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- [00:03]
Interviewer
When you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like Skims or Allbirds, sure you think about a great product, a cool brand and great marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business making, selling and for shoppers, buying. Simple for millions of businesses, that business is Shopify, it's home of Shop pay, the number one checkout in the world. You can use it to boost conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going through. To checkout, upgrade your business and get the same checkout Allbirds uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com income all lowercase go to shopify.com income to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com income this episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is when a great movie hits the screen, you show up. You stay glued, invested, part of the story. And without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to fandango.com to get tickets, stream or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans. Hello everyone and welcome to this sappy special my conversation with musician, performing and recording artist Martin Sexton. He's out of Syracuse, New York if you don't know the name. His music is described as sort of this rootsy Americana folk to some, but it blends really all kinds of things including R B, including country, including you name it, rock for sure. And he's recorded 10 albums including one live at the Fillmore album and as well his music has been heard in some TV shows and films. So he's been around and currently he's been doing this one man performance of Abbey Road live for people the entire album start to finish and that's what brought him to my attention and why I decided to have a conversation with him just to sort of get the insight of a working musician taking on such a revered work and what he is able to do with it to make it work as a solo performer. The other thing to know is that he will be one of the guests at Magical Mystery Camp in June this summer in the Catskills, Big Indian New York. So that is in fact sort of the wind up of this particular phase. He will probably be performing Abbey Road for the last time there, but it's in this cool beetle soaked environment with presenters and music and classes, discussion, interaction, so it's perfect place for him. Anyway, this episode and the podcast is sponsored by Magical Mystery camp. Go to magicalmysterycamp.com for further information. It was interesting to get Martin's take on things, including his Beatle fandom, what albums he gravitates toward, and what he has drawn from the Beatles as a working musician for the last 30 years. So here it is, my conversation with Martin Sexton. You're known for producing music that doesn't fit comfortably in one particular label. You start out, people called you folk, but I listen to your stuff. I hear blues, gospel, Americana, whatever that means, country, ardby and rock. So it speaks to a great openness, this sort of cultural omnivore absorbing influences. What was the earliest music you can recall listening to?
- [03:42]
Martin Sexton
So I gotta say, cultural omnivore. I dig that, man. Very cool.
- [03:46]
Interviewer
I guess said that on a show recently and I've been using it ever since.
- [03:49]
Martin Sexton
Dig that. I'm like a bear, like, forging through the forest of music.
- [03:54]
Interviewer
Yes.
- [03:54]
Martin Sexton
You know. Ah, man, I don't know what I call myself, man. I mean, when people ask, I just say I'm a singer songwriter. You know, I've seen in an interview
- [04:03]
Interviewer
you call yourself a soul singer, but not soul like we think of. And even though you recorded for Atlantic, but soul in a much broader sense. Maybe you can lay that out, Your definition of that.
- [04:17]
Martin Sexton
Well, it comes. It mean, it comes from my soul. I mean, it's not an Otis Redding thing, although he's definitely in the mix. And Stevie Wonder was certainly probably my biggest vocal influence, but. And of course the Beatles later on. But I don't know, man. Describing what I do, I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
- [04:44]
Interviewer
Yes, exactly. Right. Who wants to talk about it? But to that point, music, I think this is my own opinion, and I'm sure it's shared by other people. And I'm trying to articulate it just so. I think there's a power to music, to move people and convey something, reaching the spirit with more immediacy than other art forms, say, film or books. And that the Beatles, to use one great example, were exceptional at tapping into this. Is that something you have found in your life?
- [05:15]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, for sure. I see myself as a messenger. I'm carrying the message. And it's my job to bring the song to folks. And I've always thought that music was a very motivating force. And it's my job. It's incumbent upon me to deliver it the best I can and to try to unify folks, especially in this divided world we're in. I always try to bring stuff that's going to bring folks together, that's going to remember our humanity, that's going to remember that we're all really brothers and sisters sharing this earth. And I think that's what music is for. It's a. It's a unifying force that lets us see the light within one another. You know, namaste means I see the light within you. And music has a lot to do with that. For me and the Beatles, man, they. When I was a kid, I mean, when I discovered them, you know, decades after their demise, it just. It lit that. That light under me and. And started me a. Brewing to. To get on this journey that I'm on.
