John Martyn

Drake and Martyn are the two pivotal figures in British folk, visionaries with a singular conception of the possibilities of folk music and beyond.

Feature by Jasper Hamill | 16 Apr 2006
For a folk hero, John Martyn, peer of Nick Drake and The Incredible String Band, never really seemed satisfied with the limits of the genre. The questing, eternally dissatisfied mind of one of Scotland's most original voices was unafraid of leaving behind the beautiful, evocative folk that made his name and act out a rare desire to explore textures, instruments and techniques distinct from his original style.

Born in Surrey, he moved to Glasgow as a child where despite being "expected to kick heads or be called a pansy," he started to master the complicated, flying-fingers style of sixties folk. After moving into a tiny shack outside Glasgow with a member of The Incredible String Band, his music, which manages to transpose the realities of impoverished urban life onto the pastoral, winsome traditions of the folk form, began to attract the attention of record labels around Britain. Subsequently influencing bands as diverse as Belle and Sebastian, Wake The President and Beth Orton, who calls him 'The Guv'nor,' Martyn's virtuoso playing and evocative, heart-rending vocals are a timeless example of the form.

Playing the ABC on April 28, John Martyn's homecoming will be a fantastic, rare opportunity to see the great man in his hometown. After a career that has seen him puncturing his lung, losing wives and pissing off his record labels, Martyn has survived, adapting his sound to incorporate synths, styles and techniques that have evolved along the way. Drake and Martyn are the two pivotal figures in British folk, visionaries with a singular conception of the possibilities of folk music and beyond.
John Martyn plays the ABC, Glasgow on April 28.