On Saturday, September 20, at 7:30 pm, Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters will headline the eighth show in the Live at the Edmond Town Hall series.

Kozelek has been called one of the greatest songwriters to emerge from an exceptionally strong period for alternative music: the early ‘90s. His outfit from that decade, Red House Painters, crafted a haunting body of work, unparalleled in its vulnerability and honesty.

From the opening notes and words of his latest album under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, Benji, listeners know Kozolek Mark is delving deeper than ever before, with vivid pictures of family members dead and living, and serial killers who die of natural causes. As easily as he can shock with gruesome subject matter, he understands nuance. Listeners have said they end up feeling like they, too, know each person who shows up in these songs.

Benji is the sixth full length record by the musician’s Sun Kil Moon. The album was released in February 2014 and features guest musicians Steve Shelley, Will Oldham and Owen Ashworth. It also includes “Pray For Newtown,” a song Kozelek dedicated to the victims of 12//14 and their families.

It’s been a busy few years for the Live at ETH headliner. In August 2013, Kozelek’s Caldo Verde Records released Mark Kozelek & Desertshore, the third record from Mark Kozelek and Phil Carney's side project, Desertshore. Last year also saw the release of Mark Kozelek Like Rats, two live albums, and the Mark Kozelek-Jimmy Lavalle collaboration, Perils From The Sea. 

Mark Kozelek & Desertshore and Perils From The Sea made Mojo’s top 100 best albums of the year.

In 2012, Kozelek released an 18 track album under his Sun Kil Moon moniker, entitled Among The Leaves. He also toured solo in support of the album and made his debit TV appearance on Fallon, performing with The Roots.

In August 2011, the film Mark Kozelek: On Tour was released via Caldo Verde Records, the label Kozelek founded in 2005. The film follows Kozolek on two different tours in support of the Sun Kil Moon release Admiral Fell Promises, released in 2010. The album was played entirely by Kozelek on nylon string guitar and includes te noriginal songs. A limited EP entitled I’ll Be There coincided with the release. The four song EP includes one out-take and three covers, including The Jacksons’ “I’ll Be There.” On November 22, 2011, Desertshore’s second album was released. Kozelek contributed vocals to six of the album’s ten tracks.

In previous years the entertainer released a 14-song live album, a 13-song live album, his third album with Sun Kil Moon, a hardback edition collection of his lyrics (and a now out of print 12-song rarities CD featuring covers of HuskerDü, Stephen Sondheim, Kath Bloom, Low, et al). Between 1992 and 1999 Mark released six full length studio albums with Red House Painters.

His music has been licensed to numerous television shows including The O.C., The Big C, Revenge, Brothers and Sisters, Friday Night Lights and Sons of Anarchy, as well as several films including Tarnation, Against The Current, The Elephant In The Livingroom,, Excess Baggage, and Vanilla Sky. Kozelek also scored original music for the films Farewell Bender, Last Ball and Lorena Ochoa: el Camino a la Cima.

Additional highlights include producing Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver; Retrospective, a two-CD collection featuring various rarities and live tracks alongside favorite RHP material; and appearing as an actor in Cameron Crowe’s critically acclaimed Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.

The Live at Edmond Town Hall series was launched and continues to be organized by Newtown resident Hayden Bates. All profits from this show will go toward ongoing the renovation of the Edmond Town Hall Theater.  This is the eighth show in the series; previous guests have included The Low Anthem (two shows), Bill Frisell and Sam Amidon, Brown Bird, Phosphorescent, Fred Hersch, and Autumn Defense.

Tickets are $25 each and are available at www.edmondtownhall.org/liveateth.