MARC DOUGLAS BERARDO

Singer-songwriter/performer and keen observer, Marc Douglas Berardo combines songs that mine the deep feelings and lesson gleaned from real life characters and situations along with an onstage presence that uses humor and deft storytelling to rally an audience and lead them into a deep and almost spiritual experience. It’s an adventure that brings to mind James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Guy Clark or Steely Dan with a touch of Twain or Hunter S Thompson for good measure. It’s a night of laughter and tears that sends an audience home with a dollop of hope.

Marc Douglas Berardo is the kind of hard working, fast moving, adventure seeking, keen observer who lives for the story and the song. In what amounts to song length works of fiction, Berardo’s sharply drawn, award winning song portraits cast a net on unusual and beguiling characters and places. With a painter’s eye for detail, and music firmly rooted in the great American sound, Berardo sings about circus retirees, expatriates in Florida rum bars, union iron workers, old poets, aimless New York City debutantes, near death car crashes, hard-nosed fishermen and of course, the changes that experience brings to everyone. He does this “simply and well” with what Rambles Cultural Magazine calls: “careful images and great tunes”. 

“I try to write about people and situations that interest and entertain me. Subjects and places that I feel a connection with and that are unique in a quiet way. Real people and places caught in the moment, almost like a documentary film or a novel. At the same time, I need the music itself to take me somewhere…to make me feel something. The words have to sing and the music has to work. The kind of song that does those things is my idea of a good time.” 

Berardo's people settled in Rye, NY. He is listed as a "notable alumni" of The Iona Preparatory, New Rochelle, NY along with some other accomplished and colorful attendees including: Don Mclean (American Pie, Vincent), Frank Mara (Co-Owner of The NY Giants), Frank Abagnale (Bank fraud perpetrator and subject of the film Catch Me If You Can) and actor Bud Cort (Harold and Maude). After a failed attempt at college at Boston's Northeastern University (where he learned to play guitar and performed publicly for the first time), Berardo hightailed it to Florida where he eventually earned a BA in English and Creative Writing (pieced together at several schools Flagler College, U of Florida and The U of North Florida). 

Berardo’s first steady music gig was in a biker bar in Butler Beach, Florida in 1988 and since that day he has never stopped singing made up songs, performing an average of 150 nights a year everywhere from bars and coffeehouses to theaters and national festivals and venues such as The legendary Towne Crier Cafe (NY), Narrows Center for the Arts (MA), The Fairfield Performing Arts Center (CT), Tupelo Music Hall (NH), The Bluebird Café (TN), Snapple Sunset Concert Series (RI), The Emelin Theater (NY), The Hamilton (DC), Susie’s House Concerts (MD), Mile High Concerts (CO), The Opening Bell (TX), Cafe Lena (NY) , The Mansion on O St (DC), Zelda's (CA), The Freight and Salvage (CA), The Ramshead Onstage (MD),The Katherine Hepburn Theater (CT), Jonathan's (ME), The Evening Muse (NC), The Wildflower Art and Music Festival (TX), The Historic Cooper House (MD), The Living Room (NY), Hard Rock Cafe (MA), Anderson Fair (TX), Fiddler's Dream (AZ), Smokin’ Tuna (FL), St Anne's Chapel in Vatican City, Italy. 

Along the way he has shared the stage with a variety of national acts including  The Doobie Brothers, Peter Rowan, NRBQ, Guy Clark, Vassar Clements, Ralph Stanley, blues legend Chris Smither, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members The Buffalo Springfield, Brooks Williams, Martin Sexton, Kim Richey, Amy Speace, Buddy Mondlock, Norman Blake (Oh Brother Soundtrack), Steve Forbert, Mustard's Retreat, Justin Townes Earle, Eric Anderson, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Red Molly, Garnet Rogers, Eilen Jewell Band, Greg Trooper, Cliff Eberhardt, Ruthie Foster, Cheryl Wheeler, Lucy Kaplansky, Livingston Taylor, Catie Curtis, Kate Taylor, The Pousette-Dart Band, Kevin Welch, Eric Taylor, Will Kimbrough, Kenny White, David Olney, The Kennedys, Eric Taylor, Jimmy LaFave, and John Hiatt among others. 

As a member of The DesBerardo Band with his brother Chris, Marc has been a part of shows with classic rock acts including Little Feat, America, Foreigner, The Marshall Tucker Band, Badfinger, David Allen Coe, Levon Helm, Dickey Betts and Great Southern, Reckless Kelly and others. In recent years Marc has participated in several well-regarded song workshop and performance excursions in exotic locations including Costa Rica, Islamorada and Bimini, Bahamas. 

