Mark McKinney – World In Between

Something wonderful continues to happen in Texas; one of the many talents in the Lone Star state—Mark McKinney—has released his fifth studio album, titled World In Between. It is his best effort to date and, at this rate, I’m guessing that the next one will be even better. He has things to say and he has found just the songs to communicate those ideas. If there was ever a Texas music album that had “Ready To Breakout And Find A Whole New National Audience” stamped all over it, this is it.

World In Between is produced by Mark and his brother, Eric McKinney, in Austin, Texas. They attain an intimate, you-are-there relationship with the listener. The production gives an illusion of being spare, while it achieves devotion to all that essential. At times it even feels as if we are present at the moment of songwriting. When he tears through the inspired lyric of “Rainy Day Money,” you kind of hope he will just go on forever. The songs on the disc allow McKinney to cover the gamut of emotions, from wounded to desperate to loving to determined to comforting to brooding to compromising—all of them irresistible in their specificity. McKinney has an uncanny ability to deliver material that speaks directly to people’s everyday concerns, while raising it to a level of poetry that enobles the emotional release.

Give us more, Mark McKinney, of your blend of country and rock and style, please. We sure can all use songs this good.

Essential Downloads: “90 Miles,” “Sunshine,” “Monday,” “Revolution.”

To preview or purchase this album, click here.