
The happy reunion of Mark O'Connor and his old Martin resulted in a sequel to his foundational 1978 acoustic guitar album, Markology. Back then, he was already a star violinist and a mandolin player of note. Photo by Maggie O'Connor
When an injury sidelined his 6-stringing 20 years ago, he committed to violin superstardom. Now, O'Connor returns to his 1945 Martin D-28 for the rapturous, virtuosic Markology II.
In 1997, Mark O'Connor faced every guitarist's worst fear. He was teaching at his O'Connor Method String Camp that summer when he developed a debilitating case of bursitis in his right elbow. "Doctor's advice was that I limit or discontinue some of the activity that caused the bursitis, as the condition wasn't going to disappear entirely," O'Connor explains. As a multi-instrumentalist with a high-level violin career, he had a choice to make. "I sacrificed the guitar and mandolin to preserve my violin playing. I was very sad to see it go, but I needed to preserve my ability to play the violin, because it was the thrust of my career."
By that time, O'Connor had taken violin playing to groundbreaking new places. He'd released a string of solo records on major labels, including 1991's The New Nashville Cats, which took stock of the contemporary Nashville session scene by featuring more than 50 collaborators. His new trio with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer had released their much-lauded debut record, Appalachia Waltz, in 1996, and he'd recently composed and recorded a violin concerto, a string quartet, and a soundtrack for the PBS series Liberty!,which featured Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, and Wynton Marsalis.
"It became too much about technique and not as much about what drew me to the guitar in the first place, which was its beautiful sound."
As far as career ambitions go, O'Connor's violin playing overshadowed his guitar playing, but his early accomplishments on 6-strings were also extraordinary. O'Connor started early, studying classical guitar starting at age 6 and soon moving into flamenco. He took on classical violin as a way to perform more recitals, and it was his interest in violin that helped him discover bluegrass. He explains, "I heard the fiddle on the Johnny Cash show, and it was the fiddle and fiddling I got into that led me into bluegrass guitar. I would've never known that existed in my surroundings in Seattle, if it weren't for the fiddle."
Once O'Connor fell in love with bluegrass, things started happening quickly. By age 11, he'd stopped playing classical and flamenco guitar and focused solely on flatpicking. "When I got into bluegrass and started with a flat pick, for me, that was rock 'n' roll rebellion. I was going down this path and there was no return," he says. And he soon began winning bluegrass guitar competitions, including the National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships.
Surrounded by his inspirations Tony Rice (center) and Dan Crary (left), O'Conner cuts "Fluid Drive" for the first Markology album, in 1978. Flatpicking doesn't get any finer.
At 13, O'Connor met Tony Rice, and by the time he'd turned 15, the elder guitarist had taken him under wing. When O'Connor recorded his landmark album, Markology, in 1978, Rice played alongside the 16-year-old and helped him mix it as well. Markology was a remarkable feat that found the young prodigy holding his own amongst elders like Rice, David Grisman, and Sam Bush. It was the first recorded evidence that he'd aligned himself with the jazz-inspired ways of his collaborators and was creating his own original and imaginative voice in bluegrass, setting the world on fire with his 1945 Herringbone Martin D-28. Two years later, at only 18, he stepped into his mentor's shoes, replacing Rice in the David Grisman Quintet for their Quintet '80 album.
O'Connor's guitar and fiddle playing co-existed on equal footing for quite a while. "Throughout my childhood, it was neck and neck," he says. "The distinctions could include that there were more big fiddle contests than big guitar contests, so I found myself going to three times as many major fiddle championships. That would automatically suggest that I'm spending more time on that instrument." When he joined the Dregs, playing violin on 1982's Industry Standard, Steve Morse insisted that O'Connor play both instruments in concert, though he began to notice how hard it was becoming to maintain his technique on both, and notes, "It was just so hard to keep up everything, especially with the kind of touring that we were doing, it was just nonstop."
Mark O'Connor's Gear
On Mondays this year, Mark O'Connor and Maggie, his wife, have been livestreaming concerts from their home. She is part of the Mark O'Connor Band, which includes his son Forrest and daughter-in-law Kate Lee.
Strings & Picks
- BlueChip CT55
- D'Addario EJ18 Phosphor Bronze (.014–.059)
It wasn't long before Chet Atkins encouraged him to move to Nashville at the age of 22, imagining he'd find a career as a session guitarist, that O'Connor committed to the violin as his principal instrument. He explains, "I found myself on a Glen Campbell album playing guitar, mostly, and doing an occasional fiddle solo. Something just clicked in my mind where I thought, 'There's so many guitar players in Nashville and there's hardly any fiddle going on.' That was 1983, '84. I just took it upon myself to be the person that brought back fiddling into country music, and I became known as the top fiddler."
He quickly began playing top-tier sessions as well as making a string of major label records under his own name, and his guitar playing took on a more background role. By the time he suffered his injury in 1997, he admits, "I was kind of a little bit burnt out about it. Maybe that's what led to my injuries. Sometimes when you're not completely focused on what you're doing, that's the time that you get injured. I was going through the motions a little bit and maybe over-practicing, trying to overachieve, pushing myself maybe for the wrong reasons. It became too much about technique and not as much about what drew me to the guitar in the first place, which was its beautiful sound."
"Music is a gift, I think, to us all."
Setting aside his guitar and mandolin, O'Connor found that he could continue playing violin, and for the next two decades fiddling took over his musical life completely. He didn't touch a guitar. "I never thought I would play guitar again, and I had grown accustomed to that fact. I had other bouts of bursitis in both my hip and my knee since then, so I knew I was prone to it. I just never wanted to take the chance," he says.
In 2017—20 years after his injury—he was busy focusing on his Mark O'Connor Band, with his wife Maggie on violin and vocals, his son Forrest on mandolin, guitar, and vocals, and his daughter-in-law Kate Lee on violin and vocals. While reminiscing about his multi-instrumentalist past, his family encouraged him to give the guitar another try. "I was wondering how I could add some variety to the instrumentation for our group," O'Connor says. "My family was encouraging me to try the guitars out, maybe play some easy-going strums on one of our songs, and, carefully, I started to try out some guitar stuff."
In his early years as a bluegrass fiddle trailblazer, O'Connor, at left, performs at a festival with (left to right) Eddie Adcock on banjo, Peter Rowan on guitar, and Jerry Douglas on dobro.
Photo by Jordi Vidal
As he began testing his limits, O'Connor realized that he could do a lot more than strum some chords, and one thing soon led to another. "It was not too long before I began to take a lead line on one of the easy songs on stage," he says. "That led to my taking my old Herringbone off the wall back home and experimenting. Over two or three months, I started building up calluses, and as soon as I got my calluses, then my right hand seemed to start to coordinate a lot better. The strumming came back pretty quickly. It was just coordinating mainly crosspicking and lead stuff. And when that started coming back, the whole thing just opened up and I was inspired."
It's hard to imagine the thrill of revisiting the guitar after such a long hiatus. O'Connor describes the feeling: "It felt like a gift. All of a sudden it just felt like it was meant to be—that it was my time to play the guitar again. Music is a gift, I think, to us all. I thought about Tony right away. His sound was in my mind the whole time, and his tone, the way he projected on the guitar, the way he held the guitar and the physicality of it."
"The strumming came back pretty quickly. It was just coordinating mainly crosspicking and lead stuff. And when that started coming back, the whole thing just opened up and I was inspired."
O'Connor decided to document his progress on the guitar, creating arrangements of tunes and recording them once they were ready. "It dawned on me that I had been storing up guitar ideas this whole time, and maybe they were held in my subconscious all along, never having an outlet for them, and then they were kind of spilling out onto the guitar."
Those recordings slowly coalesced into Markology II, a title that suggests not only a sequel to his debut album, but also a renewal or rebirth of his relationship with the instrument. Much like on his debut, Markology II once again shows that O'Connor possesses one of the most unique and versatile voices in modern acoustic guitar playing. Like his fiddle playing, his approach to the guitar now transcends the more bluegrass-focused playing of his youth, and he shows off a versatility and virtuosity that is stunning.
