These days singer-songwriters are as likely to start out in Nashville as end up there, and though this literary thirty-five-year-old loves words too much to keep it simple and celebrated his big break by recording in London, he's a country boy at heart. When he falls in love he hears crickets and jackrabbits, when he tunes a diesel it sings like Patsy Cline, and when he gets to thinking about barn burnings and "suicide amortization" he writes one called "Political." Even his Dylanesque turns have their poetry, and if he betrays both his muse and his immigrant forebears with "God Ain't No Stained Glass Window," just remember--country boys always sink into bathos when they approach the Almighty.

(Robert Christgau)

Originally a poet, Mark Germino eventually became a folk-rock artist as a means of furthering his literary aspirations. Born in North Carolina, he moved to Nashville in 1974; although he never intended to become a musician, he bought a guitar a few months later after reasoning that performing songs would be easier than reciting poetry. A trucker by day, Germino began performing in area clubs at night and signed a music publishing deal in 1981. After working as a songwriter for much of the decade, in the late '80s and early '90s Germino issued three major-label albums in a vein of heartland rock much like the work of Steve Earle, including 1990's Radartown (recorded with a backing band called the Sluggers) and London Moon and Barnyard Remedies. In 1995, he issued the folkier Rank & File.

(Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide)