Mark Enyeart spent decades writing songs before releasing his first album. Now, only a short time after finally beginning that journey, he already has a second record.
The singer and songwriter behind Mark’s Music has released Rise Above, his second album created with RockAgent, continuing the process of turning the hundreds of songs and lyrics he has accumulated throughout his life into finished music.
His debut album, Starting Out, represented exactly what its title suggested: after writing lyrics since the early 1990s and singing for around 20 years, Enyeart was finally beginning to release his own music.
With Rise Above, that beginning is already developing into something more established.
“Yes it feels a little different but exciting!” Enyeart said when asked how creating a second album compared with his debut.
Following His Instincts
Enyeart previously revealed that he had written hundreds of songs throughout his life, leaving him with a large collection of material to work from.
Choosing what should become part of a second album, however, was not based on a strict formula.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what songs to put on my second album but went with my gut and what felt right!” he explained.
The result is a nine-track record featuring “I’ll Shine My Light,” “Live For Today,” “Follow Your Dreams,” “Overcome The Odds,” “Unbreakable Spirit,” “Where Did Those Old Days Go,” “Stepping Into Tomorrow,” “Sharpened The Blade,” and “Now Its Our Time.”
Taken together, many of those titles point toward a clear idea running through the record: continuing forward despite obstacles.
Enyeart confirmed that this was intentional.
Songs such as Follow Your Dreams, Overcome The Odds and Unbreakable Spirit give Rise Above a strong theme of perseverance, while Stepping Into Tomorrow and I’ll Shine My Light push that idea toward what comes next.
The album’s title brings those ideas together. If Starting Out was about finally beginning a musical journey that had been delayed for decades, Rise Above is about moving forward with it.
Revisiting “Now Its Our Time”
One song on Rise Above also connects the new album directly to Enyeart’s earlier story.
“Now Its Our Time” previously played an important role around the release of Starting Out. Enyeart described the song as being about parents reaching a new stage in their lives after their children have grown up and left home.
For him, “we” in the song represents the parents who spent years raising their children and can now begin doing some of the things they had planned for themselves.
That meaning was important enough for Enyeart to bring the song into his second album.
“I chose Now Its Our Time to include in my second album because of how it’s described!” he said.
Its presence also fits naturally with the wider theme of Rise Above: leaving one period of life behind and moving into another.
From Decades of Lyrics to Two Albums
The biggest change since Enyeart began using RockAgent may simply be that finishing music is no longer something he is waiting to do.
Before discovering the platform, he had accumulated years of unfinished material. His first album proved that those ideas could become complete songs. A second album now shows that the process can continue.
“Yes I love RockAgent!” Enyeart said. “I’ll be working on more of my music using RockAgent soon!”
That makes Rise Above another step in a much larger project.
Enyeart still has hundreds of songs from across his life to draw from, meaning the two albums released so far represent only a portion of the material he has written.
And his ambitions are beginning to extend beyond simply releasing the songs.
“I’d love to perform my music in the future!” he said.
For someone who spent decades with much of his music existing primarily as lyrics, that would represent another major step.
Starting Out was about finally hearing those songs completed.
With Rise Above, Mark Enyeart is showing that he intends to keep going.