The strings O'Connor had on his Martin D-45 when he put it aside 20 years ago were still on the guitar when he recorded the first two songs for his new album. Nonetheless, "On Top of the World" and "Ease With the Breeze" ring with beauty and precision.
From "On Top of the World" and "Ease With the Breeze"—the first tracks recorded for Markology II,using his D-28 with the same strings that had been on it since he put it down in 1997—to awe-inspiring, fleet-fingered arrangements of "Beaumont Rag" and "Salt Creek," O'Connor proves that not only has he not lost anything with regards to his technique and musicality, but he's continued to grow well beyond the already highly developed playing we last heard from his flat-top box in the '90s. This makes Markology II not only a unique entry in his large discography, but a unique entry into the canon of solo acoustic guitar records that demand close study.
While he once again plays with rare speed and dexterity, O'Connor brings a lot of awareness to his physical approach to guitar. At 59, he knows he has to take care, listen to his body, and follow its cues in order to avoid another injury. "I have a template of how to approach playing with injury now," he assures. "The main thing is that you have to just discontinue playing the moment you feel pain in the arm or hand area. I mean, literally, as soon as you feel the twinge of pain for 5 seconds, you have to discontinue. I'm very hyper-aware of my limitations in that way." With this thoughtful and focused awareness, it will be thrilling to hear where Mark O'Connor takes his guitar playing for years to come.
Alabama Jubilee | Mark O'Connor | "Markology II" (Official Video)
Mark O'Connor takes a relaxed and efficient approach to picking while he sets his JC Baxendale-built dreadnought on fire with this version of "Alabama Jubilee." His creative and melodic solo guitar arrangement leaves lots of space for clever chording and hyper-fast licks while maintaining a casual and airy feel.
The series features three distinct models—The Bell,The Dread, and The Parlor—each built to deliver rich, resonant acoustic sound with effortless amplification.
Constructed with solid Sitka spruce tops and solid mahogany back & sides, the Festival Series offers warm, balanced tone with incredible sustain. A Fishman pickup system, paired with hidden volume and tone control knobs inside the sound hole, ensures seamless stage and studio performance.
Grover 16:1 ratio tuners provide superior tuning stability, while D’Addario strings enhance clarity and playability. Each guitar comes with a heavy-padded gig bag, making it a perfect choice for gigging musicians and traveling artists.
Key Features of the Festival Series Guitars:
- Solid Sitka Spruce Top – Provides bright, articulate tone with impressive projection
- Solid Mahogany Back & Sides – Adds warmth and depth for a well-balanced sound
- Fishman Pickup System – Delivers natural, high-fidelity amplified tone
- Hidden Volume & Tone Control Knobs – Discreetly placed inside the sound hole for clean aesthetics
- Grover Tuners (16:1 Ratio) – Ensures precise tuning stability
- D’Addario Strings – Premium strings for enhanced sustain and playability
- Heavy-Padded Gig Bag Included – Provides protection and convenience for musicians on the go
Mooer Prime Minimax M2 Intelligent Pedal boasts 194 effects models, 80 preset slots, MNRS and third-party sample file compatibility, an 80-minute looping module, internal drum machine, high-precision tuner, Bluetooth support, and a rechargeable lithium battery.
Over the last few years, Mooer has released several Prime multi-effects devices, including the Prime P1, P2, S1, and most recently in 2024, the Prime Minimax M1. Excitingly, the company is kicking off 2025 with a brand new addition to the Prime family–the Prime Minimax M2 Intelligent Pedal.
Within this small multi-effects device, a whole lot of functionality is packed in, including an impressive 194 effects models, including overdrive, preamp simulators, cabinet models, delays, reverbs, modulation effects, etc., and more. In typical Mooer style, though, the company took things a step further by offering limitless flexibility through the support of its in-house MNRS sample files, as well as third-party IR sample files. Essentially, this means that users can download additional tonal emulations and effects from the Mooer Cloud and third-party sources to the device, which they can then save across 80 preset slots.
