Music man Mark River just keeps on going with the flow

By Karen Trotter Elley 

           Mark River’s life is all about music, and he’s a man with a mission. 

The versatile entertainer has been singing since he was five years old.      

Early on, he fell in love with the experience of making a connection 

with people on an emotional level. “I’ve had plenty of ups and downs in 

my career and in my life,” River ruminates, “and music communicates the 

highs and lows of the human experience more than any other medium. 

Songs have a way of going straight to the heart of the matter and 

soothing the soul.”

                 The ability to turn a frown upside down is what drew him to 

performing. “It’s my way of making a difference,” he explains. During 

his performance, River takes his audience to emotional highs and 

occasionally dwells in the valleys just long enough to let you know—he 

knows where you’ve been, but then his infectious up-tempo tunes carry 

you right back up to the top again. His high energy vocals and hard 

driving rhythm guitar style get toes tapping and people up out of their 

chairs and out on the dance floor. “Music hits you at a core level,” 

River explains. “It’s impossible to dance and worry at the same time.”

              River plays in and around Volusia County, including DeLand, Daytona 

and New Smyrna Beach. “Most of the time, it’s just my acoustic guitar 

and me—that is my band,” he says. River performs every night of the 

week, sometimes doing two shows a day. In a profession where it’s 

sometimes difficult to get a paying gig, he feels blessed. “People come 

out to see me and support me. The fans are what make it happen, and I’m 

grateful.”

               At the top of River’s musical influence list is Kenny Loggins. “I 

followed his career, grew up with him . . . all the way from ‘Danny’s 

Song’ to ‘Danger Zone’ and ‘Mama Don’t Dance’.” Other favorite 

performers include Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Cat Stevens, Neil 

Young, Elton John, Eric Clapton, and for classic country, George Jones 

and Waylon Jennings. “I sing a lot of their songs in my shows,” River 

says modestly. In fact, he has a song list of more than 150 

classic/contemporary rock and country tunes which never fail to get his 

listeners singing as well as dancing. “I always keep an extra 

microphone around so that people can jump on in and sing with me.”

          In addition to performing, River has been spending many hours in the 

studio. “Since I don’t have any children, I wanted to leave something 

behind,” he says. For the last couple of years, he has been working on 

his “labor of love,” his debut CD aptly titled, “Legacy.” The CD 

contains eleven original songs written by River and his lifelong friend 

and entertainer, Cliff Darby.

“Cliff and I grew up on the St. Johns River where I worked with my 

grandparents who, besides fishing the river commercially, owned and 

operated the Shady Oak Fish Camp, a Volusia Coounty landmark near the 

Whitehair Bridge. I practically lived on the docks and got to know the 

‘real’ Florida.” The songs on River’s “Legacy” CD are dedicated to his 

family and hometown—something he feels everyone can relate to. “When 

Cliff and I got together to collaborate on these songs, I  conveyed to 

him exactly what my feelings and ideas were, and it was as if my friend 

crawled inside my heart and soul, took photographs and brought forth 

with pen and paper, exactly what I wanted to say. It’s been awesome, 

but I can’t really take credit for any of it because the experience has 

been almost like magic, like Someone is controlling everything.”

           River speaks with pride about the talented musicians who came together 

to make his “Legacy” a reality. “It’s not what you’re used to hearing 

coming out of the studios in Nashville or L.A.,” he warned. He feels 

the music is much more personalized. “But it wasn’t conceived as a new 

approach,” he says, “things just happened that way.” Some of the best 

things do.

         Much to his own chagrin, River now finds himself thinking about what 

he might do with the next album. “I swore I wasn’t going to think about 

it until this one was out, but at the rate Cliff and I are writing more 

material, it looks like it could possibly materialize within the next 

year! What I’d hoped do in the next few years with the songs on 

“Legacy” is pay a sincere tribute to my family.” River’s mother, 

grandparents and brother are all gone, and his dream is to keep them 

alive through the music. “But no matter what else I do or where my 

career takes me, I want to keep true to the values they instilled in 

me.” He believes the most important reason for being on this planet is 

reaching out to help others along the way. While others may seek to 

attain fame, money and material trappings, he believes his biggest 

accomplishment would simply be to teach by example how to love others. 

“It is the ultimate payoff for me.”

          For more information about Mark River, his new debut CD “Legacy,” as 

well as his current performance schedule, visit him online at