- [06:31]
Interviewer
That's a great way of laying out something that I think you're not alone in. In terms of the Beatles being this. In addition to all the great music they made, being a motivational force that inspired a hell of a lot of people across every kind of demographic and genre to want to produce art themselves. Even if they couldn't quite articulate it in those words, they were moved as an audience or wanting to create. So as far as your own journey goes, what was it? Do you recall a specific moment of music reaching you and moving that way, moving you that way that made you want to try your hand at it?
- [07:07]
Martin Sexton
Yes. When I was. I was probably in fifth or sixth grade, and this is the early 80s, so it's well after the Beatles had done their thing. I'm 10 to 12 kids, so I've got a lot of older sibs. And I went down to the basement and there's this box of old 45s and LPs and none of them had cases or covers. They're all scratched up. And I would take the 45s and go through like there's some Barbra Streisand, there's a Helen ready. And I would take these 45s and I would. I wouldn't listen to them. I take them up to the athletic field and I would chuck them into the wind. And they would. They would. It was amazing, but they would fly. I don't recommend this today, but I've made peace with Mother Earth since then. But one day I came upon this big LP with a big old green apple on it. Said Beatles, Abbey Road. And it's all scratched up and dusty. I've heard of these guys. I'll play that record. And I played it and that was the day that I first heard all those songs. And that I'd say that day and the day I played My older brother's Frampton Comes Alive album. And I heard that crowd on the Frampton Live album. And the headphones. So they look like your headphones now. And I think those were the days that I. That's definitely. I want to do this. I knew I could sing. I would sing out in the schoolyard, and kids would gather around and stuff. So I knew, like, hey, man, that's when I started playing guitar at about 13 years old.
- [08:41]
Interviewer
What were you singing when you'd sing in the schoolyard? What kind of tunes were you singing with?
- [08:45]
Martin Sexton
I was Stevie Wonder tunes. And I was rattling off these sort of Cheech and Chong skits. And the nuns, you know, I was Catholic. The nuns would come out, all the kids had gathered around, you know, and they'd be, like, clapping, you know, on the one and the three. And. And so I'd go from a Stevie Wonder tune to us to a Cheech and Chong skit. And of course, that was quite vulgar for a little Catholic boy to be. To be going on. But some nuns had come up with their. Their yardsticks and. Break it up, Break it up, Sexton. That'll be enough for you. But it was just that feeling of kids around me and, like, you know, attention, like 10 to 12. I probably relished in that, you know, attention probably didn't get much as a kid, but, yeah, that. That's. That's. That's sort of the start of what I do.
- [09:34]
Interviewer
That's interesting. I haven't heard anybody lay a music career at the feet of Cheech and Chong before, but that. That's.
- [09:40]
Martin Sexton
That's very interesting. Oh, hey, man. The cops are behind us, man. No, don't. Don't look around, man. Just. I want you to start getting rid of the stuff, man. I'm getting rid of it, man. No, not that way, man. Eat it, man. Oh, man. I got a whole pocket full, man. Oh, man. Oh, hey, man. I used to love that stuff.
- [09:55]
Interviewer
Oh, my God. Yeah. You've got me revisiting earache, my eye and black and all that stuff. Yeah. Where were you picking up on this stuff? Was it, like, older siblings that had this.
- [10:05]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, my bro. My older brothers had the Cheech and Chong, you know.
- [10:08]
Interviewer
Okay.
- [10:08]
Martin Sexton
Who is it? It's Dave, man. Open up. I got the stuff with me. Dave. Not here. My brothers had that late 70s, though.
- [10:16]
Interviewer
Okay.
- [10:17]
Martin Sexton
I was. You know, I was in high school in the 80s, so I kind of caught everything a generation late. I kind of. I really didn't like the music of the 80s when it was happening. I ended up singing it all for money later in the 80s. Aha. Tears for Fears. Tears. Tears for Fears, Chaka Khan, all that. All that stuff. But that was. And that was a great 101 for singing. You know, when you got to hit that high note and take on me, that's. That's a good practice for. For singing later in life.
- [10:48]
Interviewer
Nail that. You're set. Yeah, that's great. So at what point in you're absorbing all this music and you're performing it for people, so clearly you've got the performing bug. At what point did you recognize, hey, I've got something to say too? I want to try to write because I'm thinking if you're that big a fan of music, it can go two ways. Either you're so intimidated, all this great stuff's been written. It's out there, who am. Or you're like, I think I can do this. Which is how the Beatles hit a lot of people.
