209: Martin Sexton

30 years ago Martin Sexton made a record called In The Journey. It wasn’t so much a record as it was a glorified demo tape that he sold while busking on the streets of Boston. He had moved there from his hometown of Syracuse, New York where he grew up in a large family (he was the 10th of 12 siblings).

From the very beginning, Sexton figured out how to marry dynamic, soulful live performances with plainspoken and thoughtful songwriting.  He’s a songwriter’s songwriter, but he’s also a masterful guitar player and singer who knows how to give the people what they want. 

Maybe that’s how he managed to sell 15,000 copies of that first self produced cassette back in the early 90s, back before the idea of “self released music” was in the mainstream. He says, “People connect to honesty.” 

In many ways, Sexton’s own journey began with In The Journey and he’s still on it today: he has averaged a new record every two years since he started. He takes record making seriously, has worked with some of the greatest session players and producers alive, and has seen his music licensed in TV and movies for years. But he is perhaps at his finest when he’s alone on stage with a guitar and an audience. Martin Sexton can make more out of that simple recipe than most musicians could hope to achieve standing in front of an orchestra. 

Earlier this year he released 2020 Vision, which is, for lack of a better term, his Covid EP, a tight collection of new songs about America, family and perseverance in these times of uncertainty. 

Martin says, “I’ve always said that I love the idea of America, but I never loved the politics. I love the geography and the people.” He’s not political, but he is patriotic in his way. Or, more to the point, he’s dedicated to making music with a message. “No one can deny that what America has given to the world is great music,” he tells me.

We had a great talk about his new project, his origin story, the journey that he’s been in now for over 30 years, the tension between art at mortgage payments, The American Dream, and how songs, like produce, grow naturally, as he says it, “out of shit.”

www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.martinsexton.com/