With a rousing production in front of the keys, Paul Mark leads listeners through his video for “Bridge To Nowhere,” evoking the sounds of seedy piano bars and clandestine boulevards of the jazz era. A cut from Mark’s latest record, Stowaways, “Bridge To Nowhere” represents the dark and disenchanted side of American entertainment from an entertainer coming of age in The Lost Generation.

Mark, who acts as a reluctant harbinger of shade growls through the track, attempting to keep his traction in performance despite nearly collapsing in anguish. Mark reminds one of a Tom Waits figure – particularly from The Heart of Saturday Night era – fading into his jaundiced stage persona as effortlessly as he does the shadows that seem to befall him. Mark seems entrapped in his storytelling, as if he is an indentured servant of the piano, performing a speakeasy gig in perpetuity.

According to Mark, Stowaways couches his blues/roots rock sound for something more oriented towards boardwalk barking and familiarly antiquated in the stillness of American . Mark certainly hits this niche on “Bridge To Nowhere,” joined by a lone standup bass straight plucked with sublime melancholia.

Mark is furtively reconstructing the image of the beloved entertainer in his new video. “Bridge To Nowhere” is as thoroughly dark Americana as something from the murky depths of a Lomax compilation.

For more information and any upcoming tour dates, visit Mark’s site.

– Jake Tully