The Sounds of Mobtown – Baltimore artists play songs about Baltimore

by Cara Ober, The urbanite, 11/16/2010

“I don't think baltimore is a muse for a certain kind of musician. Baltimore is just a great muse,” says musician Howard Markman. “You can go from the classic country song ‘Streets of Baltimore’ by Harlan Howard and Tompall Glaser, to Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Baltimore Oriole,’ to Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore,’ to Lyle Lovett’s ‘Baltimore.’ The only thing they all have in common is—well, Baltimore.”

Markman and eight other Baltimore artists will perform at the Creative Alliance on November 20 in a concert sponsored by Roots Cafe, “The Streets of Baltimore: songs of Our City.” Markman, known for his guitar improvisations with Freewater in the 1970s and Disappear Fear in the 1990s, will perform two of his own songs, “Welcome to Smalltimore” and “Baltimore to Bethlehem,” as well as Arty Hill's “I Left Highlandtown.”

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