Martin Sexton - Live Wide Open
Live albums have been recorded and released for decades. What makes them real to me is the inclusion of crowd noise in the recording. The crowd noise is the huge differentiator between a studio recording and a live recording.
In 1988, an unknown musician from Syracuse, New York moved down to Boston, Massachusetts. He had a sparkle in his eye and dream in his hand. What many people did not realize, this person was carefully building his book of original songs. Many were also unable to realize his ability to sing. Oh my God, his ability to sing! What a voice! You are in for a real treat!
Martin Sexton began singing and playing his acoustic guitar at open mic nights, T stations and street corners all around the areas of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts in 1988. There he was, with his golden voice. He was working and working, building and building. It was not until 1991, when Martin was able to scrape his own money together and record a short demo. Word grew and not long after, Marty was playing larger clubs and theatres around Boston. Eventually, he recorded a follow up album and branched out to play larger venues around the United States. But during this time, he was still fairly unknown.
After four studio albums, Martin released Live Wide Open in 2002. This was his first live album. The album is a compilation of recordings from Marty’s 2001 tour and includes tracks recorded in Chicago, New York, Ann Arbor, Duluth, Boulder, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Produced by Kitchen Table Records, the album’s sound is pure, fresh and addictive. Marty’s band includes himself, his one acoustic guitar and drummer Joe Bonadio. That is it. As a listener, I believe you will be amazed by the thickness and “bassy” tone of Martin’s guitar. It sounds like a guitar and bass rolled into one. His playing is not that of an Eddie Van Halen or a Jimi Hendrix, but the way Martin plucks his strings, providing a seismic rhythm, makes it nearly impossible not to tap your foot. I am serious here.
Marty’s music style includes americana, blues, folk, rock, gospel, boogie woogie and jazz. He does it all. And he does it all by himself. Another reason why you need to pick up this album.
Live Wide Open begins with arguably my favorite song to sing and play on guitar, In the Journey. I certainly do not do the song the justice it deserves, but I try. Marty, however, does that and more. As he belts out the inspirational lyrics, “It’s in the journey that we see there’s no destination. It’s in the journey that we find our true love. It’s in the journey that we learn that we can’t do it alone”. As the album opener closes, you feel you are present at the show with Marty. You feel as though you have a front row seat, in store for a real treat.
Angeline follows In the Journey and picks the beat up a bit. Offering the audience a boogie woogie, jazzy number that has everyone on their feet singing and clapping. The amazing thing about Marty’s music is its ability to lure both men and women. I have never seen such a 50/50 male to female split at a concert more than Marty’s. His musicianship, I feel, draws in the men and his beautiful love songs draw in women, creating an atmosphere of pure joy and love throughout all his concerts. You really feel this when listening to this album.
Beast in Me is the album’s third track, a fast-rhythmic number Martin wrote about his feelings towards Hollywood. “Every single time I come to this town, it brings out the worst in me. Decadence dries deep in the roots of my eyes, to bring out a thirst in me”. Martin writes several songs about his early days going out to Hollywood as his music career blossomed. He rarely hides his disdain for the town and his love of the Northeast, where his roots are. It is on cold winter nights with several feet of snow on the ground and the consistent experience of seeing minimal sunlight, where you feel right at home listening to Marty sing. He reminds some of us of why we love seasons and why we put up with the cold, because it makes the warm so much warmer.
Martin continues his story telling on Freedom of the Road. I had not heard this track in over five years. When listening to it again, every lyric came roaring back into my head. My children got a front row seat to my personal concert, watching me belt out the chorus at the top of my lungs, “WELL I’VE HAD ENOUGH!!!! OF THIS FREEDOM OF THE ROAD” causing them to drop their breakfast forks as they worked to regain focus back to their iPads again.
Hallelujah slows things down. You can picture Martin standing alone on the stage, drummer Joe Bonadio taking a water break, and the spotlight is shining on Martin’s guitar. The reflection off his guitar shines a light right back out into the audience, almost like a beam of light from Heaven, picking out one person at a time, telling each worried soul that everything is going to be alright.
To give you a song by song review of this album, I would have to be comfortable writing well over 10,000 words. There is just too much magic on this album to capture in one piece of writing. Martin continues his quest singing about love and heartache with songs such as Women and Wine, Where Did I Go Wrong and Can’t Stop Thinking ‘Bout You. I encourage anyone early in a relationship who is not sure if the other’s love interest is reciprocal, play them this album! Unfortunately, the days of mix tapes and mix CD’s are behind many of us. I am convinced sending my now wife a copy of this album in our early days before we were officially a “couple”, helped my chances of closing the deal!
I love to play this album to a room of listeners unfamiliar with Marty’s magic. Even more so, I love to watch how little time it takes for someone in the room to exclaim, “This is really good, who is this?”
Yes, it happens frequently.
Black Sheep is a track on Live Wide Open that cannot be missed. Arguably Marty’s best recorded live performance of one song, Marty takes this four minute, thirty-three second song and transforms it into a ten-and-a-half-minute religious experience. You can hear a pin drop in that auditorium, with exception to when the crowd ever so sweetly sings along to his beautiful chorus. It is difficult to hold yourself together when listening to this track. Marty takes the listener on an emotional carpet ride.
It is interesting to me how Martin Sexton never received a level of commercial success that perhaps he deserved. Maybe it was that he broke during a time when MTV was moving away from videos, radio airplay was becoming more difficult to achieve. Marty grew his audience simply with his talented voice and word of mouth. Bands like Phish had a similar avenue that included tape trading, street buzz and word of mouth. Phish achieved a larger amount of commercial success, selling out Madison Square Garden fifty times over, but Marty’s success is not to be forgotten. I always wonder with his voice, how Marty never grew larger. At the same time, I am delighted he is still the artist I get to tell people about and turn new people on to.
If you have heard Marty’s music, you must go back and listen. Pick up a copy of Live Wide Open. If you have never heard Marty’s music, you are in for a special treat. I am delighted to be the one who introduces you to his magic. You will never look back.
If you would like a warmup to this album, I recommend Black Sheep, Martin’s 1996 album that put him on the map for sure. He plays several of his stronger numbers on Live Wide Open from this album.
You are welcome!
Grab some Martin Sexton merchandise while you are at it! You will be amazed how many people stop you on the street when they see what you are wearing.