Mark Howley at the Powerhouse Bar. Photos by Jill Fisher.

The band Virgil Caine is a well-known and well-regarded blues band hereabouts; undoubtedly due to Mark Howley, its lead vocalist, guitarist and harp player. This band has been around for a while but besides that Howley has previously played in a number of bands (Centerville All Stars, Wing Tips, The Tempest, Tom Cats, Code Bleu). As he is one of the veterans of our local music scene, I thought getting to know him would provide me some good background.  

I found out he’s not a Minnesotan but a Wisconsinite! Born in Eau Claire, his early years were peripatetic with a family who moved around the country periodically due to his father who was an executive in the Kimberly Clark Corporation. In contrast to his businessman father, Mark’s mother was highly creative—a visual artist/painter and interior designer.

Mark was their first born, the oldest of seven kids. He freely admitted that, though his father was a great guy, he was not supportive of Mark’s early musical inclinations. Mr. Howley refused to buy a guitar for his young son nor wanted him to play in a band. Indeed, Mark recalls how his father hauled him off the stage one time during one of his teenage gigs.

Yet the memory of sitting on his father’s shoulders watching a performance by Louie Armstrong at an auto show at age four was foundational. Even at that young age Mark was blown away by what he was witnessing.  

But the guy who really seeded a passion for music in Mark was his maternal grandfather, Jimmy Rose. Rose played both piano and trumpet during the Big Band era and was a member of an Army band. Whenever grampa visited he’d take young Mark down to the basement where the piano was and sit beside him on the piano bench to show him the right way to play—stride piano!

By his early teens Mark was ripe for the influence of the “British Invasion” of the mid-60s—particularly the Rolling Stones. Reminiscing about those years when he lived in Minnetonka he said that when some buddies talked of forming a band he thought fast and told them he could sing and play the harmonica (knowing he could purchase a $5 harmonica with his paper route money). With a laugh he said he’s “been bullshitting ever since.”

His participation in that first band was the beginning of his personal musical sojourn.  

The Howley family moved to Crystal Lake, Illinois, where Mark attended high school. Not much was happening there musically and he was too young to be in bars, thus he couldn’t get out of that town fast enough. Rather than graduate he high-tailed it to Excelsior, Minnesota, where he reconnected with friends in the area and they formed the band Powerhouse.

That group played around the Minneapolis area, its western suburbs during the 70s. Though they were just kids, they managed to get a hold of a school bus which allowed them to travel farther afield for gigs—North and South Dakota, Colorado, Illinois and Iowa. And incredibly bluesman Big Walter Smith played with their subsequent band “Night Train” for six months when Smith arrived in the Twin Cities from Kansas City.

By 1980 Mark had visited northern Minnesota resulting in him wanting to live in the woods and being able to purchase affordable land in Cotton on the Whiteface River and build a small dwelling there.  

Virgil Caine

During his formative years Howley became interested in musicians that influenced the Rolling Stones; McKinley Morganfield AKA Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and especially Junior Wells playing the blues harp. Another ‘60s blues and rock band, Canned Heat out of California, was inspirational as well. Moving to Chicago in the mid-1990s, he spent six years immersing himself in the black music of that city and encountering the likes of Buddy Guy. He was in a band called Aces and Eights which once played the opening act for a Roy Hightower gig at Chicago’s House of Blues.  

But it seems that Mick Jagger may have been the greatest influence on Mark, what with Virgil Caine’s several covers of Rolling Stone hits. Like Jagger, Howley has a dominant presence onstage. His own sense of style is amply expressed by his various costumes featuring tight black jeans, red snakeskin ankle boots or tall black boots, colorful tee-shirts and short jackets, including one like the one worn by Antonio Banderas in the movie Once Upon A Time In Mexico. His flowing, currently white-gray hair, completes the picture of a seasoned rock and roller.  

So what besides music drives this showman? Motorcycles, that’s what! There was a five-year hiatus in Howley’s music career while he worked at Mesabi Daily News, rode a Harley Davidson and was a member of a biker club. (Despite not being in a band during this time, Howley was anointed with the moniker “Rock Star.”) Today he owns four motorcycles (Hondas and Yamahas), two of which are in parts waiting to be restored. The biker image is synonymous with Virgil Caine.

The eponymous CD released in 2012 has the photo of a greased-up motorcyclist laying flat and balanced on the rear fender of a bike during a record-breaking speed run. The follow up CD, One Fine Day, has a more sedate image of a woman behind the handlebars of a motorcycle.  

These two CDs contain over a dozen songs written by Howley, either alone or co-written with Keith Fredrickson or Tom Wotruba. Several of these tunes are routinely played at live gigs such that folks have learned the lyrics and sing along, most notably on “Cheap Whiskey” where the response to “let it rain cheap whiskey” is “all night long!”

Another drinking-related song, the title track of One Fine Day, requests that three fingers of whiskey be poured on the grave of the man that inspired the song. When he reflects on his varied past which has included his fair share of “sex, drugs and rock and roll,” Mark concludes that no one ever told him he’d one day tire of alcohol and drugs! Now he remains sober but still full of ginger (as the saying goes).  

Howley has experienced some major health issues in his life, one being hospitalized at age eight with polio which affected the use of his legs. Fortunately he regained full use of them. More recently he developed nodules on his vocal cords that needed to be surgically removed. Recovery of his full vocal range took close to 15 years. Luckily he has the lung power to belt out the blues and wail on the harmonica.

Indeed, Howley is an apt name for someone inspired by Howlin’ Wolf and Junior Wells, with his searing vocals and hot harp playing.   Mark’s creative drive isn’t limited to playing and composing the blues, he likes to work with his hands and create on the physical plane. To date Mark has built three houses for himself with a fourth one in the works plus he has helped with a couple for a buddy.

His present dwelling in Cotton is a cool front gable style that he designed as well as built and heats with wood. He lives a somewhat quiet life when there with his newly adopted cat, Chuck. You might think that being a father and a grandfather, he would be slowing down, but no, that’s not the case. There’s more music for Mark to experience and explore and gigs to play.  

On Friday, Jan. 5, Virgil Caine played at Riders on Main in Virginia, Minnesota, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Curmudgeon and I attended and discovered that nearly everyone in the packed bar had known Mark for years. To a person, everyone I spoke with said what a great guy he is. One woman, a neighbor of his in Cotton a few years back told of Mark being responsible for the establishment of the Cotton community park. She said he organized a benefit concert with multiple bands that raised the funds needed for the project.

Another fellow said that for 13 years straight he had Mark’s band play for the Fourth of July parties he hosts. The band was hot and the dancing was great. By the time we left after midnight and three sets, we were the newest members of the Mark Howley fan club. And if you have the chance to enjoy this blues and rock band, my bet is you’ll become a fan too, if you aren’t already!  

Virgil Caine’s other members are Dave Prudhomme on bass, Mark Thompson on drums and Phil Ness (the newest member) on electric guitar. Here's what Mark has to say about them and his life today: “I’m right where I want to be, I love working with these guys and will continue playing as long as possible.”  

Tracking Virgil Caine down isn’t so easy. Neither the website nor the Facebook page for Virgil Caine are particularly up to date. The band doesn’t do residencies but plays regularly around the range with occasional gigs in Duluth. Whatever, it always seems worth it when one finally catches up with them.

The next Virgil Caine appearance will be at the ORE House in Gilbert, Minn., on Saturday, Jan. 27. Whenever you manage to see them be sure to wear your dancing shoes!

Howley at home with Chuck the cat.