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Originally from Lansing, Michigan, Mark Wesley followed the long trail of I-75 pioneers to Florida 20 years ago, when his father told him there was money to be made fishing in the keys.

Wesley never made his fortune fishing, but he did discover his calling when local bars and restaurants started booking him regularly.

The hard-driving guitarist, talented singer, and yes, player of the pan flute now comes up to Marco during the week to bring his high-energy sets to the Rock.

He spoke with the Eagle about his multitasking musical talent, the impact Zamfir had on his career, and exactly how much he hates the perfect country/western song.

Q: OK, I have to start with... pan flute? How did pan flute come about?

A: I’ve always been interested in strange instruments or instruments lost to time. The pan flute falls into both categories; it’s the oldest wind instrument in the world and can be traced to many ancient civilizations. Watching those old TV commercials of Zamfir is probably why I went to the music store and bought one. Unfortunately there was very little info available on how to play it, which is why I play it backwards; it just made sense to me that the low notes were to the left, like a guitar or keyboards. I guess I didn’t watch those Zamfir commercials close enough. It’s an easy instrument to play; of course, when you add in music theory it makes it a little more difficult, but basically if you can blow across a pop bottle and get a note, you can play a pan flute.

Breath control is a big part of the instrument. Back in 1989 when I had just started learning it, I was sitting in with the Florida Straits Band in Marathon and nearly passed out. It was then I decided I’d better rethink my breathing technique. It is rather hard to play a melody on it, but it’s a great instrument to improvise on.

Q: What’s the first instrument you learned, and how did you learn it?

A: The first instrument I learned how to play was the guitar. I started in junior high school, then took private lessons for a couple of years. After about four years I got up the nerve to sign up for a time slot at an open mike.

I’ve never done well with learning from books. By going to open mics and jam sessions, I was able to watch people all kinds of music, then go home and try to figure it out. Usually I’d fall short of what they did, but would come up with my own version.

Q: You play guitar, pan flute, harmonica, and bass pedals. Am I missing any? How did bass pedal come about, and why do you use it?

A: I picked up my first set of bass pedals after working with a musician in the keys. For over a year I performed with him and learned the notes of the instrument by watching his foot. Of course, knowing the notes and putting them together in a song are two different things. It took about a year before I started performing with them, and a couple of years before I really got even halfway good on them.

I think the key to playing two instruments at one time is hours and hours of practice until it’s almost second nature. If you multitask for long enough, in your mind you can see both things going on, like a split-screen movie. Of course, adding a third instrument brings it to a whole other level; that third picture in your brain is a lot harder to see.

Q: Which is your favorite instrument?

A: Guitar is my favorite instrument: it can be ugly, beautiful, or anything you want it to be, and is never ending in style and technique. You can never stop learning it.

Q: Who are your primary musical influences?

A: I think musical styles are meant to merge; it’s how all forms of popular music were born: you mix this with this and you get that. Right now I’m into a band called Baka Beyond. They take Celtic music along with Middle Eastern and every other kind of music and mix it together into these really cool grooves. I’m not sure what language they are singing in, but it doesn’t really matter. My other musical influences are the Grateful Dead, Santana, Yes, Miles Davis, Bill Monroe — actually the list goes on and on, in all styles of music, and includes a lot of musicians that no one has heard of, at least out of local areas.

Q: Ever think of pursuing any other career but music?

A: I hope to move into video production in the next five years, and have nearly completed my first production. It’s a nature video entitled The Everglades: Beyond a River of Grass. It features the Fakahatchee Strand, Big Cypress, and Shark Valley areas of the Glades, and will bring you up close to the wildlife in the area and will have a narration soundtrack with lots of info that you will be able to turn off or on, so it can be played as a music video as well. So keep an eye out for that; it should be released in two to three months.

Q: What song(s) would you love never to have requested again?

A: It would not be a problem with me if no one requested the perfect country/western song, aka You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin.’ I believe David Allan Coe wrote it, and I know everybody loves it, but that song is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me! Like a dentist drilling without Novocain, like bamboo slivers under your fingernails, like a brain freeze from a Slurpee. Besides, everybody knows the perfect country/western song is, He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones — now, there’s a song.

Q: Any audience/ gig pet peeves?

A: My gig pet peeves are owners or managers that try to tell you what to play; they are always wrong.

My audience pet peeves are people who’ve had too much to drink. They love you or they hate you, but either way they usually have bad breath and tend to spit on you while they are talking, because they have to be in your face while they are talking. Oh, yeah! One more audience pet peeve would be people who request that David Allan Coe song. Just kidding — I’ll play it for $10.

You can see Wesley in June Wednesdays at the Snook Inn from 6 to 10 p.m., and Thursdays at the Crazy Flamingo 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.