Berardo's fifth CD entitled WHALEBONE was released in Sept, 2013. Recorded in NYC, Woodstock, NY and rural Connecticut and produced by Brother Chris Berardo, Whalebone is a supremely crafted collection of songs about change, reemergence, strength and survival. Guests include the legendary Jon Pousette-Dart (The Pousette-Dart Band), Abbie Gardner (Red Molly), Lincoln Schleifer (Rosanne Cash, Richard Shindell, The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule, Donald Fagen). 

In May of 2014, Berardo won the coveted Michael Terry’s People’s Choice Award at the 2014 Wildflower Art and Music Festival Song Contest in Texas.  The following week he performed as a finalist in the legendary Kerrville New Folk Contest at the Kerrville Folk Festival. In early 2015, Berardo's feature appearance on Sirius/ XM Satellite Radio's The Village was voted one of the best of the year by listeners. Berardo was nominated as "Best Americana Vocalist" by the readers of Motif Magazine in early 2017. 

 Marc’s current record project, “Temporary Things”  is planned for release  in 20212

SHORT BIO:

Singer-songwriter/performer and keen observer, Marc Douglas Berardo combines songs that mine the deep feelings and lesson gleamed from real life characters and situations along with an onstage presence that uses humor and deft storytelling to rally an audience and lead them into a deep and almost spiritual experience. It’s an adventure that brings to mind James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Guy Clark or Steely Dan with a touch of Twain or Hunter S Thompson for good measure. It’s a night of laughter and tears that sends an audience home with a dollop of hope.

Rhode Island based Marc Douglas Berardo is a hardworking, fast moving, adventure seeking, keen observer who lives for the story and the song. No Depression Magazine called his latest CD Whalebone: “a highly polished personal collection with songs that are on the delicate trapeze of poignancy.”  He has been nationally recognized for his music and performances (Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Song contest, Telluride Troubadour Contest, Sisters Folk Festival, 2013 Rams Head Onstage Rammie for Show of the Year.) 

Berardo’s first music show was in a biker bar in Allston, MA in 1987 and since that day he has never stopped performing made up songs. He has opened for the stage with heavyweights such as The Doobie Brothers, The Pousette Dart Band, Jimmy Lafave, Martin Sexton, 10,000 Maniacs, Red Molly, John Hiatt, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Buffalo Springfield, Kevin Welch, Lucy Kaplansky, David Olney, Kim Richey, Will Kimbrough and Livingston Taylor.  As a member of Chris Berardo and The DesBerardo Band with his brother Chris, Marc has been a part of shows with classic rock acts including Little Feat, The Marshall Tucker Band, Foreigner, Badfinger, Reckless Kelly, America, David Allen Coe, Levon Helm, Dickey Betts and Great Southern and others. 

In May of 2014, Berardo won the 2014 Wildflower Art and Music Festival Song Contest in Texas. The following week he performed as a finalist in the legendary Kerrville New Folk Contest at the Kerrville Folk Festival. In early 2015, Berardo's interview and live performance feature on Sirius/ XM Satellite Radio's, The Village was voted one of the best of the year by listeners. Berardo was nominated as Best Americana Vocalist by readers of Motif Magazine in early 2017. 

 Marc’s current record project, “Temporary Things”  is planned for release  in 2022.

VERY SHORT BIO:

Singer-songwriter/performer and keen observer, Marc Douglas Berardo combines songs that mine the deep feelings and lesson gleamed from real life characters and situations along with an onstage presence that uses humor and deft storytelling to rally an audience and lead them into a deep and almost spiritual experience. It’s an adventure that brings to mind James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Guy Clark or Steely Dan with a touch of Twain or Hunter S Thompson for good measure. It’s a night of laughter and tears that sends an audience home with a dollop of hope.

Rhode Island based Marc Douglas Berardo's songs have been recognized at many prestigious national festivals and events such as the The South Florida Folk  Festival and The Wildflower Art and Music Festival Song Contest where he won The Michael Terry People's Choice Award in 2014.  He was a finalist in the legendary Kerrville New Folk Contest at the Kerrville Folk Festival. In early 2015, Berardo's interview and live performance featured on Sirius/ XM Satellite Radio's, The Village was voted one of the best of the year by listeners.  No Depression Magazine called his last CD Whalebone: “sincere, fluid, charming and above all gripping.” Berardo's 2016 interview and performance on Sirius/ XM's The Village was voted one of the best of the year by listeners. Berardo was nominated as Best Americana Vocalist by readers of Motif Magazine in early 2017.

Marc’s current record project, “Temporary Things” is planned for release in 2022.