- [11:19]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. Looking back, I wish I kind of, I don't know, studied songwriting, like from the get go. But it was funny. I just started writing things. I just started writing things that were just sucked, you know what I mean? Like, it's like. And it's so discouraging, man. Like, it's. You don't. Songs just don't, like, happen. You know what I mean? It's like, it's hard to write a song that doesn't just suck. And so I. I would start writing about stuff that I knew a little about, and it would just come out, you know, stupid. And I would sound like, kind of like Jethro Tell for a while in the beginning or sound like, you know, Van Halen or who knows what or. But then I know what it was when I started singing in the streets when I moved to Boston, I cut the mullet and I started singing in the streets and subways. And then I started listening to guys like John Hyatt and Chris Whitley and Jeff Buckley and John Prine and all the more folky, rootsy guys. And that's when I started to really write. Sort of studying, like, okay, looks like there's two verses and then there's the chorus, and then there's a verse and then there's chorus and then there's a little bridge. Like, I kind of got the structure of like, okay, what these masters were doing. And so, yeah, that was the early 90s, I think, when I started really writing decent songs that I would consider decent.
- [12:46]
Interviewer
And you're describing artists that didn't easily fit into a particular niche either.
- [12:51]
Martin Sexton
Yeah.
- [12:51]
Interviewer
Like yourself, they're absorbing everything. And that's something that's pretty manifest in your music, that even when you're doing, like. I've seen bits of you performing songs from Abbey Road. And the amazing thing, and this is the power of Beatles, for as long as I've been doing this, is that any really solid artist can take a Beatles song and do it a completely different way. And the song is still there.
- [13:14]
Martin Sexton
Yeah.
- [13:14]
Interviewer
Like, I think of the first time and you might have had the same reaction. I was a young child when I heard Richie Havens doing Here Comes the Sun, and I might have heard his version before I heard the Beatles version, actually. It was on AM radio. And they sound nothing like each other, but the song is still there. And it's just. It's incredible. It's like, wow, you could strip this thing down to the bare frame and there's still something there that's going to reach people. That's power. That's unbelievable.
- [13:41]
Martin Sexton
Totally. Yeah. That was a great version. I think he started Woodstock with that. That.
- [13:46]
Interviewer
Yeah. Apparently I looked into. He did versions of Strawberry Fields and stuff. He had a. An affinity for Beatles, for sure, but through the Richie Havens filter, which made them sound different and reach you in a different way. Maybe you don't like the baroque production of the Strawberry Fields that the Beatles produce, but there's something, just a guy in his guitar. It'll still hit you. So.
- [14:09]
Martin Sexton
Right. Yeah. John Lennon gave me that license to just write kind of gibberish, you know, like, he would just have these songs, like, no. Those lines in Strawberry Fields.
- [14:22]
Interviewer
Like, no one I think is in my tree.
- [14:25]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, but you know. I know. And it's a dream. Like, what the hell is that? That's like something you just made up after you got out of bed and had a sip of coffee. You know what I mean? Like. And I call that the John Lennon school. So I started writing like that. And late. A couple albums in, I had a little more of that dreamy, nonsensical, maybe poetic license kind of lyric writing, stream
- [14:46]
Interviewer
of consciousness, whatever words come out of your mouth.
- [14:49]
Martin Sexton
Exactly. And people will find their meaning from it. Yeah. And he always encouraged that in interviews, I would study him closely. And I. I love that. And it's, you know, you just. I hit the. You hit the record button on the. The recorder, on the iPhone. Now, it used to be a little Dictaphone and just kind of make stuff up and, oh, that sounds good. And kind of build on that. And I could Think it allows the editor to. To take a break, you know, the. That editor in my head will always be like, that's nonsense. You can't say that it doesn't mean anything. Or that's not correct grammar, you know?
- [15:22]
Interviewer
Yeah. You can't overthink it.
- [15:24]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. It's not an English lesson, it's art.
- [15:26]
Interviewer
Right, exactly. That's something you learned, you're saying more or less from John Lennon in terms of his use of language that might not have a literal meaning. As we know from Paul's 10,000 tellings of hey Jude. The movement you need is on your shoulder.
- [15:41]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, the whole John thing, right? No, no, no, keep it, keep it.
- [15:44]
Interviewer
I know what it means.
- [15:46]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. The movement, man. You know, the movement. It's on your shoulders.
