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Hammers & Nails: the Life and Music of Mark Heard by Matthew Dickerson was released in mid June 2003 with hundreds of copies preselling online.

The Art world is yearning for examples of authenticity and strength of conscience, and the life story of Mark Heard is meeting that need.

Here's what others are saying about the book and Mark Heard:

"Heard aficionados will find the book (and CD) irresistible, but the story Dickerson tells has significance beyond the life of one musician. If the intersection of art, theology, and the market has any bearing on the future of Christianity in America, believers of all varieties will find something instructive, and perhaps ominous, in this story."

--Eric Miller "Aching for Something Deep"
September 2003 Christianity Today (complete article)

"Matt Dickerson's Hammers & Nails is a compelling portrait of Mark Heard, a man who can only be described as a musician and spiritual pioneer. At great cost to himself, Heard broke free from the stifling molds that both the music industry and the Christian subculture attempted to impose on him. Dickerson rightly refuses to turn Heard into a saint and martyr, but what he does reveal is a man whose emotional courage and unswerving commitment to musical excellence expanded the stock of available reality." Heard believed that reality was both scarier and more grace-filled than we usually want to see. As Dickerson reminds us, Heard was--if not a revolutionary, at least a liberator--in short, someone who set others free."

--Gregory Wolfe
Editor, Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion

"The book does an excellent job of drawing a picture of who Mark was, flaws and all. It is an honest portrait of an honest man. For those who are too young to remember Mark's music as it was being released during his lifetime, this book and the companion CD collection being released by Paste music is an invaluable introduction to the life and music of Mark Heard."

--Chris MacIntosh
The Phantom Tollbooth
http://www.tollbooth.org/2003/books/heard.html

Wow! What an amazing book. I took the book with me on a plane trip yesterday to play a concert in Plainfield, IN. I got so engrossed in the book I actually finished it before I arrived from NH. The book really put me in a strange mood before I was to go out and perform. Reading the struggles that Mark had and identifying with the
crossroads I am staring at currently gave me comfort that someone else felt
the same way.

A few things in the book really stood out. First was the line "How sad to
wish a bird would preach rather than sing." I have the same approach with
my music. Listening to people try to shove Jesus down my throat is what
kept me from Him for so long. I prefer to let the songs speak for themselves.

That being said, I decided to really let my passion out as Mark did on every
performance. Well....my "Passion" was heard by each of the 6 people who
showed for the concert. Ouch! A thousand mile trip that I knew I was
losing money on and the last thing I wanted to do was give it "Passion." I
kept hearing those words in my head when anyone spoke about seeing Mark play
live. So I gave it everything I had, and it felt surprisingly good.

This led me to the second thing that really stood out. Mark said, "I only
know that I'm cursed with doing it." As much as I knew that this concert
could turn out bad...I still felt compelled to go play. To share. To
relate. I have felt awful about describing this "Gift" as a curse in the
past. But there are times when that word simply best describes my feeling.
Reading Mark's words made me realize that there will be days when I hate the
bad things and other days that I love the good things. Such is life. Such
is the struggle with the music industry. Art vs. Sales.

To say that the book left me inspired would be an understatement. The book
has truly changed my views on many things I thought could or would never
change. Thank you and Matthew and Dan and Janet for letting others benefit
from Mark's wisdom a decade after his untimely death.

Blessings to you all,

Brant Christopher
musician/singer-songwriter
indieheaven
brantchristopher.com

Mark Heard
Hammers & Nails
Fingerprint Records/Paste Records
(Translated from Dutch.)

Discovery. Like Howard Carter in England's Kensington. Years after his discovery of Toetachamon's grave a package from Egypt comes his way. That's how I felt when Hammers & Nails fell onto the floor behind my front door. A treasure of great value. It has been ten years now since the world has heard a new Mark Heard song. Soon after he died the compilation High Noon (produced by Dan Russell and Buddy Miller), which had four never released songs (among them the beautiful She's Not Afraid with Julie Miller) on it, was released. On Hammers & Nails there are 17 songs that Mark Heard recorded at the end of the eighties in his own Fingerprint LA studio. Along comes the book with the same name, that tells the story of Heard's life. These songs have a tight connection to the (last) three wonderful albums that Heard made: Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand en Satellite Sky. And how beautiful, these songs! As usual with beautiful songs, they resist categorisation with a slight wave of the hand. Like it has been so many times, Heard's passion is loud and clear among us and his ability for creating a song can only be compared to the truly gifted. Do not use the word 'demo' here! For Mark Heard, every song that he sang was a matter of everything and all. Never it did not matter! Really great are I Hang My Head, I Might Have Felt That Way (a grown-up considers with smile and wonder a young one falling in love), I Always Do (Phil Keaggy recorded this too) and Your World Or Mine (this reminds us of Heard's iDEoLa time). Mystery Mind (She might feel she could just go on/ and stare straight at me with here serious eyes), that till now could only be found on a (barely available) cd with the same name, is simply unequalled. Everything Is Allright and She Don't Have A Clue (She is so damn cool) are old acquaintances from the aforementioned albums. But these acoustic versions are just as good, if not better. Shaky Situation and What Kind Of Friend were on High Noon. Be like Howard Carter. Discover the unheard and feel yourself rich as a king in your own 'Kensington'! (can be ordered from www.pastemusic.com)
**** Wim Boluijt

"Mark was so true to the call of God to be an artist, however difficult, lonely, or seemingly unprofitable. He set such an example to make music that God has put in your heart, not "thought up", conjured up" stuff. His were more like blood. Just an overflow of his soul. And he left us a timless treasure of the cry of his deepest heart.

You hear the angst of a prophet and the humility of a sinner and the faith of a true believer touched to the core by Jesus. He sings the last record as if it is his last. You can hear this prophetic urgency in his voice that is so profound, so moving, so alarming, and yet so comforting. And the lyrics ring out like the Bell of God with Life Everlasting.

I weep when i hear that precious voice, still, because it touches my spirit so deeply, because you hear his spirit, so earnest, so naked. I couldn't believe how much smaller the world seemed after Mark left us. I can't wait to see him again, and his songs promise we will. Thank you Mark, we'll miss you so much till then. "

---Julie Miller

"HAMMERS AND NAILS tells Mark Heard's story with honesty and depth. It explores the life of a true artist by analyzing the testimonies of those who knew him and the fingerprints he left for us to find. . . . [his] death has left an appreciation of loss. Yet, through Dickerson's book, we recover a powerful sense of those qualities--honesty and idealism, laughter and love--that Mark Heard represented while he was alive. It's a story of hope."

---John Austin

"Mark Heard was a songwriter with an open vein; that is he wrote like his life depended on it...Matthew Dickerson's book has done an immense amount of homework to paint and preserve a picture of a complex and passionate artist, one whose voice is still sorely missed by those who value the place where faith and art intersect...and connect."

---Bill Mallonee

For a Fact Sheet on this book (downloadable/printable) click here.