Mark Delaney was born in Minnesota but moved to Derwood, Maryland during his first year of life and has since then never live anywhere outside of Maryland.

His musical career is almost wholly a product of living in the DC-Baltimore area. His mother, born in Kentucky, was the daughter of banjo player Garcia Killen and niece of country singer Ked Killen, both colleagues of Kenny Baker. His father, born in Massachusetts, was at one time a jazz critic who contributed to Downbeat magazine.

All of these influences can be discerned in Mark’s music. Most recently, he has toured and recorded with Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass for over a decade.

He began playing the banjo seriously at the age of eleven with some help from his grandfather; not long after, he was playing professionally in regional bands in the DC area. He spent many years with Arnold Hobbs and Partners at the Partners Two club in Centreville, Virginia, where he met (and even played with) many of the bluegrass greats.

He is also a former member of Randy Waller and The Country Gentlemen, The Patuxent Partners, Darren Beachley and Legends of the Potomac, the Good Deale Band, Wayne Taylor and Appaloosa, The Travelers, and Badly Bent.

Mark has been an instructor at the Augusta Heritage Center and Common Ground. In addition to teaching private lessons on his own, Mark has taught at Appalachian Bluegrass in Catonsville, Maryland and the Good Deale Music store in Deale, Maryland.

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