11 Sep 2019
71 years today... and still selling out the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
It is encouraging to see that people are still engaged with John's music and career. Only yesterday I got an unknown picture from Sweden of John performing in Uppsala, Sweden at the monumental Barowiak theatre (below).
If you want to get in touch with people who feel the same way, look for the John Martyn Group on Facebook. Amazing stuff is shared on that platform.
06 Mar 2014
A History Of British Folk Clubs
01 Nov 2008
Prompted by the release of a career-retrospective boxed set, Johnny Black talks four decades' music making with John Martyn
Live tv registration in first episode of Zting. John performs three songs with Foster Paterson: Sweet Little Mystery, Dealer and Over The Rainbow.
Zting saw six episodes and John was a main guest in the first one. He gets a two minute interview with presenter Petter Nome first and is in top form. Other artists were R.E.M, Blind Date and Beranek.
01 Aug 1979
Welcome… at last, to Northern Ireland's first major folk festival!
01 Dec 1977
I once saw a girl absolutely cream some poor bastard with a John Martyn record. He'd whispered some lewd suggestion in her ear and she just whipped around and gave him a tremendous shot in the temple with a copy of So Far So Good.
Contiene un disco di J. Martyn!
Se trovate ostico il titolo non preoccupatevi eccessivamente chiariremo tutto al più presto: Martyn è un grande artista certamente trascurato o sottovalutato, «Buscadero» compreso, dalla critica musicale.
The wholly merited outpouring of grief in the music community when John Martyn died of pneumonia in January 2009 spoke volumes about the man's ability to touch hearts.
As a guitarist, Glasgow-born John Martyn is undeniably one of the finest in Britain. As a guitar innovator, he's one of the very few. Having embarked on a recording career at the ripe old age of eighteen (with London Conversation), he's since recorded seven albums in as many years (including Stormbringer! [Island, ILPS 9113], with his wife, Beverley), the latest of which, Sunday's Child [Island, ILPS 9296], was released last December.
John Martyn will talk about anything without the slightest provocation, except his music. He's suspicious of words.
It's July, 1973. John Martyn, one of the young princes of the flourishing British folk scene, is hurtling in a new direction.
The interview took place February 27th 1986, Hanley, Victoria Hall and appeared in two issues, #4 en #5.
R: How does it feel looking back over your 20 year career?
JM: It doesn't feel like twenty, for a start, it feels more like seven or eight, it feels fine.
R: Your very much a survivor of the music business, do you still enjoy touring?
JM: Yeah, well. I've always enjoyed it. I find it very dull staying at home. It's a bug once you get it...!
R: You described the new album Piece By Piece as your best to date. Would you like to tell us about it?
Una vita, quella di John Martyn, percorsa in una dozzina di sequenze, di cui, almeno tre, Solid air, Inside out e Grace & danger, l'ultimo lavoro, passeranno alla storia della rock music, componendone una pagina atipica ed intelligente, confortata dall'apporto geniale di poche altre menti non meno valide e particolari: Nick Drake per primo, Jon Mark, Jonny Almond, Pete Atkin, Roy Harper, Michael Chapman, Kevin Coyne e qualche altro.
E' Hamish lmlach, chitarrista e folksinger scozzese molto vicino alla tradizione, a dargli i primi rudimenti alla chitarra, ma la cronaca vuole che sia Bert Jansch, in un solo anno, a smaliziarlo su tutte le difficoltà del finger picking più evoluto. Ed è subito l'esordio, precoce, ben promettente.
December 6, 1993 - The progressive rock stations of the late 1960s were good to Scottish guitarist John Martyn.
On several occasions, tour programs were sold to the public. These full colour booklets have become very rare now. They contained pictures, merchandise, band members, and also essays about John's music. Of course the new record proves his best up to date but in general these were good stories.
John also got biographical sections in several festival programs, like Glastonbury 1986, Cropredy 1987 or the 1999 Guinness Fleadh. The same goes for the 1982 Six Of The Best concert program, the Genesis reunion for Womad in the Milton Keynes concert bowl.
Thanks muchly...
