# 58 Music of Bob Martin

Emerging from the same New England city as Jack Kerouac, Lowell, Mass native Bob Martin was greatly influenced by the beat poet's writing and career. During the 60s, he became immersed in the local folk scene and played the Nameless Coffeehouse, Club 47 (now Club Passim) and eventually found himself sharing the bill at Gerde's Folk City in New York with some of folk's greatest songwriters.

In 1972, Bob recorded his first album Midwest Farm Disaster for RCA at Nashville Studios. He worked closely with Chet Atkins, (an executive at RCA at the time) and many exceptional studio musicians including drummer Kenneth Buttrey

Martin continued to write songs, poetry, novels and pursue his muse through various artistic endeavors. In 1982, he connected with some friends at June Appal Records of Whitesburg,KY, and eventually got back in the studio to make a second album, Last Chance Rider. The record was recognized as one of the top three folk albums in the country by the NAIRD and features the talents of Jerry Douglas and Jack Wright.

It was another ten years, until the release of The River Turns the Wheel on his own imprint Riversong Records. The album hosts backing vocals by friends Bill Morrissey and Cormac McCarthy and is considered Bob Martin's most commercially successful album to date. He toured nationally and opened for Merle Haggard in 1999.

Martin didn't wait as long to release his fourth album Next To Nothin (Riversong Records 2000), and received more rave reviews and extensive airplay on Americana radio programs around the country. In 2010 Martin issued his first live record Live at The Bull Run and he continues to perform nationally and internationally.