Mark Knopfler- Solo Best pt 1
“Dire Straits’ success came with a lot of baggage…I think a sense of humor is critical to doing this,” reveals guitarist/singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler in part one of his solo best of, including Sailing to Philadelphia (2000), The Ragpicker’s Dream (2002), and 2004’s Shangri La. When I inquired whether he felt that his guitar chops had been at all stymied by success, Knopfler confessed, “I do everything wrong. I would be a guitar teacher’s worst nightmare…I LOVE the guitar, I adore it. There are better ways to play than I do…I just stagger from one crisis to another.”
Lonnie Donegan, the subject of Mark Knopfler’s “Donegan’s Gone”, brought skiffle music, a precursor to rock’n’roll, to England when Mark was a boy. “It seems that I write about other decades maybe to better understand the present…Times change but people don’t. Pop songs become mile markers in people’s personal lives…You realize that your song has become theirs…Your music is used to help them live.” 
Recuperating from a serious motorcycle accident in 2003 was credited by Knopfler with allowing him the time to write the songs on Shangri La. “As far as learning things about life, it taught me that things can change in a second in your life. It teaches you to concentrate on the important things, your loved ones. And it teaches you to enjoy the present more…to try and get the most out of everything you do.”
Mark Knopfler is my thoughtful guest here In the Studio for part one of his post-Dire Straits 21st century output. –Redbeard 