As with some past models in the Prime series, the M2 sports a convenient touchscreen design, facilitating easy browsing through the devices banks of presets. However, guitarists are not limited to interfacing with the pedal in this way, as it also features two footswitches, both of which can be used to switch between presets in each bank. There is even a MIDI jack built into the device, enabling users to connect their MIDI controllers to extend the control functions, and the MOOER F4 wireless footswitch support is also supported. Essentially, these augmentation options facilitate additional footswitches to ensure switching preset tones is always as quick and seamless as possible within any workflow.
While the Prime M2 Intelligent Pedal is primarily designed for effects and tonal simulations, it also comes packed with an array of other useful features. For example, it contains a looping module with a hefty 80-minute capacity, in addition to 10 recording save slots to ensure that any looping creations can be kept for future use in performances. Similar to past looper modules in Mooer's products, users are also free to overdub their recordings and even undo or redo their overdubs, offering a lot of real-time flexibility for creating loop-based musical structures.
As if the addition of a looper wasn’t enough, this feature is also synchronizable with an internal drum machine and metronome, a combination that includes 56 drum grooves and 4 metronome varieties. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that Mooer clearly recognizes and wishes to solve the struggles that musicians have when attempting to produce precise loops while staying in time. Upon commencing recording, the drum machine can produce four initial beats to serve as a count-in cue, and of course, this can be combined with the device's tap-tempo control for dynamic use. Best of all, this feature can also be applied to modulation and delay effects, ensuring that they work perfectly in time with any performance.
Extra features are included to complete this all-in-one pedal, including a high-precision tunerwith fully customizable frequency ranges. Guitarists can even leverage the M2’s built-inBluetooth input support, allowing them to practice, jam, and even produce looped musicalstructures over their favorite backing tracks, band prototypes, and musical pieces.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for existing Mooer product users, the Prime M2 also boasts an impressive variety of audio routing systems. As was previously mentioned, that includes Bluetooth input, as well as industry standards such as dual-channel stereo output, perfect for stereo delay and modulation effects. It also supports headphone output for those who wish to practice in silence, and even OTG recording, which means that guitarists can record their creations directly to their smartphone whilst on the go.
Speaking of on-the-go, Mooer is continuing its recent portable-play focus with the Prime M2Intelligent Pedal, as it is fitted with a built-in rechargeable lithium battery with a battery life of up to 6 hours. Ultimately, this means that even a lack of local power sources won’t get in the way of rehearsals and live performances. Combined with the pedal’s lightweight and small build, it truly is an ideal addition to the pedalboard of any traveling musician.
Overall, the Prime M2 Intelligent Pedal is set to be an impressive new addition to the Prime series. It features augmented functionality when compared to past models, yet still in a minimalist and easy-to-use package, keeping the size small and light yet still packing in footswitches, a touch screen, and other flexible control systems.
Features:
- 194 built-in effect models and tonal emulations
- 80 preset slots for storing downloaded MNRS and third-party sample files
- Compatibility with the MOOER Cloud tone-sharing platform
- Built-in 80-minute looping module
- Record, overdub, pause, delete, and playback functions for looping
- Internal drum machine module, stocked with 56 drum grooves
- 4 unique metronomes
- Synchronization between drum machine and looper
- Convenient count-in cue function support from the metronome
- High-precision and customizable tuner module
- 2 multi-function footswitches
- 1.28-inch touchscreen interface
- LED digital display
- LED charge indicator
- Portable USB/OTG recording
- Direct compatibility with the MOOER prime mobile APP and MOOER Studio desktop software for preset management
- Bluetooth 5.0 audio playback
- 3000mAh integrated lithium battery with up to 6 hours of use time
- DC 5V/2A power supply and charging
- 3 hours charging time
- Low weight of 228g
- Compact, at 74mm (L), 125mm (W), and 49mm (H)
- Sample rate of 44.1kHz
- Bit depth of 24bit
- Compatible with MOOER F4 wireless footswitch
- 3.5mm MIDI port
- Mono TS ¼” input
- Stereo TS ¼” output
- 3.5mm headphone output
- Power switch button
The Prime Minimax M2 Intelligent Pedal will be available from the official distributors or retailersworldwide.