- [15:51]
Interviewer
Well, that's some really beautiful insight to key in on as an aspiring artist, that sometimes just the sound of the words and not necessarily a literal meaning is going to convey something of import to you as you're speaking it and singing it, and to anybody taking it in and being caught up in the. The whole sound of everything, the way you're singing it and the music that's going with it and all that stuff. So it's a pretty insightful thing to pick up on because I think we're sort of conditioned to think of pop music as a very highly competitive industry. That's really what it is, where you're battling for the ears of listeners to make things stick and be catchy and ear wormy and all that sort of thing. And this is sort of anti that, but I think it reaches a deeper level in the beholder, for sure.
- [16:41]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. I wasted so much time trying to, I don't know, write tunes that would get played on the radio, you know what I mean? Like, gotta hit the chorus at 40 seconds. The intro should be about 12 seconds. You know, the formulaic thing. I mean, there's a place for it. And I do still keep that in mind sometimes, like, if I'm writing, like, okay, this is probably the single, so, you know, this is the one we go for. But it's just funny how you spend so much time, you know, trying to do. That's the other side of the brain, you know, that's more of the math and trigonometry side of the brain, you know, as opposed to the flowing, artistic, creative part of the brain.
- [17:19]
Interviewer
What you're describing, you could see both of those sides fused in the end product of Beatles, because clearly they very much were wired into Gotta get on the radio, Gotta Have a hit, gotta engage millions of people. But for John especially, it has to mean something or it has to be something natural and unforced. And do you as an artist, yourself, as a performer and as a songwriter, marvel at how they were able to pull that trick off over and over and over again?
- [17:50]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, I do marvel at it. They just work so hard. In the beginning especially. I mean, I don't understand how a group can just tour constantly. Like in the early 60s, constant touring and putting out like five albums a year, you know what I mean? Like, I don't get that. I don't understand. I think they just non stop, they're always writing, always working, always writing and getting interviews. Like, I think John and Paul definitely challenged each other. And I know from my own writing history that I definitely am more productive when I write with someone else, when I have that someone there to challenge me into. You know, I can write a couple songs in a day if I have a guy with me who's good. But then as they got more successful, they kind of just, they were the, the high watermark of music and so they could kind of do whatever they wanted. Like they could put a seven minute single out with hey Jude or they could write songs like no One I Think Is in My Tree, but you know, I know and It's a Dream, you know what I mean? And I know people who actually prefer the more structured, you know, traditional kind of song structure of the early Beatles as opposed to their later stuff. I always was more a fan of the later stuff personally, you know, from Revolver on, basically. And then of course all the, just the wonderful magical engineering techniques that they pioneered with their engineers and George Martin, you know, I mean, they invented this stuff that was used every day after that. And just the idea of having like a distorted guitar or a just kind of distorted voice or like a chorused guitar or like all this stuff was basically them at Abbey Road, you know, asking the engineers to break the rules, you know what I mean? Like, hey, that's. That stuff would be in the red and they'd be like, that's cool. And these guys literally, they wore like white lab coats, you know, the engineers back then. And they were very much into, very English, into the rules. But I guess at a certain point they realized this is the Beatles and whatever they say is what we do.
- [19:56]
Interviewer
They established that clout as people that could move units, that, okay, we're getting a blank check from this point on. And that pursuit of technology to capture what you're hearing in your head that Is new ground. You know, nobody's done this yet, but we're going to figure out what it is. What it is I'm hearing in my head. That's not it. Keep trying. Keep digging deeper. ADT okay, now you're in the ballpark. That sort of stuff. Backwards tapes. Yeah. Got it.
- [20:23]
Martin Sexton
Totally. Yeah.
- [20:24]
Interviewer
Amazing. Do you find that. Do you apply that in your own recordings? Have you gone down that path of. I'm hearing something in my head, I got to figure out how to do this and go down that rabbit hole
- [20:36]
Martin Sexton
of how do I get that sound, have done that. And half the time it comes out contrived, and half the time it works. Like, yeah, I. I definitely have gone for things. And I don't know if it's because it's harder than it seems and I'm not all that, or it is attainable. And I can do that simply by, you know, a certain fuzz pedal and a certain, you know, tone on my Les Paul with the tone turned down and the, you know, using the rhythm pickup and, like. It's funny. It's like anything, you know, it's. It's hit or miss.
