Old School & Heartfelt

*I'm reposting this interview that I did for my new collaborative project Artists United Radio international (AURi) that we still need funding for - wink, wink / nudge, nudge...

Kickin’ it Old School

One of the things we here at AURi are most excited to get to do is to provide a bridge for disconnected and unexposed artists. I recently sat down with one such artist in Savannah, Georgia; singer/songwriter Taylor Martin. While it may be hard to imagine, Taylor is nowhere to be found on social media or the ‘inner-tube’ as he says laughing. If you’re lucky though, you might be able to catch him in a bar/restaurant downtown from time to time or playing someone’s backyard party around a fire. I’m grateful to have stumbled upon the latter. 

AR: “So what came first, the singing or the songwriting?”

TM: “Honestly, I can’t remember. I sang when I was a little kid, but it was at church and things like that. But I remember, I was 10 or 12 years old the first time I wrote a song and it was terrible…. but I did it. And I enjoyed it!”

AR: “And you also play the guitar and the banjo… are you self-taught?”

TM: “Yes. But it was just something that I did as a hobby off and on, and it really wasn’t until I went to college. I stopped watching TV for a year and I would turn it on just to have something in my room that was moving other than myself. But I would mute it and I would practice for an hour or two at night and I picked, I can’t remember even what song it was off the top of my head, but I picked a song and basically learned to play it pretty well … it had five or six chords in it, and then from there I slowly added more chords, more picking styles of my own and things like that. 

AR: “The first time I heard you play and sing, I was really struck by the quality and tone of your voice. It has a very old school, soul bare, sultry quality. And I remember immediately thinking first of Johnny Cash, but not because you sounded exactly like him, but more as a ‘flavor’ reference. Do you feel that there one particular singer that influenced above all others… someone you wanted to emulate?”

TM: “Well, it’s funny because I didn’t grow up too far from where Johnny Cash grew up. And we listened to him, you know I grew up on a dairy (in Ashflat, Arkansas), and we had a little tiny radio in what we called ‘The Pit’ in the milk barn. And there was a radio station out of Thayer, Missouri that played country music. It was big enough we could get it on that tiny radio, and there weren’t very many other radio stations around there. It was Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash … that kind of outlaw country group of people …and those were the people and those were the styles of songs that were the first ones I was old enough to listen to and understand what they were saying, what the story was and how the song went, but it was also really the first people I heard sing aside from my parents."

AR: “And did they influence your songwriting?”

TM: “They influenced the songwriting quite a bit, but Guy Clarke influenced it a lot. Emmylou Harris … John Hartford …and honestly, just reading a lot of poetry.”

AR: “The poetry is an interesting point, and I think of that line from High Fidelity; “What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music?” Do you find when you write songs that tend to come from a darker place, sadder place … is it a cathartic exercise or do you write just as the Muses strike you? 

TM: “It’s a funny mix for me. My mom worked in an outdoor musical theatre. I worked there as a little kid; took care of animals and would be up on stage as one of the extra kids in the show and stuff like that. But the vast majority of the songs they played or the songs that she played were old Scottish ballads and most of those would end up with someone being stabbed or murdered or cheated upon.  I also have kind of a dark sense of humor. I tend to write things that people would consider sad or downer country songs if they don’t really listen to them, because I do put little jokes in there that I think are funny.

I have had some very hard times in my life and it was nights I was by myself and having a pity party for a minute and I’m like ‘this would make a good song’, and I would kinda chuckle to myself… and yeah, maybe write a song about something that was sad… but it brought me happiness at the time. 
AR: “How would you describe yourself as an artist?”

TM: “I guess I don’t really consider myself one.”

AR: “How come?”

TM: “I guess I am. I think as far the songs that I write and the things that I play – it’s way more straightforward and clear cut, tells a story, may not necessarily have an ending to the story, leaves you with some kind of question versus …well look at some of the great rock bands from the 70’s or even some of the great bands now and you have some unbelievable musicians. I’m thinking of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers off the top of my head, and songs that are incredible that are sometimes about off the wall stuff but also very intimate and they are so incredibly well done and I kinda compare myself to those people and I don’t think that what I do is anywhere near that good. Mine is a lot simpler and straightforward. I mean, I guess it’s still an art form. I guess if you chopped a cube out of a piece of marble or something, somebody would call that art… and someone else would just say ‘yeah, that’s a cube of marble.’ 

AR: “So is there a goal..an ideal? Rock star career? Local celebrity? Respected, but behind the scenes songwriter?"

TM: “Yeah, I guess at the end of the day everybody thinks it would be cool if some big band picked up on one of your songs and recorded it. That would be pretty neat. I don’t know, I’ve always known there is a 1 in 18 trillion thousand hundred chance that any of my songs would ever be on the radio…. like on the stupid Top 40 radio.

But there are more and more platforms as it goes now, on the internet, on social media, on whatever it is for people like me to play songs like I write that other people might like to listen to. And I’m totally happy with that. I don’t ever expect to retire at 39, and just live off the royalties that I have rollin’ around in a pile of hundred dollar bills in my living room. But I do think it would be pretty neat, to be able to put em out, and see what people think. That actually would be my goal.”

AR: “Since you’re not on social media currently (which I find unfortunate and almost impressive)….is that then what you would hope to get out of being part of the AURi radio platform? The chance at exposure?"

TM: “Oh yeah, absolutely! I think this is pretty fantastic idea… and I’m excited to be doing it.”

AR: “Can we at least expect an album or a YouTube channel from you soon?”

TM: “An album is definitely in the works.” 

AR: “Last question – can you describe yourself in one word?”

TM: “Pragmatic.”   

 

Listening to this humbled, unassuming, yet visibly thoughtful and intense musician over beers as old school as he is, Miller Lites, I realize again the importance of Artists United Radio international. The world NEEDS what each of us is creating. Period. Please donate today to help other artists like Taylor reach his audience! 

*viscerality : Yes, I made up this word but it works.