Hello Everyone!

We just finished recording the piano parts of my first instrumental record ever! I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and now it’s becoming a reality. We found a really cool old church in Florence , Italy to record in. When I say old church, I’m talking the 1400′s. They replaced the doors on the church and the doors are still 200 years older than the United States , So… really old.

It was really a lot of fun…and somewhat cold as there wasn’t any heat in the church at the time we recorded in January. I’m not sure what the Italian word for heater is, but it would have come in handy. It was beautiful inside and we got some great pictures and video footage that we will be able to hopefully show here on the website soon.

We even got creative and walked through the streets of Florence and recorded “daily life” to be included on the new record. One highlight was an old man playing his accordion smiling, sitting outside of the biggest church in Florence (The Duomo). We even hung two microphones out of our apartment window to capture the church bells ringing down the street. At the same time you can hear the motorino (mopeds) and ambulances going by…as they do several times a day here.

I’m looking forward to coming back to the States for the “Renaissance Tour” in March and April. I will be playing a few of the new instrumental songs and also giving you a taste of more songs I’m writing for the next album. Jason Gray will be my special guest and David Klinkenberg (fiddle player extraordinaire) will help bring all of the songs to life. Really looking forward to it!! It’s an exciting year for me with my Greatest Hits Album (The Best of Mark Schultz) also being released in time for the Spring Tour. This marks my 11th year in the Christian recording industry and it only gets better–each project is more fun and inspiring than the last and I hope to keep bringing you great stories and songs for years to come.

See you soon!!
Mark