Who is The Real Mark Wimberley?

     Raised on vintage country and southern gospel music, Bluegrassically trained musician, singer-songwriter, Time Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year, and entertainer Mark Wimberley is a full time guitarist with the award-winning Wimberley Bluegrass Band. This page is just his random thoughts as he thinks them with no connections to his band's official website.

I'm The Real Mark Wimberley: accept no substitutes!  I'm a musician, vlogger, blogger, humorist, and Communications Practitioner. Allow me to introduce myself to you:

I was born very young, and in a hospital so I could be near my mother who was visiting at the time.  The first thing I did on this planet was relieve myself all over the nurse. I've always been one for great first impressions. Right after that, I started talking. And I talked. And I talked.

And.

I.

Talked.

It wasn't too long before I outgrew my consistent incontinence and began to expand my sense of humor. It seemed as though I was born to be an entertainer. All the home videos bear witness to the incessant babbling that I had a natural talent for.

As a homeschooler, I took up the hobby of film making....except I didn't have a high quality camera, I didn't have a crew, I didn't even have any equipment outside of a digital camera. I rarely worked with a script, and filmed using the camera's stop-motion feature. The subjects of my films were often centered around original characters, such as a rat named John Charles Albert Müridae, a scientist, sharpshooter, and politician, who was supposedly over 400 years old.

Then, in 2005, my siblings and I stumbled by accident upon "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. 1", and our lives were changed forever. Three words: Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Yeah, we started a band because of that song.

Here we are, thirteen years strong in the music industry. We've performed for a TEDx event, we've supplied background music for "The Middle", an ABC sitcom (season 6, episode 15), we've performed in TN, AR, MO, CA, NV, TX, and MS, performed Carol Barnett's "Bluegrass Mass" with the Chapman University Singers, we've recorded five albums, hosted our own radio show on ChapmanRadio.com (Wimberley Bluegrass Hour, 5 seasons, 2014-2016), and so much more! We ain't ever gonna slow down, we love it so much!

But back to my story. I started college at 16 years old. I had to choose a major and it was a toss-up between Computer Information Systems and Interpretive Origami. Since I knew nothing about Origami and I loved playing around with computers, the decision was easy for me.

After earning two Associate's Degrees in Computer Information Systems and Liberal Arts, it was time to make the transfer of my life! I went to Chapman University, this time, my major was in Communication Studies. Never has a major suited me better. I loved the classes. I excelled at communicating. But what to do with the degree? Who even hires Communication Studies grads?

I worked backstage the largest bluegrass festival on the west coast as an Artist Liaison. That was practical application of my Small Group Communication class, and was a real-life look at the concept of Cultural Identity!

I worked with a marketing team for a local restaurant in Old Towne Orange. This was practical application of my Social Media class, my Business Communication class, and gave me some great hands-on experience in marketing.

I am a Program Coordinator at my local library. If you're ever browsing their website and see "NaNoWriMo"...yeah, that was me. I worked with the OPLF and the NaNoWriMo organizations to host their Write In events, along with their Kick-Off parties the week prior. This is practical application of....wow, so many of my classes.

Then, I worked a great day job (because bluegrass music only pays the bills if you don't mind starving to death, and I'm just too busy to die right now) in the Marketing department of Chapman University, my old alma mater. It was just like coming home to family!

My first blog, "The Life of a Bluegrass Musician", was started late one night while I was doing Calculus homework. I worked hard to make sure that it brought unspeakable laughter and joy to it's readers.

My YouTube channel started because people were requesting me to sing songs. From there it sort of snowballed, and I re-discovered my love of performing for cameras. I also found a new way to connect with people.

Alright. That was a lot to read. Here's the lightning round:

-I used to teach Karate

-I love traveling and have visited 28 of the United States.

-I got to jam with Ricky Skaggs once in a mutual friend's living room.

-I eat left-handed, but write right-handed. #SouthPawNation

-The only gig for which I've played an electric instrument was a Franklin Graham event in 2015


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