Genre: Folk
Active Years: 1963 – 1964
Home Base: Eugene, Oregon
Members
- Rob Anderson – guitar, banjo, bass, vocals
- Marc Ellington – guitar, vocals
- Bill Ayres – bass, banjo, vocals
“I played with Marc Ellington (2 years my senior) while a junior at North Eugene for about a year (1963/4). We called ourselves The Highwaymen. Marc eventually moved to Scotland where he bought and restored a castle where he still lives.” -Rob Anderson, 2016
“Marc spent years restoring a small pink castle, the Towie Barclay Castle, filling it with original artwork, and growing a superb garden. He has recorded several albums, mostly with musicians that had been in Fairport Convention and The Byrds. You can hear him sing on Fairport’s 3rd album “Unhalfbricking” on Dylan’s “Million Dollar Bash”. He was the Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire and a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Scotland.” -Arthur Ticknor, 2020
Rand Bishop says
Marc Ellington was my first mentor. I was in Jr. High School in Lake Oswego when, for several years in the early 60s, my family attended a week-long Episcopal Church Family Camp in Gearhart. Marc was the music leader for the children. A large, barrel-chested, bearded young man with a booming baritone, Marc played his Martin D45 left handed and had a whole lot of the folk lexicon committed to memory. He taught me my first folk guitar techniques, encouraged and coached me as a musician/singer. A few years later,
My first “professional” performance was opening for Marc at Cafe Espresso in Portland in 1963. I was 14. Several years later, I seem to recall a brief article in Time Magazine about American folk singer Marc Ellington moving to the UK to avoid the draft.
In no small measure, due to the encouragement of Marc Ellington, I went on to become a recording artist for several major labels, a platinum producer, Grammy-nominated songwriter and the author of four books. I returned to Oregon in 2012 after 16 years in Nashville, where my songs were recorded by Tim McGraw, Lorrie Morgan, Dan Seals, and Toby Keith (who had a 5-wk #1 with “My List,” country radio’s most-played song of 2002.) I now live in Newport.
I also write the column Makin’ Stuff Up for American Songwriter Magazine. You may be interested in the article I wrote last year about Mickey Newbury, which you’ll find in the magazine’s on-line archives.
Googling Marc Ellington finds a folkie of that name and approximate age who claims Scottish heritage. I’m wondering if Eugene’s Marc Ellington assumed a fabricated past and lives on in Scotland.