Oh, that's very interesting, thank you all, for the info about Paul Franklin (box). I knew that Paul (I admire Paul very much, by the way) played these parts on stage – but, and this misled me, the box sounds a little different on stage, and above all, he plays a lot more notes live than on the studio recording, and he plays things that are typical for a pedal-steeler (you hear blindly that this cannot be a bottleneck player). On the studio recording, the box sounds a bit “tinner”, reminiscent of a resonator instrument (studio microphones pick up the subtleties/overtones much more sensitively), and he plays fairly simple things that aren't typical of pedal-steel and could also be played using the slide technique. That's why (and because there are no official credits), I intuitively heard Mark on a Dobro/National (in the way he used to play with Steve Phillips). I'll be happy to change that sentence in the book (by the way, it's not about that song there, it's generally about Mark's love for resonator guitars).
Fashion: It's not mentioned in the book that he's a “fashion icon”. But Mark sells more clothing and various articles with his brand on them worldwide than any fashion store around the corner. He even established a look very early on with the red headband (the headband later even ended up on his own gin bottle); there were thousands of people worldwide who wore his headband, who wore the same sporty country shirt, etc. That is exactly the essence of a “fashion line” (as I called it in the book): when people become a brand through their appearance, inspiring others to imitate and giving them an identity. That is the essence of fashion. This is NOT a criticism of MK.
You will notice at various points in the book that, despite my great admiration for MK, I sometimes write with distance, humor or from a subjective perspective, things that a MK disciple might perceive as blasphemy. I was aware that I might face an icy headwind here and there on this forum (where there are people who would even “kill their mother to get an unreleased MK recording”, as I once read...
) – that was clear to me. Nevertheless, I am very happy about our discussion here; I am tough enough, happy to be pointed to mistakes or typos (unfortunately, there is no book or daily newspaper in the world without mistakes). I know, appreciate and admire the fact that you guys know much more about certain details of MK.
The purpose of this book is to celebrate the music and the life's work of MK and to bring it to a wider audience; that's why I keep making larger arcs in the book without being able to go into certain small details with the necessary precision. If you had 10 years to spare, you could write a whole book about a single album (e.g. the debut album) with a thousand details. And just the proofreading would take a year or two; that would be great, but it's beyond my scope, unfortunately. Who knows how long I have left to live.
In any case, I am very grateful for your reading along! I will make a first update of the print data next week (it takes a week or two for the new data to be in stores), and I can also make such updates later continuously (I have already made 5 updates in the original German edition...).
By the way, I will be happy to mention your names in the English imprint as proofreaders and consultants – if you let me know how I should write your names exactly.
Best,
Richard
