Mark Roberts of Mattapoisett has been playing music for over 30 years. But while so many musicians were hypnotized by the gyrating fingers and slippery vibrato of volcanic rock and roll, Roberts was enamored by the rustic and stark intensity of folk music. When he was a student at ORR, Roberts was first exposed to Irish-influenced music by one of his teachers. In the early 1970s, Southeastern Massachusetts University, now known as UMass, Dartmouth, often featured regional acoustic folk acts. He attended these shows frequently and his love for the music grew stronger.
“The music I was drawn to was the instrumental music, which eventually became known as ‘Celtic,’” Roberts said. “Celtic is really a mix of Scottish, Irish, and Welsh influenced music.”
What began as an interest in the music progressed into a hobby, and eventually a career as a working musician. Roberts plays several instruments, including the five-string banjo, Irish flute, tin whistle, and guitar. He was a founding member of the American-Irish band Touchstone, which was featured on A Prairie Home Companion on NPR in 1983.
He has also had the good fortune of playing to an international crowd. Roberts has played in bands in Vancouver and toured Sweden with fiddle orchestra, Childsplay. But being a steadily employed musician isn’t easy.
“It takes a lot of stamina,” he said.
These days Roberts is more of a family man; he and his wife Andrea Cooper, who is also a flutist, have a five-year-old son. Roberts said he works as a carpenter and substitute bus driver in between gigs.
“It’s a much different [music] scene now,” he said.
They were living in Seattle until three years ago when they decided to move back to Mattapoisett to be closer to Roberts’ mother.
His next gig is at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford on Saturday, March 17. Roberts will be a featured musician at the annual St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn concert, organized by WGBH host Brian O’Donovan. The two men have known each other for over 20 years as O’Donovan was a big supporter of Roberts’ band, Touchstone. O’Donovan, who also organizes the Christmas Celtic Sojourn concert in December, has long been involved in promoting Celtic and folk music.
“Brian is great. He acts as sort of a filter for all the various music involved in the Celtic genre,” Roberts said.
The St. Patrick’s Day show, which has a second performance on Saturday, March 24, at the Sanders Theater in Cambridge, will feature several musicians representing different styles of folk, including Susan McKeown, The Bee Eaters, and Michael Brunnock. Roberts will be playing in a trio with Tina Lech and Joey Arbata.
While Mattapoisett may not be the first town that comes to mind for the homestead of a nationally known musician, Roberts loves the town. He lives now in the house he was raised in, surrounded by people he’s known his whole life. His roots can actually be traced back to the Tinkhams, one of the first families to settle here. Though it may feel out of the way, Roberts does not seem to mind.
“What’s great about being in New England is that four hours drive from here is Manhattan. Western Mass, parts of Vermont, Boston, Portland, Maine. I don’t have to fly as much as I used when I lived in the Pacific Northwest,” he said.
Roberts current project in the studio is a follow-up album to The Gloup, which he recorded with guitarist Dan Compton.
By Eric Tripoli