Mark T. Small ~ 2025 May 18 ~ Harper Lane Brewery, Middleborough, MA Mark T. Small, vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, resonator guitar, foot percussion Scroll to below video for a review of the show. Video Cuckoo Review Blues guitarist and singer Mark T. Small performed an afternoon show at the Harper Lane Brewery, Middleborough, MA. This is the seventh time I have seen Mark perform. His performance features very talented and creative guitar work, covering songs from many decades of the 20th century, primarily from the blues and rhythm 'n blues genres. He truly has flying fingers. He also has a wildly creative streak. Changing lyrics so that a guitar bluesman is now from Somerset (Mark's hometown); or making a medley out of a song by Jimi Hendrix and a traditional folk song "Old Gray Mare." That kind of thing. This afternoon concert at a brewery provided a visually unusual backdrop of the vats where the beer is brewed, and it wasn't the quietest venue ever, but it was still a lot of fun to hear him perform. I would guess that an evening show at a brewery might not be so good; probably gets more noisy after about 5 pm. Mark is a topnotch entertainer; extremely talented on a range of instruments. At this concert we saw him play guitar, banjo, mandolin, and resonator guitar, as well as providing percussion by tapping his foot on a box that he brings along for this purpose. He's a good singer, a music historian, and with his long blonde hair, stylish stage clothes, and rock guitar faces, he has a unique look on stage. The main difference between this show and other times we've seen Mark perform is that this show was at a brewery, and some of those other shows were at libraries. Shows at libraries = attentive, listening audience. Shows at breweries = not so much. So, Mark, suspend the music historian aspect and don't tell the history of the songs, as much as you might want to. Concert Going Partner and I arrived a few minutes before Mark's set was scheduled to start and ordered a sandwich from the counter next to the room where the performance was to take place, and settled in at a table right in front of Mark. It turned out that this really was a good place to see a show. Mark played a longish first set, took a break for about a half hour, played a moderate second set, took a very short break, and played a short set to take him up to the full four hours. After about an hour a loyal fan of his, Tricia, came in and sat with us, so we got to make a new friend, too.
Mark T. Small
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of the concert