Next To Nothin'
Bob Martin
Riversong Records
2000
10 tracks
Bob Martin is a talented performer with an interesting and, some might say, unique style. As a songwriter, he's better than many. It's surprising that, with three previous albums to his credit, his work is not better known. This may be partly because there has tended to be a ten year silence between Martin's releases while he mostly took time off to do other things. At least, that's what the bio on his web site suggests. Certainly he is well-respected and has performed onstage with some of the best. I even have a vague remembrance of his first album, Midwest Farm Disaster, released in 1972, when I still worked in radio. From what I hear on Next To Nothin', Bob Martin may have been too long overlooked as an American songwriter and storyteller.
Martin's lyrics have a very American style to them, simple and understated yet concise and often powerful. This is not the poetry of metaphor and myth but the straightforward art of the folk storyteller. Martin tells stories of lives any one of us might have lived, or at least known another who had. These are lyrics which bear not just hearing but reading off the page for the beauty of their structure and form. Unfortunately, the lyrics are not included with this release and, although the liner notes say lyrics are available on Martin's web site, only three of the lyrics are posted on the web. The site appears to be under construction, so perhaps the remainder are pending.
Martin's vocal style is like an amalgam of popular folk music styles over the past thirty years. At times, his diction, the way he carries his words forward, is somewhat like John Prine at his best, sort of sliding through the vocal and sometimes almost slipping into spoken-word. At times his voice is soft and sweet, like Jud Strunk or perhaps Bill Anderson in his stronger moments. More often, his voice has the sort of raw, bitter-sweet, almost boyish quality so often heard in Van Morrison's vocals.
On most songs, though, Martin's music sounds like an American-folk version of Dire Straits. Like Mark Knopfler, Martin sings part of the time but often slips into more of a spoken-word poetry-reading patter that emphasizes certain words through drawn-out phrasing. Again like Knopfler, Martin often plays his music (and has his music arranged) to create a dragged-back swampy sound, an almost creole-jazz effect that carries his stories forward seamlessly and with feeling.
"Next to Nothin'" is one of the songs that especially reminds me of Dire Straits, but it also reminds me of American songs like "Marie Laveau" or "Big John" or some of Jerry Reed's releases, among others. The sound is cool and jazzy like Dire Straits, but the content is pure, clean American storytelling.
I actually got that Dire Straits feeling right from the first song. I heard the opening fiddle, more 'Twenties jazz than folk or country, then the song began. The content of "Makin' The Same Mistakes" may be roughly the same as Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" but the sound is not far off "Sultans of Swing" with its interesting jazzy arrangement and vocal patter.
Although it retains much of the same musical feel, "My Father Painted Houses" is more like a slice of American pie as sung by Van Morrison. The lyric is homespun and evocative, painting a picture of father and son out working together in Anytown, U.S.A. with a sense of the futility of limited horizons and the potential of moving beyond.
"Ayla" could be a Willie Nelson song. Both the guitar and the vocal lean toward the sort of off-syncopation so often associated with Nelson's performances. The lyric is a soft water-colour portrait presented lovingly by Martin.
Contrasting with the rest of the songs on this release, "Let Freedom Ring" is an American folk anthem decked out in country-gospel style. It's a song designed to move the listener and, at the same time, to get across a message. Rather than Dire Straits, this one is closer to Woody Guthrie. "Let Freedom Ring" makes a powerful ending to this set.
There's not a bad song on this release. Both the writing and the performance are above average and often exceptional. Anyone looking for the best in American storytelling and songwriting should consider listening to Next To Nothin". If you haven't heard Bob Martin yet, perhaps it's time you did.
To learn more about Bob Martin and his music, be sure to visit Riversong Records.|
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