Martin Simpson
(born 5 May 1953, Scunthorpe, England) is an English guitarist. He grew up in a household full of music, from his mother’s Paul Robeson records, his father’s light opera singing and the record collections of his two elder brothers. By the age of 12 his big brother Geoff and his Uncle had clubbed together to buy him his first guitar.
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MARTIN SIMPSON TICKETS
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Career
By the age of 12 Simpson was playing guitar and banjo.
In 1970, Martin Simpson dropped out of college to become a full-time professional musician, touring folk clubs. In 1976 he recorded his first solo album "Golden Vanity". In the same year he opened for
Steeleye Span on their UK tour. Teaming up with
June Tabor, a folk singer who didn't play an instrument, Martin toured folk clubs and appeared at festivals. They recorded three albums together, highlighting each other's complementary talents. There was a fluid jazzy feel about their approach to traditional material. In 1985 he married an American singer Jessica Radcliffe. Together they recorded "True Dare or Promise" (1987) and shortly afterwards relocated to America, living initially in
Ithaca, New York.
Over the next ten years he became more and more adventurous, playing blues, bluegrass, cajun and even Indian-inflected music. Wu Man is a player of the Chinese lute (Pudong School of Pipa). Simpson recorded a duet with her on "Music of the Motherless Child", a blend of European and Chinese traditions. In a similar vein was "Kambara Music in Native Tongues" with
David Hidalgo from "Los Lobos" and violinist Viji Krishnan, a subdued mix of Hindu and contemporary songs. "Cool and Unusual" (1997) lived up to its title. Several admired guitarists joined him on this all-instrumental album, including
David Lindley. "A Closer Walk With Thee" presented Christian hymns. "Smoke and Mirrors" was such a confident display of blues, that some people thought he was American. Not until 1999 did he record several of his own compositions on "Bootleg USA". He founded a record label called "High Bohemia". Perhaps suffering from homesickness, he visited the UK in 1994, recording "Martin Simpson Live" in
Oxford. In 1999 he was a session musician for an album by Welsh singer Julie Murphy. "The Bramble Briar" (2001) was a turn to basics, a collection of British traditional folk songs. 2003 saw the release of "Righteousness and Humidity", a set focusing almost exclusively on music from the Deep South, played on a variety of instruments and featuring
Steeleye Span's Rick Kemp. It was a nominee for BBC folk awards album of the year in 2004. This was followed in 2005 by "Kind Letters" in which he mines once again the rich seams of English folk music which proved so fruitful for "The Bramble Briar". In 2007 Simpson released "Prodigal Son". The 2008
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards voted it as best album. The
fRoots critics poll voted it as the 7th best new album of 2007. It is a mixture of traditional songs and Simpson originals, the highlights of which possess a distinctly southern American flavor. Jackson Browne, Kate Rusby and Kellie While guest star here. In December 2007 he performed on
Later With Jools Holland.
Simpson has written guitar instruction books and recorded DVD guitar tutorials. His career came full circle in 2003 when he teamed up with June Tabor again. In 2004 he surprised everyone by performing at a gig in
Nettlebed, Oxford, where he played banjo all evening, without touching a guitar. A readers' poll of the magazine "Acoustic Guitar" voted him as number 12 in the world in 2005. Martin is now married to Kit Bailey, the daughter of the singer
Roy Bailey, with whom Martin occasionally performs. Martin and Kit now live in
Sheffield and have a baby daughter, Molly. Along with
Martin Taylor,
Simon Mayor,
Doyle Dykes,
Gordon Giltrap and Julie Ellison, he writes for the magazine
Acoustic.
Performances of note to the general public include a 2007 appearance on
Jools Holland's BBC show and a half hour set at
The Proms on 20 July 2008 broadcast on BBC4.
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Discography
Solo albums
- Golden Vanity (1976)
- Special Agent (1981)
- Grinning In Your Face (1983)
- Sad or High Kicking (1985)
- Nobody's Fault But Mine (1986)
- The Pink Suede Bootleg (Limited Edition Cassette - 1987)
- Leaves of Life (1990) - instrumental.
- When I Was On Horseback (1992)
- A Closer Walk With Thee (1993) Instrumentals, mainly gospel.
- Smoke and Mirrors (1995)
- Cool and Unusual (1997) - mainly British traditional ballads.
- Bootleg USA (1999)
- The Bramble Briar (2001)
- Righteousness and Humidity (2003) - collection of American blues, played on acoustic and steel guitar, and banjo.
- Kind Letters (2005)
- Prodigal Son (2007)
- True Stories (2009)
Live
- Live (recorded 1994, Oxford) (1997)
- 61 Highway (1999)
Collaborations
Martin and Jessica Ruby Simpson.
- True Dare or Promise (1987)
- Red Roses (1995)
- Band Of Angels (1996)
Martin Simpson and Wu Man
- Music for the Motherless Child (1996)
Martin Simpson, David Hidalgo and Viji Krishnan
- Kambara Music in Native Tongues (1998)
Martin Simpson, Jessica Radcliffe and Lisa Ekstrom.
- Beautiful Darkness (2001)
Other compilations
- The Collection (1994)
- The Definitive Martin Simpson (2005)
Martin Simpson as session musician
- June Tabor: A Cut Above (1980)
- June Tabor: Abyssinians (1983)
- June Tabor: Aqaba (1988)
- Albion: Lark Rise To Candleford (1980)
- Julie Murphy: Black Mountain Revisited (1999)
- Chris Leslie: The Flow (2002)
- June Tabor: An Echo of Hooves (2003)
- June Tabor: At The Wood's Heart (2005)
- Roy Bailey: Sit Down and Sing (2005)
- Cara Dillon: After The Morning (2006)
- Various Artists: Rubber Folk (2006) (Beatles Tribute)
Role in the Albion Band
DVD's
- Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals - Martin Simpson Vol 1 (1993)
- Instrumentals 2 (2005)
- Martins 4 * (2005)
- In Concert At The Freight and Salvage (Berkeley, California) (2005)
- Guitar Maestros - Martin Simpson (2006)
* Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson,
Martin Taylor and
Juan Martin.
Book
- Cool and Unusual: Creative Fingerstyle Guitar Solos
(2000).
References
- Biography