Tom Martin

New Post 2/1/24   Martin on Martins

The acoustic guitar of choice for many over the years has been The Martin.  I remember wanting one for a long time before I actually acquired one of my own.  My older brother, yes, also a Martin, used his entire paper route stash on a very slightly used D-35 in 1966.  I thought it was so cool.  Still do.  He still has it and enjoys its very rich tone after almost 60 years of aging.  I finally bought a 35, in 1975 in Palo Alto from Gryphon Strings.  I loved it for many years but sold it when back in Ohio in the mid 80's. Sure wish I still had it.  Like many of us musician/guitar player types, we'd have to sell one to get one.  I sold it and bought a Taylor which was great also, but then sold that and got another Martin.  This time a smaller body 000-28.  But then later on when Martin did the 50 year anniversary of the D-35 in 2015, I bought another 35.  That's the one in the photo in the header.  My original 35 is pictured in the black & white on the Home page.  That shot was taken in ‘75 at Chuck’s Cellar in Los Gatos, opening for John Stewart.  Back then we amplified acoustic guitars with microphones and they sounded great. Couldn't move much though.

Martin guitars have been enjoyed by me for their many great attributes, tone, playability, reserved looks, but I've also enjoyed many other types and styles of guitars over the years.  I could mention a slew of others that I have owned and traded or envied hanging in stores, other player's homes, played in concerts, displayed in museums, but have settled and am content with having been lucky and or blessed in life to have a few great instruments of my own.  

These days I am playing the hell out of my Canadian Godin Rosewood nylon string Multiac.  A bit wider fretboard, but less width than a standard classical guitar, and I find it very comfortable for my finger picking / right hand style.  On the advice of my Sweetwater engineer/sales guy, I tried a set of Thomastik-Infeld rope core strings and they are great.  Pricey but great. I can get them to practically sing with some compression and slight over-drive.  I could do a commercial for these strings if they asked me.  They haven't.  I will try to get a video up soon that shows what I mean. 

So Martin Guitars have been loved by me over the years for many reasons and they have been on most of my recordings that were remastered and have made it into synch placements, film, TV.  I enjoy playing the Martin(s) about as much as any other guitars I've ever owned.  But the reality of it is that any guitar of mine is a Martin, as in Martin's Guitar.  So don't think I'm just going to go on only about Martins on this blog.  It will be about guitars and guitarists, primarily myself I guess.  I'll be looking for/thinking about the common interests and musical journeys that those of us who love to play these instruments might have in common.               

TM, MartinsGuitar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fervor Records Releases Two Anthology Albums 

Greetings from the hinterlands of the U.S. Midwest.

I am happy to say that my record label and publisher Fervor Records has recently released two anthology collections of my songs, one contains songs from the 70's recordings and one has songs from my 80's collection. I had recorded quite a few songs during those decades, both on 4 track and 8 track machines. Fervor took those masters and re-mixed, re-engineered them, enhancing the fidelity and has now released them on these two albums.  They are available online by heading over to Fervor-Records.com/artist/tom-martin.  Take a listen, see what you think, and let me know! Thanks!

Other News:

I am very pleased to announce another song placement for one of my tunes in an upcoming film!  

"Sometimes Woman" has been placed into the upcoming indie film entitled "The Big Ugly", or aka, "London Calling".  Not sure why there are two working titles but maybe this is a creative marketing method, as in: name your film with two titles, get twice the promo.  Not sure, but either way, I am very excited to have my country-rock song "Sometimes Woman" appearing in the film.  I never know where or how it is to be used until I see and hear for the first time just like everyone else. The film has been released world wide as of August 2020. 

Also, I was very happy to have another of my songs, "Highway Stranger" appear in "NCIS", "Lost Time" episode, last May. My song was one of the tunes being played on the juke box during a scene at a highway bar, appearing right after Billy Joel's "Honesty".  I like keeping good company on a sound track like that!

Thanks for reading and your support of my music. 

Til next time,

Fervor Tom

 

 

FRIENDS & LEGENDS Finally Mastered 

The recording project that Jon Baltzell and I have been working on over the span of 2017 has finally wound its way through the recording, mixing, and mastering stages.  The new album, "Friends & Legends", captures our long time friendship primarily surrounded in music, and the legends of characters and stories related within many of these songs.

We now have the final finished version of the 11 tunes that made it onto the project.  Now its in the packaging stage where we'll get the cover art and pictures, related recording, musician, and song detail assembled into a CD package as soon as possible.  Some songs may be offered up on the music page for digital downloads prior to having the physical product ready to go.  We'll be sending out that news once we are there. 

Thanks for your interest in the music we are making!  TM