From Science to Songs: Mark Winters Takes the Stage in Franklin

Since mid-August, acoustic rock artist Mark Winters has set his sights on touring a multi-stop tour across North America.

His “Good Vibes Highway Tour” is stopping in Franklin on Nov. 2, where he’s set to play at the Mockingbird Theatre. 

Winters’ musical background is a bit different than average. He started playing music later into his adulthood, picking up guitar as an anniversary gift for his wife back in Sugar Land, Texas. His background is in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, so he felt like music was a little out of left field.

But he fell in love with it after he learned how much connection he can make through writing and performing songs. 

“I was born a lover of math, science and sports, but I decided that I wanted to sing a song for my wife for our anniversary,” Winters said in an interview with Williamson Scene. “So I went to a local guitar shop, and I got the guy there to teach me a song. I played it for my wife at our favorite Italian restaurant, and it was transcending. It was amazing. I became obsessed.” 

When he first started playing, he worked on covers of songs he felt fit his ethos. Winters describes himself as being a positive, uplifting person, and he wants his songs to be a direct reflection of that emotion. He started writing his own music and had recorded his debut pop-rock record, "Slipstream," by 2019. 

With an undergraduate degree in aerospace, Winters considers himself to be a bit of a science buff. He designed helicopters and airplanes before focusing more on his career in music. As he continued working, he began to intertwine his love of science and music, writing songs that combined the two. 

“I wrote a song called ‘Boundary Layer,’ and it’s about breaking through boundaries, which, philosophically, makes sense," he said. "We all have to do that to get our own way, right? We push through things. But then there’s also computational fluid dynamics. There’s boundary layer theory, where particles have to fight through other particle boundaries to find a new direction. I find this juxtaposition of science and philosophy that feels really natural to me, and I sing about it.” 

Winters has found a niche writing about the world through a scientific lens. He released his record "The Science In Me" this past week. The album relies on scientific references, like in his songs “Velocity” and “Triangulation.” The most important element to Winters, though, is his unwavering ability to stay positive in his music, even through tough times. 

“I was born looking for the positive, the silver linings in things,” he said. “This is kind of how my brain is wired. I’ve had my share of trials and tribulations like everyone else, but I usually try to think of those things as learning moments. It’s natural for me to live in this sort of science meets poetry meets positivity. When I release a song, I make sure that those three elements are in it.”

Winters will be performing at the Mockingbird Theater on Monday, Nov. 2.

Doors open at 6 p.m. The performance is at 7 p.m.