Chatting with musician Martin Sexton is as relaxing as sitting on a Somerville porch overlooking the Davis Square red line while drinking Sam Adams and cursing the Celtics' sporadic play. He's laid back, cool and a living humble Buckley, if he'll allow such an homage.
Cavalier Daily: Why do you think your followers are so loyal?
Martin Sexton: People just genuinely connect with what I'm singing about. I think they recognize that I mean what I say. I have a certain amount of conviction and passion and sweat in what I'm doing. I think it just connects with a sense of people's down-to-earth kitchen table mentalities.
CD: What would be the best piece of advice you could give to aspiring musicians that are just starting out?
MS: I'd say, "Don't listen to anybody." Try to exercise perseverance.
CD: How many years have you been going at it?
MS: I've been singing all my life. I've been doing the singer-songwriter thing I guess since I've been singing on the street in Boston in 1991. I started in the subways and just kind of worked my way up. It's really grown into a wonderful career.
CD: Did you have any vocal training or is it just natural talent?
MS: There's talent, but there's also ... I don't know how many thousand shows I've sang. There's nothing like singing live to work on your chops and find when you don't have to work on your chops. A lot of what I've realized in the last several years is that I don't need to sing as much as I can. A lot of what I do is understated now. I used to sing more. I used to try to hit every note in one phrase, just as any guitar player tends to play less as they get better and older. I tend to sing less as I get better and stronger. I can say it more with fewer notes I think. I can't really grasp Steve Vai playing guitar just noodling up and down, but B.B. King can play one beautiful note for five minutes and send me into tears.
CD: You've branched out of Boston. Are you familiar with Guster?
MS: The band? Yeah. I know those guys from way back. They actually sang backups with me on a session way back when on a demo. They used to listen to me out of Tufts University when they were in school and they were forming. They also played on the street in Harvard Square. They're old buds. That's nice. I run into 'em every blue moon out on the road, you know, if they're doing a show and I'm doing a show.
CD: They're playing here in Charlottesville, at the University.
MS: They used to be called Gus years ago and for some reason changed it to Guster. They're great too, by the way.
CD: Yeah, I saw them in Richmond with Ben Folds and that was great. By the way, someone who I think you have similar talents to vocally is Jeff Buckley. What do you think of him?
MS: Brilliant. He was just an angel. It's not that common for white guys to sing falsetto, so I tend to automatically get referenced with guys like Jeff Buckley, and he is definitely an influence on me. But he's more of a later influence. I'll listen to what I sing, and I'll say, "Oh, it sounds like Jeff Buckley right there." In that one second. And I'm sure there's no coincidence that he's brilliant and I've listened to him a lot. In fact, I can't listen to "Grace" most of the time, because I'm not emotionally prepared. I can only listen to that record if I'm in a really good space, because I just think it's so powerful. I can't just put it in and listen to it casually. But he's definitely in the sauce.
CD: I'm just curious. Give me five albums you recommend.
MS: Ted Hawkins, "The Next Hundred Years." Jeff Buckley, "Grace." P.J. Harvey, "Is This Desire?" Tom Waits, "Mule Variations." And something by George Jones. "Greatest Hits" or something.
CD: Eighty-thousand miles touring in 2001. Do you get exhausted?
MS: Nah. It's great, man. The road is fruitful. I tour with two guys who are like the crew - the tour manager and the sound guy. And then there's just me and the drummer onstage. We tend to rock. We have the potential to rock and then we can be so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. I tend to compensate for the bass with my thumb at the bottom strings of the guitar. I think people seeing us for the first time are sort of miffed because it sounds like a whole band as opposed to two guys, so we tend to catch people by surprise if they're a first timer, which I'm assuming they'll be, because I've never been there.
"Roads" scholar Martin Sexton brings his prolific touring penchant to Starr Hill on Fri., April 5 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7pm. The ticket price is $15 and it is a standing room only show. For more info, call the venue at 434-977-0017 or purchase tickets by phone at 800-594-TIXX. Audience taping is permitted at Martin Sexton shows, but must follow Starr Hill policies.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
