All photos taken in downtown Fort Worth by Alan Mercer
From the Sixth Street clubs in his birthplace of Austin, Texas to the Alpine festivals in Switzerland, from music venues in Paris, France to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, john Arthur martinez has proven his music grades on stages all over. He acknowledges that he's among the fortunate few that can make a living doing what they love, He's celebrating the release of ‘For the Love of Western Swing (& Other Love Songs),’ his 14th album of original music.
His parents were divorced by the time he was four and even though his mom and stepfather primarily raised him, JAM saw his birth father, a part time musician, enough to know that being a performer was a tough life. Still, the Austin native had the urge to perform the Texas-style of country he loved since grade school and sneaking into an Asleep at the Wheel show while he was still underage only made it worse.
He was performing weekly in local clubs by the time he graduated college, playing songs by George Strait, Dan Fogelberg, Hank Williams and the Beatles. martinez moved to Tucson, Arizona to attend graduate school, and not knowing anyone gave him more than enough time to work on his songwriting. As he improved, he decided to leave his studies and move back to Austin to seriously pursue a future in music. After numerous trips to Nashville and constant gigging, martinez released his first album, 'Spinning Our Wheels,' in 1998 and sold it at his shows.
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2001's 'Stand Your Ground' brought him more attention, but it was the American Idol-styled country television show 'Nashville Star' that would break him into the mainstream. During one of the club gigs martinez played in Nashville, he was spotted by a rep from Dualtone records. He finished second on Nashville Star, but Dualtone signed him and released ‘Lone Starry Night’ in 2004.
His flowing melodies carry stories told by a true Texas songwriter and his songs have been covered by many independent artists and a couple of major acts. Flaco Jimenez in a duet with Raul Malo covered his "Seguro Que Hell Yes," co-written with Alex Harvey and Mike Blakely. Flaco's self-titled album that housed the track won the Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance. Oddly, Alan Jackson recorded and included the very same song in his box set, Genuine: The Alan Jackson Story. Three of the JAM's songs are featured the independent film called ‘I Miss You Already.’
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On occasion JAM will cover a song like ‘When You Say Nothing At All,’ (Nashville Star The Finalists) which charted on Billboard, but he gives it his own twist. Interestingly, his bilingual version of ‘Amarillo by Morning’ is seen in line dance videos from Dallas to Florida to South Korea. His D minor recorded interpretation of ‘Hotel California’ showcases his live band.
He keeps on writing, recording, and performing. In Spring of 2020 JAM will again tour Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France and for the first time Spain. ‘For the Love of Western Swing (& Other Love Songs),’ can be heard on Americana, Texas, and International country radio.
Alan Mercer: john Arthur, you have such a wonderful unique sound that I love.
john Arthur martinez: By design, I always tell the guys that even if we are recording a cover song, like we did with the Bob Wills song, ‘Roly Poly’ on my latest album, we recorded some of the lyrics in Spanish and made it our own.
AM: Do you speak fluent Spanish?
jAm: I speak conversational Spanish. I can communicate but I talk more intelligently in English.
AM: You grew up in Austin, right?
jAm: I was born in Austin to a dad who was a drummer for the Texas Drovers and my mom was from the country east of Austin called Cedar Creek, Texas. Now the population has spilled out of Austin so there can be a major high school, but back in those days you could count the people who lived there.
AM: So, you grew up more rural.
jAm: I was only briefly in the city of Austin and the rest of my time was in the small towns and ranches outside of Austin.
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AM: What kind of work did you do before earning a living as a musician?
jAm: Everything. For example, one gig was to cater all over the city of Austin to big corporations like IBM. One time a group of lawyers went to Arizona to play cowboy and they hired us to cater the event. That was Dagger’s of Austin catering. The food business is great work for musicians. I also waited tables at a place called Katz’s Deli that never closed, I did temporary work. The hardest gig was being a sheetrockers assistant.
AM: What did you have to do?
jAm: I had to hold up the big old heavy panels of sheetrock. I had one short stint as a hot tar roofer in Central Texas.
AM: You really weren’t afraid, were you?
jAm: I would come home from college and take these jobs, I also was a post hole digger to put a fence around a historic building, I’ve refurbished floors, on and on.
AM: Well, you can do a lot of things now.
jAm: yeah, but eventually I realized I had a degree so why don’t I apply at the local school district. I became the tennis coach and worked in the English department. I wasn’t certified as a teacher. I didn’t want to go that route.
AM: Were you always playing music at the same time?
jAm: Through all of those jobs as an adult I was playing music. I didn’t really become a musician until after I left home. Before that I knew a few chords. I was always writing poetry though.
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AM: As a kid?
jAm: I think third or fourth grade. I have poems I remember that I wrote back then.
AM: I do love your lyrics. They are special and tender, like the best of Folk music lyrics.
jAm: I’ve been watching the Ken Burns Country Music documentary and of course Hank Williams had a Black mentor, and so did Bill Monroe and Bob Wills, also in Western Swing. Bob began incorporating some of the sounds he heard from the folks picking cotton. For a short stint, Bob Wills played with a Mexican band in New Mexico. He lived close to there and he brought all those influences. I like to think I’m a little bit like Bob Wills, in that I bring in all the influences from all over Texas to my music. Some of that could be defined as folk.
AM: Also, the songs you choose to cover are all so amazing. I really can’t even believe it. Are they your favorite songs?
jAm: They are part of my life.
AM: Your cover of ‘Hotel California’ is totally gorgeous and special.
jAm: The Eagles are a huge influence. When I was learning to become a Singer/Songwriter, learning an Eagles song was a good way to move forward. If you learned ‘Hotel California,’ you learned a lot of chords. It’s a complex song.
AM: I encourage you to keep recording cover songs you are inspired by because you do them great.
jAm: Thank you, I appreciate that.
AM: I also notice you have re-recorded a few of your songs and I was wondering why?
jAm: Well, I certainly know a lot more now than I did when I started. With some of the songs, I didn’t capture what I wanted to, for instance ‘Canta Papa’ was on my very first album and it’s on this current album. On the first album it’s only acoustic guitar and my voice. That song needs a Mexican Baja Sexto and the accordion and some harmony vocals.
AM: I notice you work with many esteemed musicians also.
jAm: Surround yourself with the best.
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AM: Was being on that show ‘Nashville Star’ a life changing event for you?
jAm: It was because suddenly I reached thousands and thousands of people, not only in the United States but also around the world where it was re-broadcast. Now I can tour Europe regularly.
AM: It must be awesome to go tour Europe and play in all those cities.
jAm: We have our next tour booked and it may be our 14th tour coincidentally.
AM: Do you go back to the same places?
jAm: I think we are going to Spain for the first time this year. I’d like to get there as it’s obviously where my roots are.
AM: I love your album ‘Purgatory Road.’
jAm: ‘Purgatory Road’ had one of the largest budgets to get that wide sonic sound. My new album has that same caliber of sound. Also ‘Lone Starry Night’ has the best sound because those three albums had the biggest budgets. I was able to hire everyone I needed. My last album was financed by my fans with an indie go-go campaign.
AM: Your latest album is absolutely stunning.
jAm: We received a message from the Drummer from the Texas Tornados, Ernie Duwara who played on the album and Ernie said, “john Arthur, I don’t throw these comments out lightly, but I really think this could be nominated for Best Mexican American performance for the Grammy.” I can’t tell you how great it feels to hear a guy like him say that. I felt pretty good about it and over all I’m very pleased.
To learn more about john Arthur martinez visit his web site https://www.johnarthurmartinez.net/