Singer-songwriter Mark Werchowski is releasing a new project. His latest collection of tunes, “Goin’ to California,” the final installment in a years-long digitization project, will now be available on all major music streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon.
Werchowski is perhaps best known for his Central New York holiday favorite “Christmas in the Valley,” which has been on the radio in the Mohawk Valley since 1991. The song earned him two ASCAP Awards for Popular Songwriting, but if you’ve seen Mark perform live, you may have heard more of his original music – and for the first time, you can listen to his entire original collection.
The digital release of “Goin’ to California” is the latest installment of a project that has taken about three years, though the music itself has been fifty years in the making. Some of the songs were originally available on “45s” and cassettes upon release, such as “Never Too Old to Rock & Roll,” “Take Care of Your Friends,” “Cruisin’” and “Love on Fire.” Others have never been released.
Guitarist Mark Werchowski
Anyone with an ear for the CNY music scene will recognize songs performed by Werchowski while headlining bands such as NightTrain, Dillinger, and the Mark Werchowski Band at local institutions such as Four Acres, West Leyden Hotel, JJ’s, and local events like Utica Monday Night and Mountain Jam – not to mention numerous festivals, field days and nightclubs from Syracuse to Albany, and as far north as Malone, at one time or another.
In fact, Mark took his music all the way to Los Angeles, which gives this latest collection its name. Mastered by VSO Productions of California and Scalea, Italy, this collection includes original studio recordings from 1986. The original reel-to-reel audio tape was restored by “baking,” which dehydrates the tape in a 140 degree oven to lower the moisture content and temporarily return the audio to full quality for digitization.
“For the last three years we’ve been going through boxes of stuff and trying to organize my fifty years of playing and writing music…cassettes, videotapes, burned CDs.” Werchowski said. “So much effort, love and blood, sweat and tears went into these songs. It seemed to me that they deserved to see the light of day, so here they are.”
The original 1986 tape at the core of this new collection was recorded at UCA Recording in Utica, NY, a sixteen track studio on Lenox Street.
“The money to record original material was always an issue, as none of us were trust fund babies,” Mark said with a laugh. “Many of the songs discovered are unfinished demos from studios in Syracuse, Utica and as far away as Los Angeles.”
The entire digital collection features over forty songs, some professionally recorded, some restored from live recordings, but all remastered for the streaming era. “Goin’ to California” is the last installment in the archival collection.
“This is everything that is of any quality that we could find.” Werchowski said. “After more than three years of effort, I feel great about having them out there. Now I just have to record my other 25 songs I rediscovered along with newer tunes I’ve been working on…”
The musician continued, “If I don’t go back and honor all this previous work, it takes away from the idea of moving forward. I’ve just lost too many compadres…”
Indeed, Central New York has lost several noted local musicians in recent years, but a few of them live on in the new collection, such as Rokki Mason and Jon Liebing.
“The song ‘Love on Fire’ was recorded in Syracuse.” Werchowski remembers. “Half the band decided to not show up, so Rokki Mason and I created the arrangement. We played all of the instruments except for the ones added by two unexpected walk ins: Jon Liebing, who added a guitar part and sang background vocals, and George O’Day who added an absolutely killer keyboard part in ONE take.”
Indeed, Werchowski could write a Who’s Who of the local music scene. Not only did he become a student of the rock scene in the 1970s and then play live himself for forty years, he also went on to educate several more generations of musicians, first as a private guitar instructor at Big Apple Music and later as a music teacher for Utica City Schools.
As for his own journey, he taught himself along the way. “In 1983, when I recorded my first original release ‘Never Too Old to Rock & Roll,’ I had never been in a recording studio and neither had anyone else in the band.” Werchowski recalled. “I wrote the song in one day and we rehearsed one day and recorded one day…”
He added, “to find that money for recording and to press it into vinyl was a challenge.”
But, when you hear the collection, you’ll be glad they made it happen. “Goin’ to California” captures the rhythm, rhyme, and optimism of a different era in a way new recordings never could.
The final song of the collection, an instrumental called “Odessa,” was recorded more recently in Honolulu, HI and offers a taste of things to come. Werchowski currently spends time on both coasts, as well as Hawaii. If you’d like to get in touch with Mark, you can reach him at werchowski.com.
And if you find yourself someplace else for the holidays this year, “Christmas in the Valley” is also available to stream worldwide.
