PORTLAND, Maine — Having earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bates College and then a master’s degree in evolutionary biology, Mark Erelli certainly didn’t need any lessons in how things can go wrong with the human body. He just didn’t think one of those things would happen to him.
A talented singer and songwriter who’s been performing professionally for more than two decades, Erelli was doing a show in New Hampshire in 2020 when he looked down at his guitar and was rattled by the view.
“I couldn’t see something — and that was my guitar neck,” he says. “It was just too dark and I couldn’t see the frets or the markers to see where I was or even what string I was on. It was pretty disconcerting.”
Soon after, a doctor diagnosed the problem: retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease.
“It basically starts in middle age, usually,” Erelli says, “And progresses unpredictably but usually inevitably to legal blindness and in some cases even further.”
In daylight, with his glasses on, Erelli has 20/20 vision. In dim light, his vision declines significantly, which presents all kinds of professional challenges. For one, concert venues tend to be fairly dark offstage. For another, Erelli can no longer drive at night, the time when nearly all shows take place.
The idea of walking away from music, though, never entered his mind, and Erelli’s latest album, “Lay Down Your Darkness” reflects his new reality.
“[Performing] just requires a lot more thought, a lot more careful consideration, a lot more logistics,” he says. “It’s a bit exhausting. But the alternative is to not play music — and that is not an alternative.”
Mark Erelli is performing at One Longfellow Square in Portland on June 30.