“Top” Ten Music Losses of 2024: Mark Germino (#6)

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Howdy from the road!! Okay, howdy from Chuy’s before I hit the road. Looks like my plans to go west have gone south, no no Louisiana and Mississippi this time around. I guess I can survive elsewhere. As I head out, I give you some music to contemplate from someone we lost last year. #6: Mark Germino First, let me assure NJ Chic I am NOT deliberately playing “six degrees of Jimmy Buffett.” Yes, there’s a Jimmy Buffett connection here: Mark Germino made albums with the Sluggers, who, as the Louisville Sluggers, were the band fronted by Tim Krekel, who played guitar on Son of a Son of a Sailor and toured with Buffett to end up on the first live album (You Had to Be There). By now you’re probably wondering how I find these things that you’ve never heard of. This is simple: I walked into Ear X-Tacy one day and the guy behind the counter recommended Germino’s album Radartown. I said, “Sure,” and got it. Took it home, burned it to listen to at work (we could listen to Walkmans back in those days at the post office…might be why the service was better ), and was slapped upside my head. WOW, who was THIS guy?! Turns out, Mark Germino was a Vietnam Navy vet who had a little anger about the war, the way the vets were treated, and other things. He had a right to be mad, too (every time I see someone with a Vietnam veteran cap, I shake his hand and say, “Welcome home”). So he put his frustrations on that album. Along the way, he created one of the best songs ever written about corporate radio takeover: “Rex Bob Lowenstein.” That wasn’t Germino’s only flash (although he only recorded six albums in his lifetime). He wrote the Paul Craft hit “Lean on Jesus (Before He Leans on You)” and “Breakin’ It,” a hit for Loretta Lynn. He also wrote three novels. No, you’ve never heard of this guy. But when I heard that he had died in July I was heartbroken. One of those guys who was great, and the whole world needed to know it…but they never did. Mark Germino Born August 12, 1950, North Carolina Died July 3, 2024, Nashville, Tennessee (injuries from a fall) (age 73) The title track from the album that introduced me to him, “Radartown”: