American singer-songwriter Mark Erelli caused quite a stir in the industry with his eponymous debut album in 1999. Later that year, he won the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk Award. He followed it up two years later with his sophomore album Compass & Companion which entered the Top Ten of many country charts and earned Erelli a couple of Boston Music Awards nominations. Among the many star contributors on the album was the country singer Kelly Willis who made an appearance on the title track. Erelli's next project - 2001's The Memorial Hall Recording - did without the usual studio setting and employed the acoustics of the Civil War era Memorial Hall in Monson, MA in recording the album. The recording sessions were completed over a span of four days and were released as a documentary. 2004's Hillbilly Pilgrim carried elements of country, rockabilly and swing and was followed by Hope & Other Casualties, released in 2006. Post touring with Lori McKenna on Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul 2 Soul tour, Erelli began work on his seventh studio album - Delivered. The 11-track record was a huge success and had critics lamenting over Erelli's limited mainstream reach. Some of his top songs include "By Degrees," "My Darling," "The Boys of Summer," "Passing Through," "For a Song," "Imaginary Wars," "Her Town Now," "Blindsided," "Brokedown Palace," "Look Up," "The Hitter" and "Oklahoma."
