Marc Andrew Gunn (born March 17, 1972) is an American musician and

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

. Gunn rose to prominence as the

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

-playing half of the

Brobdingnagian Bards The Brobdingnagian Bards are a Celtic music group from Austin, Texas, United States. History Marc Gunn, formerly of Austin Texas' alternative rock bands Skander and Breastfed, released a solo album (''Geography'') featuring himself on autoharp a ...

. He and partner Andrew McKee developed a following with weekly performances on the campus of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. This led to gigs at

renaissance faire A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

science fiction conventions Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expre ...

, and Celtic music festivals as well as parties and weddings for the pair. The group headlined at the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

party for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.'' After the group split up in 2008, Gunn became a prolific recording musician in the Celtic music community, releasing eleven new albums between 2008 and 2011. His recording of "Rising of the Moon" earned an award in 2013 in the Celtic Radio Music Awards for "Best Roots Traditional". Gunn was an early adopter of podcasting and one of the few professional podcasters. He started podcasting in May 2005, but it was July when he released his most-successful podcast,

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

. This show began as a spinoff of his Celtic Music Magazine email newsletter. It quickly eclipsed the newsletter's success. The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is an hour-long show focusing primarily on independent Celtic musicians and bands. The music styles range from traditional Irish songs and tunes to modern Celtic rock from around the world. It won in the "Best Podsafe Music" category three times in the

Podcast Awards The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are global awards given annually to the best podcasts as voted by the general public. Founded in 2005 by Todd Cochrane of Podcast Connect Inc., the Podcast Awards changed han ...

in 2009, 2010, and 2017.

Musical career

Marc Gunn began his Celtic music career as one-half of the Brobdingnagian Bards. He produced the Bards' early albums. In 2004, Gunn released his first solo album, ''Soul of a Harper''. He then embarked on work on one of his most-popular albums, ''Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers''. The Brobdingnagian Bards band broke up amicably on September 15, 2008. Gunn began performing solo. He released several albums a year with four full-length studio albums released in 2008, three in 2009, and two in 2010. Gunn continued releasing 1–2 albums each year. He began diverging from his traditional Celtic music base with more Geek-themed albums inspired by ''Firefly,'' ''Lord of the Rings'', and other science fiction pop culture media shows. He performs solo and with groups at various conventions like Gen Con and Dragon Con each year.

Podcasting career

As a fan of Celtic music, Marc Gunn started the ''Celtic Music Magazine'' in 2000. It began as a weekly publication that reviewed Celtic music of all varieties from Irish traditional music to

Celtic rock Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been extremely prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundat ...

. On July 28, 2005, he began publishing the ''Irish & Celtic Music Podcast''. It was the second podcast of Celtic music to be released. Gunn created the show to help independent Celtic musicians find new fans. The show grew in popularity. In its early days, it is claimed to have had over 20,000 downloads per episode and was one of the top music podcasts on iTunes. The show currently claims over 10,000 downloads per episode and is in the top 90% of all podcasts, according to Libsyn stats. The podcast won "Best Podsafe Music" in the annual

for 2009. This win was repeated in 2010 and again in 2017. Gunn was one of the first professional podcasters. In 2006, he started Song Henge to fund the podcast production. In 2014, he joined

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...

Bibliography

*''Bella Filíocht : Heartfelt Poetry of a Celtic Italian Hopeful Romantic'' (2005) *''Mozart's Digital Concerto: The Quick and Easy Guide to Classical Music Downloads'' (2005)

Discography

*''Intent on World Domination'' with Skander (1995) *''Breastfed'' with Breastfed (1997) *''Ichabod's Geography'' (1998) *''October Sessions'' (1998) *''Mountain Rain'' (2001) *''Celtic Love & War'' (2002) *''Soul of a Harper'' (2004) *''When Kitty Eyes Are Smiling'' (2005) *''Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers'' (2005) *''4 Irish Whiskey Drinking Songs'' (2006) *''A Collection of Irish Pub Songs'' (2007) *''Irish Drinking Songs: A Cat Lover's Companion'' (2007) *''Three Movie and TV Songs for Geeks Like Me'' (2007) *''A Tribute to Love'' (2008) *''A Gift of Cat Love'' (2008) *''Whiskers in the Jar: Irish Songs for Cat Lovers'' (2008) *''Going for Brogue: Irish Pub Songs and Sea Shanties with an Accent'' (2008) *''What Color Is Your Dragon? Folk Music with Delusions of Grandeur'' (2008) *''Heart's Ease: Instrumental Autoharp Music'' (2009) *''Live at the Cactus Cafe'' (2009) *''Happy Songs of Death'' (2009) *''The Bridge (Marc Gunn album), The Bridge'' (2010) *''Kilted For Her Pleasure'' (2010) *''Firefly Drinking Songs'' with Bedlam Bards (2011) *''Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits'' (2011) *''Not Every Day Is St. Patrick's Day'' (2013) *''Scottish Songs of Drinking and Rebellion'' (2013) *''How America Saved Irish Music'' with Jamie Haeuser (2014) *''Sci Fi Drinking Songs'' (2014) *''Celtic Christmas Greetings'' (2014) *''Celtic Love'' (2015) *''St Patrick's Day Songs for Songs'' (2015) *''Pirates vs. Dragons'' (2016) *''Name On My Soul'' (2017) with Kilted Kings *''Celtic Halloween'' EP (2017) *''As Long As I'm Flyin (2018) In 2012, he contributed supporting vocals for the

Worm Quartet Worm Quartet is a comedy music project created by Timothy F. Crist who uses the stage moniker ShoEboX and performs fast, synth-driven, pseudo-metal punk/pop. The band was formed in 1991 and its name is a reference to cartoons Crist used to draw. ...

song "Goddammit Marc Gunn, Shut Up About Your Cat" on the album ''Songs of the Maniacs''. See

for additional discography.

Compilations produced and featured on

*''Coventina's Well'' (2003) *''Secret World of Celtic Rock'' (2005) *''The Circle'' (2006) Hurricane Katrina benefit CD co-produced with Modern Bard *''Victims of Irish Music'' (2007) *''Renaissance Festival Podcast Compilation'' (2008) *''Best of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast'' (2009) *''Best Irish Drinking Songs'' (2013) *''A Celtic Christmas'' (2014)

References

External links

Marc GunnCeltfather Music & TravelMarc's DeviantArtBrobdingnagian BardsCeltic Music MagazineIrish & Celtic Music PodcastRenaissance Festival PodcastPub Songs PodcastCeltic Invasion VacationsMarc Gunn, This Is Your Life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunn, Marc 1972 births Living people Filkers American autoharp players Renaissance fair performers Celtic folk musicians American podcasters Musicians from Texas