martynjoseph.com
we try to make it more then just a home page for a singer/songwriter, more than an attempt to advertise gigs and sell CDs. We hope this is a place where we can share ideas and resources, a common goal and find ways to make a difference.
Martyn Joseph is a performer like no other. Shades of Springsteen, Knopfler and Dave Matthews there may be - but he stands in his own right, built on a reputation for giving what thousands have described as the best live music experience of their lives.
One of acoustic music’s most arresting artists, the Welsh singer songwriter has been in demand on both sides of the Atlantic for over two decades. Martyn..s 25 year career has embraced some notable achievements including 5 Top 50 UK chart positions, with such songs as Dolphins Make Me Cry, Working Mother and Let..s Talk About it in the Morning, and appearances and tours with, amongst others, Suzanne Vega, Marc Cohn, Joan Armatrading, Runrig, Clannad, Chris de Burgh, Art Garfunkel, Jools Holland and even Celine Dion and Shirley Bassey. He has won fans everywhere with his uncanny fusion of material –feisty, pull no punches big issue numbers alongside stripped bare love songs.
Martyn..s particular strength is in the lyrical narrative of his songs, be they contemporary protests against injustice and inhumanity, a musical psalm to the fulfilment and fragilities of love, or a piercing précis of social history, “It..s the song that can soothe, explain or even in a small way save us”. In this manner he carries on in the tradition of the six string balladeer as both catalyst and interpreter of our raddled and rewarding times, our personal and communal stories sung out loud in the spirit of Woody Guthrie, Ewan MacColl, Hank Williams and Bruce Springsteen.
Voted Best Male Artist at the 2004 BBC Welsh Music Awards and with a string of humanitarian plaudits and awards, he’s a mean guitar player with one of the most powerful voices on the circuit crafting songs with, as the BBC..s Bob Harris put it, “outstanding lyrical intelligence”.
Across a 25-year career, and having released his 29th album Vegas in September 2007, Martyn..s song catalogue is an awesomely impressive archive of our times, our tribulations, our wonder and our wounds. One reviewer after seeing Martyn in concert likened the experience and content to “the beautiful business of being alive with all it..s jokes, absurdity and sadness, seared by music for the heart and head”.
Always charming, sometimes alarming, Martyn Joseph is a unique songwriter who digs deep and delivers an ultimate, life affirming message. One of the most unusual and compelling performers you are likely to encounter.
Most recent studio album - Evolved - MoJo Folk Album of the Month - March 09 - 4 stars
Rebirth of the singer songwriter tradition
The folk world has never fully embraced the Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph - perhaps never forgiving him for having a hit with a song about dolphins 15 years ago. That..s a great shame because, with a voice reminiscent of Ralph McTell, Joseph encapsulates many of folk..s old values with stirring songs of social issues and yes, even protest. The "The Welsh Springsteen" tag may be somewhat of a misnomer, but he..s a brave and engaging live performer and this is a courageously sparse, stripped-down and entirely solo work which finds him revisiting and reinventing some of the songs that have helped bring him thus far. Among them, the prostitute..s defiance in Working Mother, the miscarriage of justice resulting in the hanging of Dic Penderyn in 1831 and the bewilderment of the miner..s son in Please Sir are all the more dramatic when delivered with such stark bareness.
Thanks for accepting my friend request. Hopefully you will stop by and check out my new songs. Don't forget you can download them at www.cdbaby.com/cd/barbaralynndoran All the best Barbara Lynn
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
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