To Wake You

2025: A year of many lovely collaborations

Well, 2025 has been mighty rich so far!

Over and above the thrilling adventure of completing Karoline’s new album, EFterårssyn - engineering, mixing and playing a little on it - my 2025 saw the long-awaited release of several wonderful collaborations that have been in work for the previous couple years:
- The single “I Am Every Street” with Kristina Jacobsen.
- Together with Patrick Rydman (Sweden), three singles “You Plus One,” Sailing Time and “Ghosts”, culminating with a full 6-song EP put out in June.
- The single “Buddha in the Box” with Annika Fehling in August. (Lyric video below)

Everything can be found here via this link… or read on for more.

I have always loved these first words to M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled:
"Life is Difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.”
This may give you a little bit of the spirit in which the song You Plus One came. But just a little bit… ;-) 

You Plus One with Patrick Rydman comes out worldwide Friday, Feb 28, with a full 6-song EP out June 6.                                                  

Hear on Bandcamp (lyric video below)

Have you ever wondered what stories the street you’re walking on has witnessed? “I am every street,” a cowrite between songwriters Kristina Jacobsen (US) and Mark Davis (US/DK), is a song that lives into that question. Written from the perspective of the many roads that carry us to our creative and cultural journeys around the world, “I am every street” offers compassionate curiosity to the many roads we’ve traveled and to the ways in which the animate and the inanimate intertwine.

_______________________ 

MARK DAVIS/MARK DAVIS & THE INKLINGS

"Getting at large truths with songs full of human-scale detail and unsentamentalized beauty.  - Los Angeles Times 

“Davis is truly a master of his craft… able to lift spirits even while supporting the weight of the world.” - Orange County Register 

Mark Davis, long recognized as one of Southern California’s most passionate and lyrical artists, gathers inspiration from sources both personal and universal, from the simple moments of daily decisions to larger questions of faith and love. 

Musically, Davis’ hallmarks are a strong, memorable melody, placing him in a territory reminiscent of George Harrison or Crowded House, yet also a love of atmosphere, mood and sonic layers. 

MARK DAVIS LONG BIO

Mark first garnered attention as a singer-songwriter from fans and critics in 1990, during Southern California’s highly acclaimed Nu-Folk Scene. After growing tired of striving for the mythical “brass ring” of a major record deal, Mark decided to create a collection of recordings for his liking alone.  Thus was born the 1995 release You Came Screaming, graced by several talented contributors, including the late-great guitarist Duane Jarvis (Lucinda Williams, Frank Black), guitarist and singer Andrew Williams (Williams Brothers, produced Peter Case). You Came Screaming received astounding praise, including being named by Los Angeles Times as Album of the Year and Orange County’s #1 Album of The Decade. 

Mark’s second release, Immaculate, came in 2001, was created with the collaboration of guitarist/engineer Matt Walin, bassist Al Wolovitch, drummer Monte McConnell, and guitarist/co-producer Casey Dolan. It is a more electric and experimental work than You Came Screaming’s dreamy song-cycle. 

Further into the 2000’s, Mark began what would be a handful of collaborative projects with other songwriters. The first of these was Big Wide Room, with David Zink and Brett Perkins, which involved regular tours on the house concert scene and culminated in the release of their CD, Infinite Distance. 

2010’s Because There’s Nothing Outside sonically solidified Mark’s meeting of the classic songwriter with an edgy experimentation. It is an intimate and personal album about belief and questioning and the music pulls the listener into this territory with beauty and tension. In a universal sense, it tells a story of someone breaking out of a prison, out of an identity they’ve been squeezed into, and can no longer tolerate. This was the first release put out under the name “Mark Davis and the Inklings”- (the Inklings came from a group of writers that used to meet once upon a time to share creative ideas, including JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis). Adding the name, which had also been used in the early 90’s, was now also a means of distinguishing Mark’s offerings from some other “Mark Davises” that were appearing with their own releases. 

2011 also marked the beginning of a powerful partnership (musical and otherwise) between Mark and Karoline Hausted, a songstress-extraordinaire from Denmark. Together they moved to California’s Central Coast, and quickly found themselves joining forces with another central coast couple, Bob and Wendy Liepman of “Bob and Wendy,” to form Shadowlands, releasing the beautiful and very well-received Shadowlands album in 2015.

2016’s From Back of Beyond, consists of a live-to-2-track session Mark and band (including Duane Jarvis on guitar, vocals and mandolin) recorded in one long day at The Control Center in Hollywood back in 1991... Duane had long talked referred to the session as a “record” and, indeed, those recordings had created quite a “buzz” on the LA scene back then. After the tragic passing of guitarist Duane Jarvis, Mark decided to put it out as an official release, adding a couple of new recordings of Davis/Jarvis co-written songs, recorded with Duane’s brother, Kevin, and using Duane’s own guitars.

Mark and Karoline Hausted's first offerings together as a duo were released under the name To Wake You, including Beauty In The Smallest Things (2017) and Winter and the Sacred Tree (2019 as CD, 2022 digitally). Infused with the distinguished talents of the two, this is dreamy, romantic music with hypnotic, introspective, heart-opening qualities. 2024 saw the released by Karoline Hausted & Mark Davis of Tilbage Til Haven - Voices and Traces, written as a musical guide, or soundtrack of sorts, to a trail in Central Jutland, called Sneptrup Præstegårdstien. See more here.

Feel free to dive into all of the above music below!

https://markdavisinklings.bandcamp.com/

Travel Where You Need To (2023)

Tilbage Til Haven - Voices and Traces (2024)

You Came Screaming (1995) 

Immaculate (2000) 

Because There’s Nothing Outside (2010) 

From Back Of Beyond (2016)

Collaborations:  

Infinite Distance  (2013)- BIG WIDE ROOM

Apple Music Link

Shadowlands  (2015)- SHADOWLANDS

 https://music.apple.com/us/album/shadowlands/958358161

Beauty in the Smallest Things (2016) - TO WAKE YOU

Winter and the Sacred Tree (2019) -TO WAKE YOU

The "Winter and the Sacred Tree - A live concert recording" is currently available on CD only, as a special package which includes a 12-page booklet with personal song notes, lyrics and a very special introduction written by Therese Schroeder-Sheker.

It can be ordered directly here:  Order CD.  In San Luis Obispo, CA, it's also available from Boo Boo Records.