continuing story, and I love you all for it…
I am wishing you all a wonderful set of twists to your own roads, and the energy and motivation to make as many deliberate choices as you can before everything gets flipped on its head, as it invariably will.
Have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve, and 2023 ahead. I will see you all out there.
Ready your paint brushes.
I love you all. Mark
September 2022
Look forward to seeing you at one of or all of these shows (live a little… Go for it!)
If you’re not personally going to get along to any of these (sheds a tear)… Please, reach out to someone in these areas and let them know these shows are happening.
Your support matters..!
Mark
Two live shows in September:
Sept 10th – Rockwood 3 – New York, NY
w/ Niall Connolly
Sept 11th – The Barn – Williamstown, MA
w/ Karl Mullen
August 2022
Mark Dignam at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh – August 20th
This will be my last full show of the year in Pittsburgh, and I thought, let’s make it a real biggie!
July 2022
‘Songwriters In The Round’
Friday July 8th
Big Rail Brewing Company
May 2022
The Clunkers with Mark Dignam
The Clunkers: Anthony Jardine, Dan Parks, Cole Rapso, Jared Figel, and Tim Gaber Style: Blues / Soul / Funk / Rock.
September 2021
New single out now!
My new single ‘Angels of Mercy’ was released on Bandcamp and all streaming services on the 3rd September. I will be donating 50% of funds generated from the sale of this single to a global charity for nurses.
Listen to ‘Angels of Mercy’ on Bandcamp.
At, what seemed like the height of the pandemic in May 2019, my Mother’s health was ailing back in Dublin, and I was stuck in the U.S. It was an incredibly painful experience. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. My brother set up a technological solution by which I could make video calls.
During one of the last calls, a male nurse entered the picture, and I was taken by the genuine care he showed toward my Mother. It was a very touching moment for me, and I feel I’ll never forget it.
I firmly believe those who have cared so well for the sick and the dying through this horrendous time, have not remotely received their due. The banners calling them Heroes, to my mind, are just not enough.
It troubled me through the heaviest of my time of grief, and even today, while the grief is still present, but not as loud throughout my body, I still feel more should be done. So, I did what I do, and I wrote a song in an attempt to stand in their shoes.
August 2021
My new single “Angels of Mercy” will be released 3rd Sept 2021 on Bandcamp. This beautiful song is very close to Mark’s heart. It came from a place of grief and gratitude.
Mark is currently working on a new album An American Tune with producer/engineer Steve Seel. The album will reflect on his experiences as an immigrant (and now naturalized U.S citizen) and mix elements of both Irish and U.S musical cultures.
A highly poetic writer leaning into the folk-rock tradition in the past, Mark has intimated that An American Tune will also investigate the ideas of “historic” and “modern,” bringing together acoustic and electronic instrumentation. “What I picture, is a record made by Leonard Cohen, The Waterboys, Peter Gabriel and if I can stretch myself, maybe a little of St. Vincent (Annie Clark).”
Mark will then begin to tour again as a solo artist and/or with a new iteration of his band The House of Song.
Bio
Mark Dignam was born in Dublin, Ireland, and raised for the most part, in Finglas, a working-class suburb known for its rough-and-tumble character, soccer players, and some fine singers and musicians.
His mother, Maureen, sang around the house a lot, and the neighborhood itself, was soaked in music; Irish Traditional, Pop, Rock, Punk, Ska and Reggae tunes seemed to be everywhere.
In the late 1980s Mark and his fellow northside friend Glen Hansard, began busking on Grafton Street in the city center, meeting up with Mic Christopher, Kila, Miriam Ingram, Leslie Keye, et al, to establish a street performing phenomenon. It was a raucous mix of covers and originals which garnered a staunchly loyal, weekly following over three to four summers.
The group became a storied part of Dublins’s music history, and from the vantage point of their pavement stage, they were not unused to seeing members of The Waterboys, Van Morrison, or Sinead O’Connor in the audience. The police were also frequent visitors (not the band!).
Meanwhile through the early to mid 90s Mark became a popular member of Dublin’s influential songwriter scene, most notably Dave Murphy’s legendary sessions in historic venues around Grafton Street: The Bailey, McDaids and the International Bar.
After Mark’s first trip to the U.S in 1991, he began to hone his highly lyrical Folk-Rock sound, releasing Poetry and Songs from the Wheel in 1995. Ireland’s Hotpresss Magazine voted the record one of its top ten debut albums of that year, and hailed Mark as a powerful voice on the singer/songwriter scene.
He toured extensively in western Europe and the U.S, along with opening for Glen Hansard, The Swell Season, David Gray, Billy Bragg, Joan Armatrading, Richard Thompson and Richie Havens, to name-drop but a few.
The debut was followed by 1997s In a Time of Overstatement, And One for All in 2004, Box Heart Man, recorded with Detroit label Timesbeach Records in 2005 and “Rebuild” recorded with a live studio audience at Pittsburgh’s Treelady studios in 2014.
Mark currently lives around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States with his two, much-adored teenage children, and is working on a new album, titled An American Tune. The single ‘Angels Of Mercy’ was released in September 2021 from this forthcoming album.