Bob Martin has enjoyed a performing career spanning more than forty years and recorded several albums including the recent The River Turns the Wheel and Next To Nothin’ for Riversong Records. His releases have received numerous accolades, industry awards and extensive airplay on folk, country and Americana radio programs around the world. Martin has recently returned to performing live and has just reissued his classic first album Midwest Farm Disaster onto cd. Bob Martin will release a new album of original material in 2008.
"I was first struck by the power of Bob Martin’s songwriting on Midwest Farm Disaster in the 1970s. His lyrics are powerful, direct and moving. This is a writer that has style, economy of lyric and the ability to tell a good story. Listen to the story in “My Father Painted Houses” from the CD Next To Nothin '. SI Kahn singled him out as one of the best Songwriters in the country."
~Dick Pleasants, WUMB-FM Boston (Oct 2007)
"Martin's voice at times echoes John Prine and Bob Dylan. It is Martin's rich appreciation of tradition though that makes River Turns The Wheel come alive with a lyrical landscape of stories... one of the finest practitioners in the fine art of traditional folk music." J.C Juanis – RELIX Magazine (Sep 1, 1998)
"Bob Martin is rock's answer to Emily Dickinson. This album (River Turns The Wheel) mixes the authenticity of Woody Guthrie with the intensity of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes."
Brad Kava - San Jose Mercury News (Nov 30, 1997)
"He really is one of the genius songwriters of the Northeast." Dave Palmater - WUMB-FM, Boston. (Jul 29, 1999)
“Martin's lyrics have a very American style to them, simple and understated yet concise and often powerful. This is not the poetry of metaphor and myth but the straightforward art of the folk storyteller.” Bob MacKenzie –Sound Bytes (2001)
"If he had been given the right opportunities, and received the right breaks, he could have been bigger than Dylan". Charles Laquidara - Legendary Boston DJ (Sep 1, 2006)
Great show last Sat. at the New Moon Coffee House, thank you so much. I was so looking forward to it and boy did you deliver. Even brought friends and they were so impressed. Keep writing and making music, it makes the world a better place. As always, thank you.
Thanks, Bob. Finding your music this year (how I missed out so long is a mystery) was a highlight for me. I have great respect for your work. May 2009 lead you to many delights and discoveries.
Hard to fully describe my chagrin at finding your music through the No Depression article, then pulling up your website to find you mentioning your last performance, for now. I'm guessing that is well deserved and I wish you nothing but the best all the while hoping I might have the opportunity to hear your music live one day.
There are several artist I value rather high for their contributions to La Musica. Bob Martin's direct style belongs certainly to the most authentic you will ever hear. Waiting for his next release isn't easy. Rein http://www. plato. nl NETHERLANDS
Thanks for the add Bob. If you get a chance stop by, give a listen and leave a comment. The recordings are a bit ruff but I appreciate input from musicians like yourself. Keep on pickin! Russ
just want to say how completly blown away i am by "midwest farm disaster". just discovered it last week and it has completely blown my mind beyond belief. cannot believe i'd never heard it before, had to pull my car off the road as "mill town" unfolded. it's one of the best songs ever written, and such a classic record. beautiful...i'm driving up from new york to see you play soon. thank you for such great writing.
How well I remember coming across "Midwest Farm Disaster", and realizing I'd discovered a rare gem. A great album that had slipped by without proper promotion,etc. I shared it with all my folk musician friends, and it stayed near the turntable along with Jesse Winchester and Willis Alan Ramsey.
Bob, On behalf of everyone on the show, thanks for playing on Local Music Rocks last night. It was great! Ron and I must have stayed another 1/2 hour after you left just talking about you and your music. Your fans should be able to see the show on PEG channels as early as March 1st. -Steve
The more I listen to you, the more I think, ah, that's the way to tell a story in song and deliver all the nuances of each contained idea, while keeping the narrative flow.
But I never crack even the beginning of how to master that gift you have. Doesn't matter. I love your work, and even though I now have Midwest Farm Disaster on CD, I still treasure the old umpteenth generation tape recording a friend brought back from an Indonesian used tape sale. The tape used to cut out just before the solo in Blind Marie. I used to imagine how it ended, for years. Now I know. Just as I felt. She's still singing, and will forever.