For more information, please visit mooeraudio.com.
Kirk Hammett has partnered with Gibson Publishing to release The Collection: Kirk Hammett, a premium hardcover coffee-table photo book where Kirk tells the stories behind his rare and collectible instruments.
“I am thrilled to announce the launch of The Collection: Kirk Hammett. I’ve worked diligently on this curated collection of vintage and modern guitars for the book. I feel the book captures the rich history and artistry behind each of these unique and rare instruments. Every picture tells a story and thanks to Ross Halfin and his exceptional photography, every picture in this book is worth a million words! This book could not be possible without the help of Gibson, so I’d like to thank them for making my passion for Greeny, and guitars a reality. I hope all of you enjoy this journey as much as I did.”
“It’s exciting the time has come to release The Collection: Kirk Hammett by Gibson,” adds Cesar Gueikian, President and CEO of Gibson. “We have been working on this project with Kirk for years now, and I had the opportunity to work closely with Kirk on the composition of the collection for the book. It was a thrill to put this together and it took a village to get it done! I hope everyone appreciates the work that went into this book and enjoys every story behind the guitars.”
The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Custom Edition is limited to just 300 numbered copies signed by KIRK HAMMETT and comes in a huge 19 x 14.5” (490 x 370mm) presentation box featuring custom artwork and an outstanding case candy package. In addition to the large-format 17 x 12” (432 x 310mm) hardcover version of the book with a stunning lenticular cover, the boxset includes a frameable 16 x 11.6” (407 x 295mm) art print of a Ross Halfin portrait of KIRK HAMMETT signed by both Halfin and the Metallica guitarist. Other case candy includes an Axe Heaven miniature replica of Hammett’s 1979 Gibson Flying V with case and stand, an exclusive pick tin complete with six Dunlop® Kirk Hammett signature Jazz III guitar picks, and a Gibson Publishing Certificate of Authenticity.
Explore The Collection: Kirk Hammett book HERE.
The collection includes Cobalt strings with a Paradigm Core, Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings, and the Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear.
Engineered for maximum output, clarity, and durability, these strings feature:
- Cobalt with a Paradigm Core (not RPS) for added durability
- Nano-treated for maximum lifespan and corrosion resistance
- Gauges 9.5, 12, 16, 26, 36, 46 (Turbo Slinky set)
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings
Crafted for dynamic, percussive tonality, these strings pair fluorocarbon trebles with silver-plated copper basses to deliver exceptional response and clarity.
- Gauges: 24, 27, 33, 30, 36, 42
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear
An essential string-dampening tool, the Tim Henson Signature FretWrap is designed for cleaner playing by eliminating unwanted overtones and sympathetic vibrations.
- Features Tim Henson’s custom ‘Cherub Logo’ design
- Size Small, fits 4-string basses, 6-string electric/acoustic guitars, and ukuleles
- Ideal for live performance and studio recording
- Ernie Ball collaboration with Gruv Gear
- Available individually or as part of the Tim Henson Signature Bundle
The Ernie Ball Tim Henson Accessory Bundle Kit
For players who want the complete Tim Henson experience, the Ernie Ball Tim HensonSignature Bundle Kit includes:
- Tim Henson Signature Electric Strings (9.5-46)
- Tim Henson Signature Classical Strings (Medium Tension)
- Tim Henson Signature FretWrap by Gruv Gear (Small)
- Tim Henson Signature Cable (Exclusive 10ft white dual-conductor cable, only available in the bundle)
The Tim Henson Signature String & Accessory Collection is available starting today, March 19, 2025, at authorized Ernie Ball dealers worldwide.
For more information, please visit ernieball.com.