I sadly note the passing of John Martyn, guitarist extraordinaire, madly underrated songwriter, and tortured soul, at the age of 60. I discovered Martyn's work, particularly his wonderful early 70s albums Bless the Weather and Solid Air as an outgrowth of my interest in the music of Nick Drake. Martyn was a friend of Drake's (they both recorded for Island Records) and the title track of Solid Air commemorates Martyn's love for Drake and his concern as the latter fell deeper into the numbing depression that eventually took his life.
While Nick Drake became an "overnight success" twenty years after his death, John Martyn always remained something of a cult figure. The fact that he never stayed in the same place musically didn't help his popularity, nor did his hard-living, hard-drinking lifestyle make things any easier for him. But his best music, an amalgam of folk, jazz, blues and myriad other influences, was way before its time, and has been a huge influence to several generations of musicians. The video posted above, with Martyn singing "May You Never," is from 1973. Check out an alternative version, from many years later, of the same song with Kathy Mattea, Danny Thompson and Jerry Douglas, also on You Tube, and many other great videos of Martyn. He was a treasure, and his music remains so.
While Nick Drake became an "overnight success" twenty years after his death, John Martyn always remained something of a cult figure. The fact that he never stayed in the same place musically didn't help his popularity, nor did his hard-living, hard-drinking lifestyle make things any easier for him. But his best music, an amalgam of folk, jazz, blues and myriad other influences, was way before its time, and has been a huge influence to several generations of musicians. The video posted above, with Martyn singing "May You Never," is from 1973. Check out an alternative version, from many years later, of the same song with Kathy Mattea, Danny Thompson and Jerry Douglas, also on You Tube, and many other great videos of Martyn. He was a treasure, and his music remains so.
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