Mark Lowry / Word

Biography

Mouth In Motion

Mark Lowry says he never tried to be funny. All he did was talk and people started laughing. He finds humor in the Christian life, always touching the heart as he touches the funny bone, and with his new Word album Mouth in Motion, he stretches out to find a funny side to the music of his fellow Christian recording artists.

Mouth in Motion is appropriately titled for a man who claims to have a "Denny's type of mouth. It never closes." The video includes plenty of Mark's stand-up comedy, but his stories lead into parodies of Christian hits, exploring such comedy-rich areas as blind dates, plastic surgery and singing with Sandi Patty.

From the opening lines of the first song, "The Date Adventure" (a parody of Steven Curtis Chapman's "The Great Adventure"), it's clear that Mark is off on a unique musical and comedy adventure. The lyrics also make it clear that Mark Lowry's blind dates have been nothing to write home about: "Got a call from Steven/It was just as I feared/Said he'd found my ideal girl/If I could overlook her beard."

From there Mark treats the audience to a short dissertation on inherited traits, focusing on his possession of "Paw Paw's Chin" - "the kind of chin that enters the room three days before you do." Taking it a step further, he entertains the notion of plastic surgery in a parody of the Michael W. Smith song "Place in This World." Mark's version, called "Face In This World" begins with the observation, "My hairline's moving/But I'm standing still." In the video, Mark does indeed get Smitty's face, but the results are disastrous.

Lowry's fans already know of his troubles on airplanes (he discussed flying next to a teething six-month-old baby on a previous album, complaining, "she sucked the tattoo off my arm.") His fear and general disdain for flying is evident on this album as well. "I used to sit in the back of planes 'cause I'd never seen a plane back into a mountain," he confides. This time, a seat assignment on an exit row requires him to help passengers off in the case of a crash. "I'll help 'em off the plane," he says, "if they can follow my wide rear end through that door." He drives his point home musically with "First Class, Wrong Flight," a song written by Martha Bolton and Phil Madeira.

Mark gets a chance to work out some old childhood problems in "Every Teacher," a parody of Amy Grant's "Every Heartbeat." Mark was quite the problem child in school. "Several of my teachers are still in therapy," he claims. Mark uses this song to describe those days in school - "I brought prayer back to class/'Cause all my teachers prayed I would pass." Proving turnabout is fair play, Mark plays his teacher in the video.

As a member of the Christian music community, one of Mark's dream has always been to sing with Sandi Patty. That dream became reality, sort of, thanks to "Some Other Time, Some Other Place," a sendup of Sandi's hit duet with Wayne Watson. On Mark's last Word Records video release, The Last Word, Sandi played a fan asking for an autograph and Mark snubbed her saying, "Some other time, some other place." Now he's begging her to sing with him, and she gets her revenge, offering to sing with him in some time and place "Where all my friends won't see and no one knows me and I'll hide my face."

Mark turns next, to matters of the heart. After watching a graphic Discovery Channel program on open heart surgery, Mark was deeply affected, and gained some new insight into some familiar "christianese." "People say, 'Let Jesus into your heart.' Jesus doesn't want to get into your left ventricle and watch blood go by. He wants into your life."

Concerning a broken heart, Mark claims his favorite verse to be, "And it came to pass..." As he interprets it, "Whatever we're going through, it didn't come to stay." With a hint of satisfaction, he explains how the verse applies everywhere: "You young 18-year-old jocks that have muscles in your earlobes, enjoy them. They will pass." The jokes lead into a song of faith and self-confidence. With lyrics by Mark and music by Phil Madeira, the song states simply, "I don't have to stay where I am today, because this too shall pass."

From laughter to heart tugs, Mark Lowry's new video takes the audience through a host of emotions and leaves them feeling better for the journey.

Mark Lowry was born in Houston in 1958. His mother Beverly, a psychology professor, played piano in church; his father Charles, a lawyer, was a church deacon. Mark drew from parents for the combination of music and humor that make him who he is today. "Dad is very unmusical. He's funny, but very quiet - he doesn't care if anybody hears his wit or not. Mother can sing. She's loud, but not funny - I picked that up from her. I inherited my humor from my father and my decibels from Mom."

At the prompting of his mother, Mark became involved in theatrical productions at a young age. He won a part in a local production of The Music Man at the age of nine, then a role in Annie Get Your Gun. At 10, while vacationing with his family in Nashville during the National Quartet Convention (then called the International Song Festival), a friend arranged a spot on a show for him. After singing one song, Mark landed a recording contract. He went on to record two albums, including one backed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

At 14, as Mark's voice began to change, he decided to pursue a more normal life...for Mark that is. He graduated from high school and enrolled in Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, where he planned to study business. "I sang a little, made a couple of more custom records, but decided that I didn't want to continue that any longer." Mark explains, "I considered it a childhood thing, not a career."

However, in 1976, after a year in college, Mark received a wake-up call. "I felt like God was calling me into the music ministry." He joined a traveling evangelistic team, with whom he received his big break. Unfortunately, it was to eleven of his bones! Mark was involved in a car crash which actually left the preacher of his group in a coma for months. Ironically, the wreck actually did open a new career opportunity for him. "The preacher was in a coma," he recalls. "We couldn't just prop him up and play a tape (although the thought crossed my mind), so I started singing. Then as I began traveling solo, singing to churches and youth groups, I had to do something while the man in the back of the church changed the soundtracks, so I started talking. As I talked, people laughed. I did often wonder why people were laughing at my testimony."

Mark soon quit wondering and just kept talking. "I noticed people were listening more when I talked than when I sang."

Mark has since been billed as a Christian comedian, but he feels he doesn't need the label. "I do shows for all kinds of audiences," he explains, "but my stories are so wrapped up in church that God gets in there anyway. People don't mind you giving them the Gospel as long as you do it naturally. The Gospel is throughout all of my experiences. The message can't help but come out."

In 1988, Mark's career took a couple of giant steps forward when some friends landed him a spot on the Christian Artists Music Seminar in Estes Park, Colorado. He had a 10-minute spot on a Monday morning, but Bill Gaither as well as representatives of Word Records saw his performance and each made him an offer. Mark accepted both. He joined the Gaither Vocal Band and signed a solo recording contract with Word. His Word debut, For The First Time On Planet Earth, was released in 1988 and offered fans the same combination of music and comedy that his live shows featured. Along with that came Mark's first concert video, titled appropriately, My First Comedy Video. Another album, This Is The Life, soon followed. Mark's third album and concert video, The Last Word, included "Baby Why Not Me," a take-off of Amy Grant's "Baby Baby" which set the stage for Mouth in Motion.

With Mouth in Motion Mark Lowry weaves musical talent and humor together as he puts his personal spin on many aspects of day-to-day emotional experiences, from the horror of blind dates to the fantasy of singing with Sandi Patty, from fear of flying to security in faith. As a result, Mouth in Motion captures the unique artistry of Mark Lowry - all sides of it - proving beyond any doubt that Mark's mouth is indeed in motion...again.

Discography

1993     Mouth In Motion