Big Muff

During his November 2008 tour John was shortly interviewed in the Thistle City Barbican Hotel lobby near the London Barbican theatre. Host for BBC 6 music is Shaun Keaveny.

During the Grace and Danger Tour, Gavin Allen had this telephone conversation with John. It is one of his last interviews and it lasts sixteen minutes.

John Martyn speaks about his Folk Award win, how he felt about the reception he got at the event, and the influences that have led to his enduring popularity.

Danny wants his mate back.

[So Sweet ends]

RE: I always look forward to any JM album and thankfully we have a long time to look forward to them for. This is a big sense of expectation that builds up over the years...
JM: How unkind...

[intro Excuse Me Mister playing]

CL: You have been doing this for... for all of my life really. [laughs] How differently do you see the music business now, compared to when you started?

NH: It's Morning Becomes Eclectic, it's 27 minutes after eleven and a very good morning to John Martyn and band.
JM: Good morning all...
NH: Thanks so much for coming in
JM: Well I'm hoping so, partly dull they all may be...

[Before interviewing JM, Nicky Campbell played a Prince track (Graffiti Bridge) and then reported that John had said that he would really like to hear Prince and Miles Davis working together. He then played a B52s record and started the interview...]

NC: John Martyn, you're here!
JM: Yes indeed I am (very Scottish accent).
NC: That was a long flight, wasn't it?

TD: It's 1966. Harold Wilson is prime minister, Lyndon Johnson is president. It's the year of Carnaby Street and Vietnam. In music, Mersey beat and the Modern rockers are on the way out; acid rock and hippies are just around the corner. And in Glasgow, a 17-year old Scottish folksinger is about to make his first live appearance.
John Martyn, how much can you remember about those very early gigs.
JM: The very early ones... I remember the first time I ever played in public. That was in the local village hall, the Town Hall, partial as burro. That was because Josh McCrae got drunk in the pub and could not appear. So I was given the gig, because I was the only one in the audience who could play the guitar and sing. And about four months after that I played in a place called The Black Bull in Dollar which is outside Stirling. I got eleven quid for it, that was wonderful.

TD: How much do you think you have changed.

Richard Skinner: John Martyn, contemporary and fellow recording artist in those days, yes?
John Martyn: This is true, this is true.
RS: Did you know the man well?
JM: I did, yes. We lived very close to each other. He lived in one part of Hampstead, and I lived just up the road. Um, very quiet, very quite lad. Extremely personable and charming, when necessary.

Editor's note: The indented text are the Dutch comments during the interview, 'H' meaning 'host'.

H1: Vanavond in Moondogs, John Martyn. En we gaan een hele poos terug, naar zijn allereerste plaat, die verscheen [in 1968].

Host: Neben mir, John Martyn...
JM: Hi...
H: Not from England, from Scotland...
JM: Scotland, Scotland.
H: Die Schotten legen ja immer sehr viel Wert darauf daß man also 'Schotland' sagt und nicht 'England', it's very important that we always have to say 'Scotland' instead of...
John, in Glasgow geboren, aufgewachsen Ende der sechziger Jahre, sixty-eight, you started with folk music, hast du mit Folkmusik begonnen. Dann, in the mid seventies, Mitte der siebziger, bist du umgestiegen auf Rock. Warum, why?