- [21:11]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [21:12]
Martin Sexton
And trial and error. And I definitely have gotten better at knowing my limits. Like, you know. No, I can't play drum kit on this track. Like, I'll leave that to the drummer. You know what I mean? Because I like to do everything. I tend to play everything on my. To play. I do the. I'm a. Paul is my favorite bass player, and so I. I play bass. I do some keys. I get guitars, percussion, all of. I'll do, like, choruses of vocals behind me and stuff. But drums kit, I gotta leave that to the drummer. So I, I. And I. And I know that from trying to do it, and it was okay, but it kind of sucked. So just leave that to a great drummer.
- [21:51]
Interviewer
Yeah. I guess it depends on what you're trying to capture. I listen to, like, you listen to Pete Townsend demos, and he's not what you would call a great drummer, but there's a charm to what he does. It's almost like the first McCartney album, right?
- [22:03]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. And it's amazing. You think of Paul, like, playing all that stuff, playing drums and bass and guitar and keys and singing and all that. It's kind of amazing, you know, like, do you. I always thought I would listen to the White Album and I'd be like, dear Prudence, Wow. What a great drum thing Ringo's doing there. You know what I mean? But it's not Ringo. It's Actually, Paul doing all that stuff.
- [22:24]
Interviewer
Yeah. Dakota is incredible on that. And that's something that's mystified Beetle people forever.
- [22:28]
Martin Sexton
Yeah.
- [22:29]
Interviewer
Like what?
- [22:30]
Martin Sexton
You know, what I want to know is who. At. What I'm not clear on is, is who actually plays bass on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Is it Paul? I haven't figured that out yet. I'm sure it's very. I could probably Google it right now.
- [22:43]
Interviewer
Yeah. Well, have you ever listened to the rock band Stems? The sort of deconstructions of the recordings?
- [22:50]
Martin Sexton
I saw us. I've seen some specials on that and I've seen them like Ice, Isolate, the. Yeah, I mean, I haven't heard the bass. And while my guitar gents got that sort of crunchy, you know, distorted thing going on, but it's not quite a fuzz. It's. It's big and bad. Because I always thought Paul kind of played bass on everything. But. No, actually John plays bass on some. George plays bass on like. Joan was quizzical, studied by the physical side. That's George playing bass. And John doesn't even play on that track because he didn't like it. George called it fruity. Yeah.
- [23:33]
Interviewer
Yeah. The. The. The big ukulele fan called another song fruity.
- [23:37]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. It's funny, huh?
- [23:40]
Interviewer
Well, it's interesting when you listen to the. The breakdowns of wow. My Guitar. Because I had Jack on the show one time and we discussed this because through Rock Band you can hear the sound of a 12 string guitar doubling the bass in parts of that.
- [23:54]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, it is so on. While my guitar. You can hear a 12 string doubling the bass.
- [23:59]
Interviewer
Yes. I'll send it to you.
- [24:01]
Martin Sexton
It's way back, way.
- [24:03]
Interviewer
Like until Rock Band happened, we didn't even know it was there. Yeah, but it's there. It's like first of all, you're taking the time to arrange and figure out how to play and then record with precision, something that most people will never ever hear again. To the point of chasing a sound you hear in your head and being able to make it work. But to what end? I don't know. Is it a lesser record without that in there? I don't know.
- [24:29]
Martin Sexton
That's cool, man. Maybe that just is why I always remember the melody of that bass line so much. Because it's bolstered.
- [24:36]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [24:36]
Martin Sexton
Three octaves, like the bass itself. And then the guitar has the high and low octave, the 12 string. That. That could help. That's neat. I definitely trick. I have. You're reminding me that I have done tricks like that. That have been successful. Like little. Little idiosyncratic things that you wouldn't notice, but that's there. That just kind of accentuates something.
- [25:03]
Interviewer
What track? So listeners could check it out.
- [25:05]
Martin Sexton
Oh, I'm thinking on my Seeds record. What track is it? Right where. Right where you belong. It's called right where you belong. And I do this whole radio. It's a total Beatle thing where I put songs together with a radio and there's an acoustic in there and there's a little, like, Dobro and you can't really. It's hard for me to explain, but it's. It's right where you belong. Or. No, no, no, it. It is right where you belong. But even more so, it's on a track called I'm here for you on the middle eight. I've got a mellon and all. And all this stuff going on that you don't really hear. And the melotron again, I got from Beatles, although everyone used them, but.
