Basic Folk 136 – Martin Sexton

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Martin Sexton‘s career was built by his work as a street musician on the Boston scene in the 80’s and early 90’s. His audience knows him for being connector by making them a part of the magic he, the performer, creates onstage. On the street, he would use tricks like strategically placing himself in an area that would bottleneck a crowd and keep people around with delightful audience participation and soaring, imaginative vocal aerobics: imitating a flute or saxophone or singing into a vocal processor like his hero Peter Frampton. All the while, Sexton, who goes by “Marty,” was writing incredible music. The tricks made them listen, but the songs made them stay.

Martin Sexton – “Hold On” lyric video

Marty’s from a big family: 12 kids in Syracuse, NY, featuring different orientations, occupations, political views and just plain differing opinions. From that structure, he’s learned how to get along, how to love and how to talk to people he disagrees with. His message of unity has been going strong since his street musician days and it’s ever-present on his new ep, 2020 Vision. The EP was born out of Marty’s pandemic silver lining of being forced off the road and in his Saranac Lake, NY home with his family: it all started with a treehouse he and his son had been meaning to build for four years. That sparked a song and then more songs followed: with a song about calling on unity in America, a song about the opioid epidemic, particularly prevalent during the pandemic. He’s been following his bliss his whole career, which includes a stop at a major record label. In fact, his time at Atlantic Records in the late 90’s and early 2000’s might be the most unusual and drama-free experiences among his singer/songwriting peers who were living major label nightmares at a strange time in music history. Enjoy Marty!

Watch the full conversation with Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton on Spotify