The story of The Nighthawks starts with Mark Wenner. This native of the Washington, D.C. suburban area of Bethesda-Chevy Chase was a founding member of the group and has been their singing and harmonica playing front man for over 30 years. Growing up in an upper middle class Jewish family, Mark took an interest in the wide variety of music on D.C. radio in the mid to late 1950s—everything from doo-wop to country to rockabilly to blues.

As radio shifted from some of the early, more adventurous rock to the pop of American Bandstand, Mark’s interests went in a different direction. He listened increasingly to the black radio stations in Washington and Baltimore, taking an interest in artists such as Ray Charles and James Brown and starting to venture out to clubs to see the rhythm and blues shows of the day. Hanging around his sax-playing brother’s soul band further expanded his horizons. He started to take a particular interest in the blues, including Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf and others with a raw and simple style.

During high school, Mark became a harmonica player but remained a blues purist. When he heard the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he started to think that even though he was a white kid from the suburbs, maybe he could make it in the blues world.

After graduating from high school in 1966, Mark headed off to Columbia University in New York City. He found this a fertile environment for enriching his musical roots—he jammed with friends in his dorm and went to shows in Greenwich Village and elsewhere featuring his blues heroes. He was dubbed “King Roady” because he had an old station wagon and was willing to help haul equipment, and he played with anyone who would let him get up on stage.

This dedication got him backstage at some bigger shows, which led to some new musical opportunities. One of the biggest was getting to sit in with Slim Harpo at the popular club Steve Paul’s Scene—another was getting to play with some of the members of Sha-Na-Na. Mark formed his first band, B-Town Slim and His Rhythm Revue, and they kept busy playing blues and standards at frat parties and mixers.

Mark contributed to demos for the rock musicals that were popular at the time, and built a growing number of relationships with key people in the music business. One of these friendships was with Bobby Radcliff, like Mark a graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, who was becoming a top figure on the D.C. blues scene. Mark and Bobby briefly formed a band—Hunk of Funk. One of their more memorable shows was at a 1967 “love in” at the P Street Beach in Rock Creek Park.

Another seminal event for Mark and others in the D.C. blues scene was the 1970 Blues Festival at Howard University. Given the times, there was an interesting vibe in the air as a lot of white people visited the campus of the predominantly African-American school for the shows. But the music carried the day. On one night, J.B. Hutto stole the show and helped to establish his reputation. Classic performances were turned in by Howlin’ Wolf with Hubert Sumlin and the Muddy Waters Band. Another high point was when Buddy Guy, who had been backup guitarist for several acts, did a few songs on his own and stole the show.

All this musical activity was part of a maturation process that kept Mark at Columbia for six years, and he graduated with a degree in English in 1972. During this time Mark also took an interest in motorcycles, starting to build and restore bikes—an avocation that continues to this day. A sure sign of Mark’s direction and purpose with his music was that during this period he carried a business card that said “Mark Wenner—Harp—Blues and Beyond.”