- [25:55]
Interviewer
So it's like a psych. A touch of psychedelia in this break. What you're reminding me of. Do you know that record by Sagittarius, my world fell down.
- [26:03]
Martin Sexton
Not familiar with that.
- [26:04]
Interviewer
Okay. From 67. Yeah. It's got this whole interlude breakdown of all these random sounds coming in. And Clive Davis hated it so much, even though the single was successful, he cut it out of the album version, which is kind of. Yeah, it's the weird thing, but it's a beautiful effect when you can pull it off. And so when you just. What you're describing there, it's like, wow, he's like, riding that wave. That's a cool thing.
- [26:29]
Martin Sexton
That's one thing I love to do that I got from Beatles is I'll. Instead of a song ending and another one beginning, I'll tie them together with, you know, a crossfade with, you know, crickets or tree frogs or ambient sounds. And that's right off of Abbey Roadside B. Or I'll do little shticks with, like, you know, you're tuning a radio and. And then the next song starts, you know, like. Or the backwards. Like. There we go.
- [27:05]
Interviewer
That's cool. I love that. What you're describing. I'm thinking of the beginning of Back to the Egg album with the radio tuning and all the backwards stuff certainly is. Is manifest. So what you described, as far as your Beatle taste goes, is Revolver onwards, the experimental years. So really, it speaks to a great diversity in sound in the service of these great songs that they just reached a sweet spot. As writers at that point.
- [27:29]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, totally. Yeah. I always. That's kind of when they started first doing the loop stuff and the backwards guitar and. And George, he had gotten the sitar earlier, but. Yeah, I just. I love that whole. And Paul didn't get enough credit for being the one who was more like, in the thick of it, you know, living in the city in London, and actually hanging out with all the experimental folks, you know, and really getting all those ideas. While John was hanging out with Cynthia in the suburbs, for the most part, Paul did.
- [28:02]
Interviewer
Tripping balls.
- [28:03]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. Yeah.
- [28:06]
Interviewer
While Paul, the straight beetle, is the counterculture beetle.
- [28:09]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. He was the one going to the clubs and. And really soaking it all in. Apparently, even like, Joan was quizzical, studied petaphysical signs. Like that was some thing. Pet pet of pet. Stunning pataphysical science. That was a thing.
- [28:25]
Interviewer
Yes.
- [28:26]
Martin Sexton
For a minute, like. Right. And he gotta tell you what. Yeah, he was there. He would go to the lectures on it or whatever, you know. Huh.
- [28:34]
Interviewer
John was one that picked up on trepanning. You know what that is?
- [28:38]
Martin Sexton
Trepanning? Tell me what?
- [28:40]
Interviewer
Drilling a hole in your head into your skull.
- [28:43]
Martin Sexton
Nice.
- [28:43]
Interviewer
Right?
- [28:44]
Martin Sexton
Yeah.
- [28:44]
Interviewer
He's trying to get Paul to do it with him. And Paul was like, you first.
- [28:48]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. Okay. Anybody? Yes, I'll sit out on that one.
- [28:52]
Interviewer
Never quite made it to a song. So in a way, it's kind of like you coming full circle with that Apple label Beatles album striking you as a child to now going out on the road and performing Abbey Road live. What was the. The process that led you to that point?
- [29:06]
Martin Sexton
Well, I was. Process would this point in my career, you know, I. I don't have to put out a record every year. And I. It's been. It'd been a while since I put something out. 2021, when I put out record called 2020 Vision, and I toured behind it and kind of let, you know, do that. Do its thing. And then it was time to do something else. And I really didn't have anything written. And I started thinking, well, you know, what if I did like this me version. Me solo version of Abby Rowe? That could be a cool new thing to bring to the world. And of course, I thought I knew all the songs on it, but I didn't. When I sat down and actually woodshed it and learned the songs, you know, enough to play them in front of a paying audience. That took some. Some doing, but I thought that could be a cool sort of presentation for folks. I've seen other bands doing it where They'll a band, an artist will do, you know, some classic album. And I thought, well, I could. I could do that. So that's kind of where it was born. It was both, you know, a commercially. Hopefully a commercially successful idea meets an artistic paying tribute kind of idea. And it's funny, these tribute acts, I'm so envious. Like, they just. These tribute acts are huge, you know what I mean? They go out and they got like three buses and tractor trailers and they're filling huge venues and it's like they're singing, you know, sticks or like Journey, you know what I mean? And it's like, damn. So I thought maybe I'll do a little tribute of my own with Abbey Road. And it turned out being like the opening act of the show, I would do Abbey Road set one, take a break, and then do the Martin Sexton thing for set two.
