Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Martin Sexton kicks off Spring tour on Saturday, April 2nd at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton with special guests Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion


“The real thing, people, a star with potential to permanently affect the musical landscape and keep us entertained for years to come.” —Billboard

“The best live performer I’ve ever seen.” —John Mayer
 
Martin Sexton will play live on WRSI 93.9 The River’s Riversound Café with Joan Holliday on Wednesday, March 3oth in the 5PM hour to promote the show. 
A native of Syracuse, New York, Martin Sexton grew up in the 80’s, uninterested in the sounds of the day, and fueled his dreams on the timeless sounds of classic rock and roll. Sexton eventually migrated to Boston, where he began to build his following singing on the streets of Harvard Square and gradually working his way through the scene. His 1992 collection of self-produced demo recordings, In The Journey, was recorded on an old 8-track in a friend’s attic. He managed to sell 20,000 copies out of his guitar case busking. 

1996-2002 Sexton released Black Sheep, The American, Wonder Bar and Live Wide Open (mixed by Jon Alagia – Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer). The activity and worldwide touring behind these records laid the foundation for the career he enjoys today with an uncommonly loyal fan base, selling out venues from Nokia Theatre (NY) to LA’s House of Blues.

Happily and fiercely independent, Martin Sexton launched his own label KTR (2002). Since then, his continual success through his diversity infiltrates many musical worlds – ranging everywhere from Jam Cruise to Denver’s Mile High Fest to Mayercraft Carrier to Carnegie Hall. His songs are featured in film and television including recent placements on NBC’s Scrubs and Showtime’s hit series Brotherhood.

“Martin Sexton is ripe with raw, expansive talent. His voice comes in a hundred impossible shades. His songs are sweet and spirited and soulful. His repertoire is like a cross-country tour of the American musical vernacular.” —Boston Globe

The New York Times wrote that this artist “jumps beyond standard fare on the strength of his voice, a blue-eyed soul man’s supple instrument,” adding that “his unpretentious heartiness helps him focus on every soul singer’s goal: to amplify the sound of the ordinary heart.” 

In 2007/08 Sexton logged his most successful years to date with the release of his latest studio offering, Seeds. The album debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and the Los Angeles Times writes, “Call him a soul shouter, a road poet, a folkie or a rocker and you wouldn’t be wrong.”

On the heels of Seeds, the cd/dvd set Solo documented a series of unaccompanied live appearances, and captured Martin’s critically acclaimed incendiary live set in theatres coast-to-coast. 

His latest studio release, Sugarcoating, finds this one-of-a-kind-troubadour doing what he does best: locating larger truths within the specific details of the life he’s living.


Opening the show is the husband/wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Authentic. Timeless. Harmonious. Exhilarating. Any or all of these adjectives could describe the folk-rock sound created by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion (eye-ree-un). Their collaborations are irrefutable proof that the disarming granddaughter of Woody/daughter of Arlo and the prodigious South Carolinian quite naturally bring out the best in each other. Not only has the couple toured extensively both as a duo and as part of the "Guthrie Family Rides Again" tour (with Sarah Lee's dad, Arlo Guthrie), they've also released the children's album Go read moreWaggaloo (Smithsonian Folkways), a live DVD entitled Folk Song, a solo album by Johnny (Ex Tempore), parented their two young daughters and moved from South Carolina to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Sarah Lee & Johnny released their second full-length album, Bright Examples, on Ninth Street Opus this February.

Tickets are $25 and $35 and available at the Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

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