Mark Oglesby, who is currently on the road as tour manager for Kane Brown’s Blessed & Free tour, has been managing touring acts for over 20 years. His career has been on a steady upward trajectory ever since it began with a chance meeting with a young bluegrass band he met in a bar—The Clark Family Experience—who invited him to be their road manager. He went on to managing tours for Jennifer Nettles with Sugarland, Billy Carrington, and Emerson Drive before moving over to pop artists including Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Pink, and OneRepublic. I caught up with Oglesby to speak about how he got into the business, learn about advice he has gotten and would offer and the mentors that have helped shape his touring career.
How’d you get into the concert touring industry?
When I was 20, I dropped out of college. I was into the outdoors life at the time, rock climbing and hiking, so I moved to northeast Tennessee thinking I would hike the Appalachian Trail. I was there for a few months and met a guy that was moving to Nashville to be a guitar player. I had never been to Nashville, and he asked, ‘You want to come with me?’ And I mean, I’m a 20-year-old kid, so sure, off we went. That was February of 2001.
I’d just turned 21 and met a band that was playing at a bar—The Clark Family Experience—they’d just signed to Curb Records. They were a bluegrass group of six brothers all around my age. We hung out all night, and they asked me to be their road manager. I was 21 and didn’t have a cell phone; I didn’t have anything. So, I went to a pay phone at Burger King, and called their manager in Beverly Hills, and he immediately thought that this was a bad idea but he flew me out to Los Angeles and interviewed me. He said, ‘Well, the guys want you, so off you go.’ And the rest is history.
You started in country, then moved into pop. What was the country link to OneRepublic?
OneRepublic is where I really made my career. Ryan Tedder, the singer of OneRepublic, as fate would have it, is a cousin of the Clarks, that first band I started with. During 2001, some of the Clarks were living with me and asked, ‘Can our cousin crash at your place?’ It was a young Ryan Tedder, who in a few years would move out to Los Angeles to pursue songwriting. When OneRepublic started in 2007, I was the only guy he knew that was a tour manager, so he called me to ask if I would take them on. At that point in my career, it didn’t make sense to leave a successful career with established acts to go start working with a potential one-hit wonder band, but I did and it turned out to be the catalyst in my career.
What do you think is an important quality needed to be a tour manager?
Being proactive; being a unifier. I think some of them are intangibles—you’ve got to be a self-starter; you’ve got to be the Energizer bunny and you’ve got to find the energy; you’ve got to find the answers; and be a problem solver. I think being a problem solver is definitely one of those fundamental facets you’ve got to have as a tour manager.
Was there a particular job, that you think, really set you on your career path?
While working with the Clarks, I connected with Jeff Gregg, their agent at Creative Artists Agency. He’d also signed Little Big Town, and this Canadian band, Emerson Drive. Fortunately, he recognized very quickly that I had something. He called me and said, ‘Emerson Drive’s getting ready to go out and support Shania Twain on her Up! Tour. I think you’d be a good fit for them if you’d like to do something bigger.’ That came out of the blue, plucking me out of obscurity. And, of course, I’d have to say partnering with Ryan and building what we built with OneRepublic. I didn’t realize it, for the 14 years I was their tour manager, but especially now, outside of it looking in, that it was absolutely the spark that lit the fire for sure; that’s the foundation of my career.
Who are some of the people whose support has been key to your success, perhaps as mentors or advisors?
There’s a Tour Manager, Dave Brown who worked with NSYNC, Janet Jackson, Britney, and recently with Miley. He’s an old road dog, who has just seen it all—and done it all. He’s really a guy that I value and look up to. Fred Kharrazi with Maroon 5 is another. OneRepublic, early in their career, supported Maroon 5, so Fred’s another guy that I reach out to check in with. Over in Germany, there’s Matt Schwarz who was with Live Nation, and now he’s doing his own thing. Simon Moran in the UK, of SJM Touring. He’s a guy that’s just a super cunning businessman and wise. He’s a manager for Spice Girls and other acts, but he is also a promoter. I really glean a lot from his experiences. I’m a people person and a sponge; I like to soak up knowledge and experience from other people. I am not too proud to ever pick a phone up and say, ‘I’ve never approached this,’ or even if I have, ‘how have you done it?’ and try to find out how those folks do it.
Is there a piece of advice you got at the start of your career that you still find applicable today and what advice would you give to someone starting out?
I don’t remember who first said it; it’s ‘we’re not saving souls out here.’ I really like that because on one hand, I do take what I do very seriously, in that I believe in the arts and the creative side of life. I believe in giving society a safe space to hang up their worries for a while, so they can just enjoy themselves without the daily stressors. But on the flip side of that—and we just learned over the past 18 months—it’s not necessary. It was very humbling because we did realize we don’t need live events. We want them, but we don’t actually need them. It’s not oxygen. We don’t have to have this to live.
When we’re out there on the road, and things are inevitably going to get tough, just take a step back for a second and take a deep breath. Look, we’re not frontline workers. We’re not storming Normandy Beach here. We’re putting on a concert, so people can have fun. We’re not saving lives. So, that’s always stayed with me. There are other ways to say it—don’t sweat the small stuff; it’s all small stuff. Like I said I take my work seriously but you have to have it in perspective.
For advice I would offer to someone starting out—You’re going to have to put sweat equity in, in this business. This is a very on-the-job training skillset and you have to show up and put in the work. And put your pride at the door; it’s a team effort always. This is a ‘tide rises, all ships rise’ industry. Nobody can do the work for you; you’ve got to do the work.
What do you enjoy most about your career?
For me it’s the relationships, especially being blessed enough to be able to travel the world. I remember the first time I went to Germany, and three of four of my grandparents served in World War II. I remember talking to the bus driver, who was German, saying, ‘My grandpa was trying to kill your grandpa over here.’ He laughed, saying, ‘My grandpa was a Nazi, but I’m so far from that.’ We became friends on the tour, and I would sit in the jump seat and exchange stories about our cultures and growing up. That type of situation occurred in Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America. You make friends all over the globe and realize, it’s so cliché, but we really are all just the same species and we’re products of our environment.
I’m very thankful for those opportunities, because growing up in the Midwest, I was raised one certain way. And, especially post 9/11, just seeing other parts of the world that you only saw on the news—sometimes portrayed in a negative light—but then you experience it yourself and you realize, ‘this is awesome.’ Now here I am in my 40s and I’ve got friends all over the world.
What’s surprised you most about your career?
It’s shocking to me that I am supporting a family doing this. I pay for my son’s education, our mortgage, and our health insurance by traveling around the world, helping people put on concerts. It’s bizarre to me, in the best way possible. I learned through the shutdown that even us on the backside of the curtain, who aren’t on stage, how much we need this. How ingrained it is to do this; I’ve been doing this for half my life now and I love it.
Reach Michael S. Eddy at meddy@timelesscom.com