- [30:50]
Interviewer
So what did you. In woodsheding these songs and getting back to what was already familiar on some level, did you learn some things that you weren't aware of before when you're getting into the intricacies of what the Beatles put down?
- [31:03]
Martin Sexton
Yeah. You know, even like something as simple as Here Comes the Sun, you know, you think it's okay, it's George and guitar, but the way he plays it and in his key. I tried it and for the first while I actually did it the way he does it. But I'm just thinking this is. Doesn't let me sort of do my thing. So I just kind of dumbed it down a little and kind of just a little more rudimentary, almost like. Not that Richie Hayden's dumbed anything down, but he. He put everything in more of a three chord, you know, structure and just rift on it. And I kind of took a tip from that idea of just kind of countrifying Here Comes the Sun and not trying so hard to get every little doodle doodle doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo or every single riff or every string line or you know what I mean? I'm just a guy on a guitar. I don't have George Martin. I don't have an orchestra and a whole band behind me. So I need to do what's going to work best in the format of a guy on stage with a guitar. And it worked well. Work. Let me do my thing, you know, a little. My sort of thumb being the bass, slapping with my palm, you know, and on we go. Or like, ah, because, sorry, you know, because the world is round. It turns me on, you know, that's like a harpsichord and nine Beatles, you know, three Beatles tripled, doing three part harmony. And so I can't do that. So you just got to kind of reinvent that into a different. I kind of, like. I remember it was like, I just kind of Spanish ified it, you know, I kind of gave it a flamenco kind of thing, you know, like, cool. And it kind of worked. But, yeah, you got to reinvent things. If you don't have a whole band, you can't, like, you know, try to do everything they do. But anyway, it's been a fun trip so far.
- [33:04]
Interviewer
That's great. And I've heard bits of it online, seen bits of it, you're performing it. It's something that I would highly recommend to anybody who loves that album or just wants to hear a fresh take on it, hear it with fresh ears. You've got a great way of presenting it that makes you hear the song no matter how familiar it is to you, a different way. And that's great. And if it's a gateway drug to Martin Sexton's catalog, then God bless, that's great.
- [33:27]
Martin Sexton
Come on in, Come on in.
- [33:31]
Interviewer
So is this something you'll be doing in Big Indian at the Magical Mystery Camp?
- [33:36]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, the big Indian thing. That's going to be fun, man, to do, like, because I've never. I've never done that type of thing and where it's a workshop type environment and you talk like we're talking and you. How'd you pick this chord and this, you know, and. And, you know, you perform it. I'm looking forward to that. And that. That will probably end up being one of the last times I play the Abbey Road in its entirety, just because that will kind of end the cycle. You know, I've been on it now for a while, and that'll be one of the last performances of me doing the Abbey Road thing. After that, I'm back onto the next Martin Sexton adventure.
- [34:22]
Interviewer
Now, something I'd read in an interview, talked about part of, or at least I don't know if it's all the time or some of the time, your writing process, where you've got two different radios on either side of the computer.
- [34:31]
Martin Sexton
Yeah.
- [34:32]
Interviewer
Yeah. Describe that to listeners and how you're able to make different stimuli going on work for you to hone in on something.
- [34:41]
Martin Sexton
That's a trick I learned way early on as a young hungry guy from the folk singer John Gorka. He befriended me and he's the first guy. Like, he. He bought my tape at A club in Cambridge when I was still playing on the streets. And he brought it to his agent and they booked. They started booking me. And that's probably why I became a folk artist, because I started working with a folk agency early on. So he always told me that tricks like, you know, roll right out of bed and just turn on press record and just spew into it, you know, before you have coffee, before anything, and. Or, like, play two radios on different stations at the same time. He said it helps turn the editor off. It like, it whacks your brain, you know, like. And it works.
- [35:31]
Interviewer
It's.
- [35:32]
Martin Sexton
It's a good little. It's a little. Little tricks of the trade that one can use to. To get that nasty editor off, you know, to take a break, you know, so you can start singing, like, writing, like, John Lennon school lyrics, you know, it's so counterintuitive.
- [35:46]
Interviewer
You think it would just be a mess, it would overwhelm you and you'd shut down. But instead it's the opposite.
- [35:51]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, it is funny like that. I mean, there are times. Basically all I need to write is quiet. I'm right now speaking to you from my place up in the Adirondack Mountains. I'm overlooking a frozen lake and it's quiet. You know what I mean? I get away from the hustle and bustle of home. I'm all alone. There's no one around. That's basically what I need to. To write. So I come up here to do my writing. It's what I've been up to lately, the past few months. Sort of in a writing phase now. And I. This is where I woodshed it too, for the Abbey Road thing.
- [36:27]
Interviewer
So what's next? As you wind down the Abbey Road and you've got these songs that are starting to brew, where do you see the rest of the year going?
- [36:33]
Martin Sexton
Well, right now I'm touring. It's like a. It's like an annivers kind of tour for my record called Live Wide Open. Because it's been 25 years. I can't believe it. So just kind of, you know, touring and celebration of that, and we just pressed it on. On vinyl and so. And. And I'm. I'm writing at the same time. And I'm going to be recording at the end of summer for the next record. So that's what I'm doing. Writing, touring. Back on the. I've had the whole winter off. It's been amazing. First winter of my life that I haven't toured. It had three months of not singing in front of people was kind of amazing.
- [37:13]
Interviewer
Yeah. And that's the time of the year to take off if you're going to take a time off for sure.
- [37:16]
Martin Sexton
So I, I hadn't sung in three months and of course I, you know, I didn't, I never practice, you know what I mean? So I'm like, I, I got back, I, I, I had to do some shows in Florida, and I started in the Florida at Key West Theater and just last week. And I'm like, am I gonna remember my songs? Like, oh my God. Like. But I, I just, I, I, you know, figured it's gonna be great. It's like riding a bike. I got up on stage and boom, riding the bike. It was great.
- [37:47]
Interviewer
Well, maybe after this next cycle with the new album and that gets played out in a year and a half or whatever, we can look forward to your Cheech and Chunk tribute coming.
- [37:55]
Martin Sexton
There you go, man.
- [37:59]
Interviewer
That'd be awesome.
- [38:00]
Martin Sexton
Okay. Speaking to them. Okay. Hi there, folks. Smoking more now, but getting high less. Try new Acapulco Gold filters. Acapulco Gold just a stony, three hits longer. And be sure to save this groovy coupon on the back. How do you think I got this out of sight? Hash pipe. But don't just take my word for it. Listen to what Ashley Roach clip of the Jefferson Hair Pie has to say.
- [38:24]
Interviewer
They're due for a renaissance and you might be the guy to kick it off.
- [38:27]
Martin Sexton
Dig it.
- [38:28]
Interviewer
There you go.
- [38:29]
Martin Sexton
That'll be the fun of you, Sexton.
- [38:31]
Interviewer
Well, this is great. I'm so glad we finally connected and made this happen and it's been a bunch of fun. So I'll send you that 12 string isolation of. Yeah, you can check that out.
- [38:43]
Martin Sexton
Dig it. Hey, Bulldog. My, one of my favorite bass lines is from hey, Bulldog. No, that's, that's everyone that's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.
- [39:02]
Interviewer
Great stuff.
- [39:03]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, Bulldog, man. Ah, love that.
- [39:07]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [39:08]
Martin Sexton
Yeah, I love it all, man. I love the Meet the Beatles from, you know, from Meet the Beatles to, to Abbey Road and Let It Be. I'm all in.
- [39:16]
Interviewer
Sure. And Stevie, that's cool too.
- [39:18]
Martin Sexton
Forget it. Stevie's like, I found, you know, some, one of my older sisters had his double album up in the attic and boom, forget it. Yeah.
- [39:27]
Interviewer
But a great education source for sure.
- [39:29]
Martin Sexton
Totally, man. Well, thanks for having me, brother. It's real pleasure. I'm Bruce Martin, host of Pit Pass Indy. Each week I go behind the scenes of the the NTT IndyCar series and introduce our listeners to the biggest stars of IndyCar, which features the Indianapolis 500 as its cornerstone event. The men and women that compete in IndyCar may be the bravest athletes in all of sport. As danger lurks around every corner, they are able to look danger in the eye without flinching. That is why the NTT IndyCar Series features the best racing on the planet. Join me every week as we talk to the stars of IndyCar, including the legends of the Indianapolis 500 on Pit Pass Indy from Evergreen Podcast.