Mark Kilianski (of Golden Shoals) had the unfortunate experience of coming of age in a time where mainstream rock was just terrible (late 90's - specifically 1999 was pretty bad). He was really getting into bands like Korn and Limp Bizket, and his first guitar was a BC Rich Warlock (a heavy metal style guitar). Lucky for him, he had a cool guitar teacher that introduced him to bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Around high school, he started getting into jazz pretty seriously. He ended up going to school for jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston. All the while, he was harboring a secret love of roots music which began after watching "Oh Brother Where Art Thou." He started venturing out into the trad and folk scene in Boston and through that met Amy Alvey at school. The two were at the same starting point in their experiment with roots music. Both eventually decided that their academic musical paths of jazz for Mark and classical for Amy were actually not what they wanted to pursue professionally.

They formed their band in Boston and moved down to Asheville. The pair spent the majority of their time on the road. Actually, their first experience touring was a two-week walking tour in Massachusetts. Eventually, Amy and Mark settled on the band name Golden Shoals. They released their latest album, a self-titled record, in 2020 with, of course, big plans to be on the road playing live. The pandemic up-ended their touring with Amy in California for a bit and Mark in New Jersey. We talk about all that as well as toxic masculinity, the legacy of Black musicians in country and bluegrass and allyship.

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