New Release - "This Year" and the debut single "Lucky as Me" Check out below
About
I grew up in a small house 7 miles outside of a small North Carolina cotton mill town. Needless to say there were minimal entertainment options for an 8 year old on a boring rainy day. It just so happened my cousins who lived at the top of the hill had formed a band. One day they allowed me to watch them rehearse. They were in their living room surrounded by a small drum kit and several sparkle flake, padded Kustom amps. They did “Rhythm of Rain”. I was smitten. That Christmas my Mother gave me a small guitar from the Sears catalog and the rest is history.
I practiced and played and struggled to find my place. Once out of college I was fortunate to put together a regionally popular country band, won a few songwriter awards and was trying to get signed in Nashville. After much disappointment I succumbed to the temptation go get a real job although I never stopped playing and writing.
In the nineties I did a project with Canyon Road Records which got great reviews and sold ten’s of copies. I continued to play and write but with minimal expectations.
Its been a number of years since my last record (is that even a thing anymore?). Last year I began to think about all the songs I have penned and had been playing for years but never recorded. If you are an artist you end up with a painting or sculpture. If a potter, you end up with a cup or bowl. But if you are a songwriter and it never gets recorded, once you are gone from this earth did it really exist? I decided THIS YEAR to recommit.
I spoke with my Engineer and my Producer from the prior project (The incredible Van Atkins and Jeff Collins) and we got to work.The process was cathartic and inspiring. The record turned out pretty special and I am both excited and reinvigorated as a writer and singer. I thank my wife for her patience with the hours, dollars and my incessant emotional blabbering after each session in the studio. She is my ultimate inspiration. I hope these songs resonate with you the way they have with me.
SINGER // SONGWRITER
Listen
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 9
Track 10
Track 11
Track 12
Track 13
ABOUt the songs
Shiny Things – I tend to be a voracious reader. I had read a book about decluttering one’s life and began to think about all the things we treasure that have ephemeral value but wow us nonetheless. In my brain I kept hearing the Steely Dan lyric from Reeling in the Years “you wouldn’t even know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious I don’t understand.” I thought about the poor pigeon who sees a beautiful reflection and flies into the window. I always wanted to do something in a Cajun vein and this is how it ended up.
My 4 am Friend – Creative folks are by nature emotional beings with a touchstone in melacholy, some to extreme’s. (See Van Gogh, Jim Morrison, Tennesee Williams). I think its present whether you are brilliant and famous or just plucking strings in your attic studio. This song is my ode and paean to depression which is the full blooming flower of melancholy.
This Year – Over the last few years I’ve found myself constantly thinking and distraught over the state of humanity and our lack of empathy, compassion, and understanding. I find everywhere we turn there’s some dividing line or argument that separates us from each other. For awhile, I tilted at those windmills and shouted my opinions everywhere possible. I realized it served no purpose at all other than to suck me further into the abyss of disappointment and anger. This song is my reminder to step away and take a deep breath. The album title also is a reference to my commitment to do this project after several years of consideration, thus “This Year”.
Special Note – The album cover includes a Basset Hound calendar. Why you may ask? The more important question is Why not on every album! This is a tribute to my boy Snoop Dog (one G).
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Bookings
This Section is coming soon. Calendar for late summer and fall is being finalized. Thank you for your patience
Contact
Don Martin Music, LLC
8250 Blackstock Drive
Ooltewah, TN 37363
850-797-5652
donmartin@dmartinmusic.com
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