Mark Schatz has earned recognition as a leading figure within Nashville’s music community through collaborations with Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, Maura O'Connell, John Hartford, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Tim O'Brien. The International Bluegrass Music Association has twice designated him Bass Player of the Year, and he has also acted as musical director for the percussive dance ensemble Footworks. Rounder Records released his initial solo album, Brand New Old Tyme Way, in 1995 under Béla Fleck’s production; the recording highlighted Schatz’s clawhammer banjo technique and his own original material.
Born April 23, 1955, Schatz started formal musical instruction on cello at age ten and later shifted focus to string bass. Guitar and mandolin soon followed. In the mid-1970s he pursued studies in music theory and composition at Haverford College while also attending Boston’s Berklee School of Music. Participation in a Boston folk dance group led him to adopt the banjo and learn clogging. His acquaintance with Fleck began in 1977 and produced ongoing joint projects across the following decades. Relocating to Nashville in 1983, Schatz performed country music on electric bass before returning to acoustic playing several years later as a member of the Tony Rice Unit. From 1990 through 1998 he worked with Tim and Mollie O'Brien, taking a break only for the 1992 release of a solo album that drew strong critical praise. Popularity of Brand New Old Tyme Way notwithstanding, its successor, Steppin in the Boiler House, did not appear until 2006.
