Mark McKinnon Connects the Dots Between Politics and Playlists

Colorado native Mark McKinnon has worn many hats: songwriter, journalist, presidential political advisor, television consultant, and nonprofit cofounder-as well as his signature white cowboy hat.

Currently, he's cocreator, cohost, and producer for The Circus: Inside the Wildest Political Show on Earth, a nonpartisan, behind-the-scenes look at the present U.S. political climate. What started as solely an election-year feature has exceeded even its producers' expectations, now trapezing through a third season and making waves as the first real-time documentary of its kind.

We caught Mark before his JFK LAX flight for an exclusive Spotify interview. But with a jack-of-all-trades, you don't just talk politics-you connect the dots between songwriting, speeches, and storytelling.

Q: You're best known for your work in politics, but before that, you were a songwriter in Nashville with Kris Kristofferson. How did you make the switch?

I ran away from home to Nashville when I was in the middle of high school. Kris Kristofferson was very generous and let me live in his apartment for about three years. It was when he was taking on a lot of films, so he wasnt around a lot. It was a wonderful chapter in my life. The only problem was that I was not a very good songwriter. One of the toughest decisions I ever made was to sort of admit that I sucked.

I ended up in Austin playing music and had to come to grips with the fact that on the road I was on, if I was lucky, I was gonna be the second act at the Austin Holiday Inn when I was 50. And I just thought, Maybe I should try something different.'

So I did. I always loved politics and journalism so I got into both of those things by writing about politics. Then, a local state senator named Lloyd Doggett ran for the U.S. Senate in 1984. This was James Carville's-who famously went on to help elect Bill Clinton-first campaign. I got connected to the campaign and learned from him.

Having worked as a songwriter (not very successfully), having worked in journalism, having worked in politics, and now with producing television shows, the thing that ties it back to music is that it's all about storytelling. And thats what always attracted me to music, politics, and journalism.

LINK:	https://newsroom.spotify.com/2018-10-24/mark-mckinnon-connects-the-dot...
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