Mark Karan has been the guitarist for Bob Weir's Ratdog for 11 years.
He's also been an in-demand musician who has played with Weir's Grateful Dead bandmates Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, in their respective bands, as well as in the Other Ones.
In addition to his own band, Jemimah Puddleduck, he's played with Little Feat, Sophie B. Hawkins, the Rembrandts and Dave Mason.
But after years playing music, Karan has released his debut studio album titled "Walk Through the Fire."
"I've been making albums for years," said Karan (pronounced Care-En) with a laugh, during a phone call from his hotel in Spokane, Wash. "But 'Walk Through the Fire' is the one with my own on it. It's my calling card, and when I die, it's my little contribution to the world."
Death is something that Karan has faced, having won a war with cancer a few years ago.
"After that I knew that I needed to do something that was important to me," he said. "So I decided to make sure I got this record done."
While the album took more than four years to record, Karan said the some of the songs were originally written some 30 years ago.
" 'Love Song' was written when I was 19," he said. "And I do remember what it was like when I was writing it, but I did some adjustments to it during the recording. I actually did a lot of updating and rewrites on all the songs during the recording to make them current with what's going on in my life."
Karan said even if he didn't do the rewrites, the songs would have evolved some way or another.
"That's the nature of the beast," he said. "I mean, take a band like the Grateful Dead. And listen to the songs on the albums 'Workingman's Dead,' 'American Beauty' and 'Wake of the Flood,' which are my favorite Grateful Dead albums, and you hear those songs and then hear those same songs live in the past 10 years and you can hear how they have evolved.
"Sometimes you say to yourself, maybe they should have toured the songs a few years before recording them."
Karan's tenure in Ratdog — featuring Grateful Dead guitarist/vocalist Weir, drummer Jay Lane, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, saxophonist Kenny Brooks and bassist Robin Sylvester — has been a good 11 years, said Karan.
"I still get questions asking if I feel any pressure coming into the band," he said with another laugh. "Just so you know, I don't."
Playing guitar has always been something Karan has wanted to do.
"You can go the shallow way and say that I liked the guitar because to kids in the '60s the guitar was extremely popular," he said. "And then when (Ed) Sullivan aired the Beatles there was a huge guitar explosion.
"But if you want to get deeper, you can say that I was, let's say, predetermined to play the guitar."
Karan's father was a jazz saxophonist, and his mother, while not a musician, always had music played in the house.
"I grew up hearing Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, people like that," said Karan. "And I knew pretty early that I loved the guitar. I got my first when I was 8, and by the time I was 9, I knew."
If you go …
What: Bob Weir & Ratdog
Where: The Depot, 400 West and South Temple
When: Aug. 29, 8 p.m.
How much: $42
Phone: 801-467-8499, 800-888-8499
Web: www.smithstix.com
e-mail: scott@desnews.com