Loose Leaf Notes

Belfast born musician Tom Martin made some new friends in Floyd County, fans who stayed for all three of his Dogtown Roadhouse sets Saturday night and bought a collection of his CD’s to pass around between them.

For me, hearing Martin perform was a perfect compliment to hearing Michael Meade, author of Fate and Destiny, speak in Washington D.C. the week before.  Both men share an Irish heritage and the traits of that bloodline, a penetrating way with words and a propensity to the dark and to humor.   Both have a depth of voice for making social commentary and delving down into the roots of humanity. Both have taken to the stage to share what their soul was made to do, and as Meade would say ‘whenever we share our unique gifts with the world everyone benefits from it.’

I for one was enriched by Martin’s skillful guitar playing, the originality of his musical arrangements and the turn of phrases in his lyrics that were never predictable and appealed to my own love of language.  He played to a small yet engaged audience, who learned that Martin has been inspired by artists like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, to name a couple.   Along with a Cohen and Dylan song, he played a Van Morrison (also from Belfast) song and a rendition of the traditional Carrickfergus, which pulled at some heartstrings.

But the majority of songs Martin performed were “original” in the best sense of the word. At one point I took a stack of CDs to the well-lit bathroom to better read the lists of songs, looking for my already favorites.

When a few of us got up to dance, Martin joked that no one dances at Leonard Cohen concerts, so he must be doing something right.  Later he announced that Bob Dylan just turned 70.  “That means we are all younger than him,” he said to applause.

Adding to the richness of the evening was the fact that Martin sat at our table in between sets (having already made friends with some of our party who had heard him the evening before at the Hotel Floyd amphitheater).  We enjoyed talking to him and his U.S. traveling companion and fellow musician Mary Smith.

At the end of the night, Martin and Smith said they were off to another gig in nearby Lexington, followed by family visits up north and a booking in Maine.  They promised to come back to Floyd soon. I promised to read some poetry at the club that Martin runs in Birmingham England if I was ever in the country.

Post note: Watch a video of Martin playing at Dogtown HERE and THIS clip I found on youtube gives a good example of Martin’s talent (and it’s one of the songs on my “favorites” list: Pick it UP).