Durham songwriter/guitarist Mark Cool returns to his Northern homelands for some July shows. Cool was raised in Syracuse, NY, largely by his Mother and an extended collective family, he'll retrun to play a house concert at Grassroots-Dandelion, the collective born in the 70's, and still kicking. He's also lined up gigs in Ithaca, Cortland, and NYC.

Cool's family are no strangers to travelling musicians, hosting many folkies over the years, including Chris Williamson, Holly Near and Pete Seeger.

Cool's grandpa, a banjo player, had a bluegrass trio and his own radio show in Syracuse in the 1930's, and Libba Cotten lived the last years of her life in the home of the Carrier dome and the Orangemen.
As a teenager, Mark learned picking from Dana Klipp, who was Libba's accompaniest and disciple. The tunes have stuck with him over the years, and Cool usually includes at least one Libba song in his live shows.

Tour dates are available on the artist's website, markcool.org