Have you ever wondered about the offstage world of a professional musician? Every month in this column, bluegrass now will provide a glimpse into the lives of some of your favorite bluegrass stars. To see captions, just move your cursor over the photos!

The first thing one notices about Mark Schatz is his hat. He's always wearing one, and it's always the hippest headgear in any gathering--not your typical bluegrass ball cap. Today it's a cool multi-cultural number he picked up in Telluride, a cotton toque in brown, black, and gold stripes with a border of Guatemalan centavos coins.

His hat collection, which he began amassing about a decade ago, is pretty impressive. It includes a bowler, a tam o'shanter, and a collapsible top hat. But it's not the only group of acquisitions in the Schatz household. Mark also collects banjos, hip flasks, old clocks, and wind-up toys!

Mark keeps his collections at his home in Crownsville, Maryland, on the banks of the Severn River, an outlet of the Chesapeake Bay. “It's a tiny little village, hardly a town at all,” Mark says. “It's got a post office, a drycleaner and a couple stores. It's probably best known for its mental hospital!” One of his favorite new hobbies is kayaking the Severn. “When we moved in, the gal across the street had a couple kayaks. She said, 'Use these whenever you want.'” Soon, Mark went out and bought a 'yak of his own. “I throw it on top of the car, and I can be in the water in about ten minutes. Off I go, up or down the river, exploring!”

His migration to Maryland, after many years in Nashville, has been gradual. In the late 1980s, he saw the Fiddle Puppet Dancers, a traditional clogging ensemble, at Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival in Ancramdale, NY (now the home of Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival). Dancer and troupe director Eileen Carson caught Mark's eye, and, eventually, his heart. “Eileen's dance group is based in Annapolis. I spent more and more time there, and eventually ended up moving here.”

The two plan to marry, one of these days-their hectic schedules have made finding the right time a challenge. “I gave her a ring a couple years ago. We've been taking our time, figuring out when to take the next step.” Mark and Eileen hope to have the ceremony during the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, WV, home of one of the oldest music and dance camps in the country. “I taught there for five or six years, and more recently, I've been there as a staff musician, playing for dance classes. Eileen has been teaching there even longer. It's a very special place for us!”

Dance has emerged as a special form of artistic expression for Mark, best known in the bluegrass community for his brilliant work on the upright bass and clawhammer banjo. “I had done Israeli folk dancing as a kid, in camps, and I loved it! I went to Berklee School of Music for a year. A friend from high school was dancing in a semi-professional international folk dance ensemble. She said, 'Hey, wanna come play with us? We need a bass player!'” Mark started going to folk dances in the Boston area and taking lessons. “I like percussion, and I like to dance. Here was this dancing where you're part of the music. It was the coolest thing since dirt!”

When Mark moved to Kentucky with banjo legend Béla Fleck, his dance education continued. “Wherever I went, I found the cloggers and worked with them. I hooked up with Eileen, and started hanging out with the Fiddle Puppets [now called Footworks]. Their roots are with flatfooters and cloggers all through Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.”

Mark is now road manager and musical director for Footworks, though he's had to pull away from his duties a bit-he's also the newest member of Nickel Creek! “They're a nice bunch with lots of youthful energy, very open to a wide variety of music. We do covers of Radiohead tunes, and Wilco. It's kind of a shot in the arm, musically speaking!”

Occasional visits to antique shops at home and on the road often yield new treasures for Mark's various collections. “One of my favorites is a little clown about 4” high made by a well-known windup toy manufacturer in Germany. He's beautifully dressed, with a hand-painted face, and he plays the fiddle!” With a sheepish chuckle, Mark says he now owns over 100 antique wind-up toys. “You start looking for stuff, and over time, you end up having a bunch. Sometimes I have to curtail it, and make sure my pockets don't empty out!”

Visit Mark at www.markschatz.net and www.footworks.org.