LONDON: The Kalamazoo Klub @ The King's Head

SUN 8TH FEB, 2009 8.30pm

Born in 1953 in Scunthorpe, Martin became a professional musician in 1971. Like his friend Martin Carthy, he still plays the British folk club circuit as eagerly as the grandest music rooms that the world of music can offer.

In 1975 Barbara Dickson recommended Martin to Bill Leader who went to see him perform, which led to Martin's first solo album, Golden Vanity, (1976). Within the year, he was supporting Steeleye Span and then accompanied June Tabor for 10 years, producing three influential albums, A Cut Above (1980), Abyssinians (1983) and Aqaba (1988). Martin moved to the US in 1987 but continued to play for June on An Echo of Hooves (2003) and in her television special in the 2004 BBC4 Sessions concert performance series.

He cites Harry Cox, Blind Willie Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Percy Webb and Blind Willie McTell as influences and incorporates songs by Bob Dylan, Bob Franke, John B Spencer, John Tams and Richard Thompson in his repertoire, not to mention his own compositions on albums such as Bootleg USA (1999) and Righteousness & Humidity (2003). In The Bramble Briar (2001), he concentrated on British story-telling of traditional kinds.

www.martinsimpson.com