I stopped by Border’s on my way home from work yesterday and picked up Martin Sexton’s new 2-disc set, “Live Wide Open,” and blasted it while we were cleaning/painting our new old house last night.
There are some artists who release studio albums and then proceed to tour the country putting on concerts that are sorry approximations of what some producer was able to conjure up in the studio. Then there are artists who tour the country doing stunning live shows and occasionally go into the studio to record albums that can’t begin to do justice to their live performance.
Mr. Sexton falls into the latter camp.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Martin Sexton’s albums, but to see him live is to love him even more, and I had the chance to see him live last year at the Zephyr Club in Salt Lake City. Too bad it was one of the worst concert-going experiences of my life…
The crowd was loaded, noisy and rude. There were large groups of people in the back of the room who spent the entire concert shouting at each other across the bar, glancing only occasionally at the stage. Mr. Sexton actually had to stop playing a few times to “shush” the audience. I was mortified. I felt like going up to him afterwards and saying, “Mr. Sexton, on behalf of everyone in the state of Utah, I would like to offer my apologies for the appalling behavior of some of the audience members here tonight. Please accept this wheel of brie as an expression of contrition…and could you sign my pants, please?.”
My close personal friend, Kathryn Bartholomew (an unabashed turophile, though that has nothing to do with this particular story), spent the evening being lashed by a gentleman standing next to her whose vigorous head-bobbing turned his dreadlocks into a scourge.
On top of all that, I was coming down with the flu. By the time they took a break halfway through the set, I was already feeling pretty woozy. By the end of the concert, I felt (and probably looked) like hell.
That’s why I was so excited to see that Martin Sexton was releasing a live album. Now you, too, can experience the joys of Martin Sexton live without being embarrassed by your loud-mouthed, drunken compatriots, being pummeled by anyone’s coiffure, or feeling like death warmed over.
Comments
An Unabashed Turophile
I’ll just say that you didn’t LOOK like Hell. And remember, it’s not how you FEEL it’s how you LOOK.
Jason Adamo
Hey was just lookin at martin sexton sites and came accross yours…i am seein him this june for the FIRST time and cannot wait
Im a singer/songwriter in NYC and he has really influenced my songwriting!
anyway thought id leave you a comment
keep rockin out to marty!
jason adamo
Will Travel for Sexton
I feel the same way eveytime I see Martin live - how come the loadmouths sit near me. Martin is unbelievable. If you listen to a CD before you see him live your jaw will be on the floor when you see him signing or playing what you KNEW was another instrument or backup singer but never even suspected was his voice.