Martyn Joseph

Mary Youlden
Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 - 5:01pm

Martyn Joseph is as performer like no other.

He has been called “The Welsh Springsteen”, but there are also shades of John Mayer, Bruce Cockburn 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.

Martyn’s ability to transcend preconceptions about how one man and a guitar can sound is testament to his talent and stage presence. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there’s more than one musician on stage. The shows are intelligently constructed, Martyn presenting his audience with challenging narratives and with an intensity that hits with the power of a right hook. He tempers this with songs that comfort and speak to the soul. His great improvisation and immediate topicality lead to an organic fluidity that makes every show different. His comfortable rapport and conversation with his audiences, his sense of humour and his ability to make everyone feel at home lie right at the heart of the evenings success.

Juxtaposition is a key theme in Martyn’s work. The simplicity and the complexity of the human condition and all that it encompasses is underpinned with a heady promise of hope. There is a versatility to Martyn’s music that is hard to categorise. Many have tried, resulting in labels such as Folk, Rock, Soul, Folk Funk and Americana; all of which somehow miss the mark. But sometimes music doesn’t need a defining genre and with the ability to articulate a sense of the bigger picture, Martyn’s music and social commentary manage to empower and speak for many. His songs are pictures, and stories, and feelings all put to music and delivered by a master craftsman.

Bruce Springsteen’s work has always been sighted by Martyn as a huge influence and Autumn 2013 will see him release “Tyres Rushing by in the Rain”, an album of Springsteen covers, all carefully chosen with some unexpected lesser-known gems as well.

Martyn Joseph. A unique talent driven by passion and love for his trade, continues to write, sing and play from the heart.

www.martynjoseph.com

Willy Porter

For a larger proportion of this tour, Martyn will be supported by the American artist Willy Porter.

Willy is that rare singer/songwriter who also happens to be an innovatively dazzling guitarist. He pulls sounds and rhythms out of an acoustic guitar far beyond what seems possible. But most importantly, Willy is a teller of stories, an entertainer, a confidant. His warm wit and smile makes him an audience favorite on stages large and small. He is equally comfortable playing an intensely complicated guitar piece on a quiet ballad as shaking the walls with a torrent of notes that seem to come from six guitars—not six strings.

His live shows combine his guitar playing, songwriting and on-stage improvisational skills as a storyteller, performance artist and comedian. Porter has 10 CDs to his name, including his most recent, Cheesburgers and Gasoline. His concerts combine material from these CDs as well as new material, including impromptu songs where the audience becomes co-writer.

Willy Porter has toured with Jethro Tull, Tori Amos, Ricky Lee Jones, The Cranberries, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck and Sting. Even these fellow performers rave about Porter:

“Willy plays rhythms that make me want to crawl inside his guitar and sleep there forever.” –Tori Amos

“Thank goodness he doesn’t play the flute.” –Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

www.willyporter.com

Tickets: £16.00 (£14.00) plus 5%  fee per booking

http://www.barnfieldtheatre.org.uk/

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Venue

Barnfield Theatre, Exeter

Event Date

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - 8:00pm

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