Mick Martin's AKA "Blindboink Parham in SL." Fingerpicking style is very unique. That is, it's not just a 1,2 approach, but you never know where the bass is going to go. "This music is so much fun to play on acoustic guitar" says Mick Martin. "It's like having a complete band on one guitar."
As a child in Appalachia Mick Martin grew up listening to the mountain music that was a natural part if his surroundings, which is evident in his unique sound and guitar picking style - it's true "Country Blues".
Click the link below to view micks website.
http://www.mick-martin.com/
On May 9th, 2007 Mick Martin visited world renowned sound
engineer Riccardo Schulz at his Carnegie Mellon University recording studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to pick up the final version of his album, Revelator. Mick has teamed up with Riccardo on this project as well as others. Riccardo has recorded and/or produced for variety of record labels
including New Albion, Mode Records, Ocean Records, Norvard, and New World Records, and for artists such as Keith Lockhart and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Rachael Worby and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Laura Opedisano, Aki Takahashi, Eunice Norton, Vivica Genaux, and many others.
Mick Martin is an acoustic guitar solo artist. He plays "Traditional American Folk", music on an acoustic guitar. The styles that Mick plays include "Country Blues" and "Appalachain Folk" music. Mick has shared the stage with Sonny Terry and Brownie Mc Gee, Bill Monroe, Keith Whitley, Tom Rush, Noman Blake, Robin and Linda Williams, Barbra Mandrell, Vince Gill and many others in the music industry over the years. Since then, Mick had taken a hiatus from music and performing to persue a career in education..
Revelator is a solo 'Country Blues' album, and features Mick's masterful reworking of ten classic blues songs by the likes of Son House, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Willie Mctell.
Style of Guitar: My style of guitar playing is unique as are others. It is a mixture of the Delta and Piedmont blues styles. I began to play the finger-picking guitar style with just my thumb and index finger in the early 70’s. I continued to play this method – without plastic or metal finger picks- until a few years ago. Never having any formal music training or guitar lessons gave me the opportunity to explore my creative abilities and develop my own skills and style. Most of what I had learned came from listening to records and playing with friends who knew a lot more about the guitar than I did at that time. I guess that’s why they call it “Folk Music?” If I had to do it all over again, at some point I should have studied music at an educational institution. It may have opened up another world for me, that is, given me more insight…. maybe. Looking at the big picture though - I enjoyed the unstructured aspect of learning music and how to play what I had a passion for instead of someone else’s idea of what music is or is not. As one of our great western philosophers and thinkers stated a long time ago in his words of wisdom, “I yam what I yam,” - Popeye the Sailorman ..................................................................................................................................... Listening to the “Old Blues Masters” along with some of the great new acoustic guitar players at that time such as, John Fahey, stirred my curiosity. Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, Reverend Gary Davis, Django Reinhardt, Robert Johnson, Doc Watson and many other great and inventive acoustic guitar players influenced my love and desire to learn and develop my style. I had a passion and desire to listen and try to learn what I heard from these people. I became so excited when one of my friends found a recording or a new artist that I had never heard before. I just couldn’t wait to borrow the record - listen to it for hours on end, and then try to learn to play what I heard (or what I thought that I had heard - which was usually the case). Thinking back, maybe “sometimes what I thought that I had heard” was one of the keys that opened the door to the development of my own style. “It’s not played like that!” my friends would say - and they were probably correct based on their musical experiences. Maybe trying to find a different path other than the one that is handed to you is the best way to travel after a certain point in time? It might be different and scary, but at least it will be your choice and can be exciting and stimulating .........................................................................
Click on play to hear mick.. ............................................................. The Music: The music that “The Old Masters” played and recorded is and was not easy to learn or play. There was no music to read, not many concerts to see and not many people to steal the style from at that time. And when I say “stealing,” I mean that there were not many folks eager to show you what they knew or what they learned from “The Old Masters.” The acoustic blues guitar style is played with the thumb keeping the rhythm and timing, along with the finger or fingers playing the melody. Sometimes the bass strings become part of the melody while the first, second and third strings are played in harmony with the bass or just filler/background to the melody. There were not many of the old acoustic blues style guitarists that used harmony notes to the melodies that they were playing, exclusively .........................................................................
To listen to some of micks music click on the link below. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=837945
............................................................ The History behind the music: The history behind Blues Music is far reaching in my humble opinion. Country Blues was regional, that is, the styles were different depending upon which geographical part of the country one resided. The music can be sad as well as sexy, humorous, raunchy - the miseries of life and the way of ones life. I’ve heard and read all sorts of stories concerning the birth of the blues and its roots. I know that from listening to the music that its roots are spiritual as well as having an underlying tone of double meaning. The music in the big picture has to do with the struggle of ALL people. There are plenty of websites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues) and books to read if you have an interest in the roots of this music genre. A final few words about who was and is the best player, musician and lyricist: Why waste your time thinking about such crap, get your instrument out and start playing, listening, and practicing the music. Music…It’s not a sporting event! ***A special thank you to Alan Lomax and others who recorded this music and other genres of rural music so that we could All enjoy playing the music, singing the lyrics and reading the history.
Click the links below to check out more of micks site's..
http://www.myspace.com/mickmartinguitar
http://www.mick-martin.com/
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ChannelID=354465236
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