Mark Brinkman makes the news

Pam Tillis and Mark Brinkman at MerlefestNoted bluegrass songwriter Mark “Brink” Brinkman is profiled in today’s edition of The Columbus Dispatch.

The focus of the piece is a new song of Brink’s, With Love from Normandy, which he had performed at a Memorial Day celebration this past weekend. The song is written from the perspective of a young boy who discovers a letter his grandfather had written to his grandmother the day before he died on the beaches of Normandy.

The article also touches on Brink’s decision to pursue his muse as a songwriter in mid-life.

“Seven years ago, I stepped down from the corporate life,” Brinkman said. “I’d been the state manager for American Family Insurance for 10 years. But the travel, the meetings; my kids were growing up without me, my music was suffering. . .” It was a sentence fragment that needed no end.

Brinkman, who still free-lances as a claims adjuster, has been playing with notes and rhymes for 40 years.

“I like performing,” he said, “but I don’t need to perform. On the other hand, I need to write.”

You can read the full piece online.

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