Martin Simpson
Who is the best guitar player in the world? Well, who cares? When you hear someone like Martin Simpson you realise that all such comparisons are a total waste of time and effort. No because he is better than everyone else, but because you realise there are a number of superb guitar players, each one capable of handling whatever to do in such a superb manner you do not wish for anything else at the moment they are on stage. Martin Simpson is one of those guitar players. And I saw him at the Croydon Folk Song Club yesterday evening.
What I like most about Martin is that he does not let his guitar expertise get in the way of his songs. And that is one crucial angle for me. What matters first and formost is the music people play. How they play is obviously important, but to a lesser extent. What you do is more important than how you do it, and I would rather have an evening of superb songs in the hands of a mediocre musician than an evening of rubbish in the hands of a superb musician. And I am sorry to say that some superb singers and musicians seem so content with the high level of there musicianship they forget about performing good music.
With Martin Simpson you get both the wonderful songs, and them played in the best manner possible. He really is an expert guitar player, a master of his craft, and a more than adequate singer, with a great feeling for the songs he sings. He has also turned into a very good songwriter over the last decade. Songs like Never any good with money are turning into classics, and there is a number of them on the latest CD, True Stories. And he also has a knack for pickuing other people's songs and turning them into his own, like Randy Newman's Louisiana. Yesterday he also did a wonderful version of Palaces of Gold (Leon Rosselson), and surprisingly The Bridge by Bruce Springsteen.
Martin has the courage not to play fast at times. When he turns down the speed and puts on his slide the whole world slows down with him. His I Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes was one of those moments yesterday. Croydon stopped for a few minutes. You could have heard a needle drop.
He gave us almost two full hours. Ending his set with his version of Little Musgrove (Matty Groves to some of us) he was called back for one more. We certainly forgive him for taking out his banjo for that one.
A marvellous evening with one of the world's top guitar players. I do not know any other guitar player that gets such a full, smooth sound out of an acoustic. Let us bring him to Sweden soon. He has never played in our country, but we cannot wait much longer for him to do it.
What I like most about Martin is that he does not let his guitar expertise get in the way of his songs. And that is one crucial angle for me. What matters first and formost is the music people play. How they play is obviously important, but to a lesser extent. What you do is more important than how you do it, and I would rather have an evening of superb songs in the hands of a mediocre musician than an evening of rubbish in the hands of a superb musician. And I am sorry to say that some superb singers and musicians seem so content with the high level of there musicianship they forget about performing good music.
With Martin Simpson you get both the wonderful songs, and them played in the best manner possible. He really is an expert guitar player, a master of his craft, and a more than adequate singer, with a great feeling for the songs he sings. He has also turned into a very good songwriter over the last decade. Songs like Never any good with money are turning into classics, and there is a number of them on the latest CD, True Stories. And he also has a knack for pickuing other people's songs and turning them into his own, like Randy Newman's Louisiana. Yesterday he also did a wonderful version of Palaces of Gold (Leon Rosselson), and surprisingly The Bridge by Bruce Springsteen.
Martin has the courage not to play fast at times. When he turns down the speed and puts on his slide the whole world slows down with him. His I Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes was one of those moments yesterday. Croydon stopped for a few minutes. You could have heard a needle drop.
He gave us almost two full hours. Ending his set with his version of Little Musgrove (Matty Groves to some of us) he was called back for one more. We certainly forgive him for taking out his banjo for that one.
A marvellous evening with one of the world's top guitar players. I do not know any other guitar player that gets such a full, smooth sound out of an acoustic. Let us bring him to Sweden soon. He has never played in our country, but we cannot wait much longer for him to do it.
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