Photos from a recent
Martin & Willy Tour
photos by Alan S Krause
(click the pic)

There's a lot of catching up to do due to a crazy year. Meant to be a time off but working out to be the opposite.

There were a few gigs scattered about the year, ending with some acoustic dates in Scandinavia, musically very challenging but also very enjoyable. The change in approach with acoustic instruments gave mind and ear a refreshing new perspective on the Tull songs and working with Anne Marie on violin was great fun; she is a superb musician with a wonderful attitude to playing.

I also started work on my own acoustic project with singer/guitarist Dan Crisp, bassist Alan Bray and myself on various acoustic instruments, including the mandolin and bouzouki.

We played just three trial gigs, all very small, to test the water and with a fantastic response.  We have decided to work further in the New Year. The combination of Dan's songs and my instrumentals worked really well.

I have also been working with Paul Reed Smith guitars and played at music show in Birmingham.  I plan to play at the NAMM show in LA in January.  PRS are a brilliant company to be involved with; their enthusiasm is endless!

Other than my 60th. birthday party, which lasted almost a week!! that was 2006. The new year starts with an acoustic Tull tour in the UK in March. The rest of the year? Well it's early days so you'll have to watch this space. I promise another update in 2007....honestly.

A Happy New Year to you all !!

I’m writing this from British Columbia in Canada.  I have been here for Christmas with my family and we had a fantastic time.  Snow makes a great template for a holiday. May I wish you all a very happy New Year;2005 was a very eventful year for all of us, we played shows in Russia, Lithuania, Australia, Japan, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, San Salvador, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Canada, USA.

That’s not bad for a year of travel!

We had a great reception in all these places, the fans are, as always, amazingly friendly and courteous.

There were many high points, one was the day off in El Salvador when Andy and myself took the road crew waterskiing in a volcano crater with a massive fresh water lake. We all got very wet and laughed and laughed! It was a beautiful setting and a great excuse to see beyond the hotel room.

Sydney was also fantastic, one of my favourite cities, I treated myself to 3 nights in the Park Hyatt with a room that looked straight onto the Opera house.  My three days off were spent running, swimming, walking and drinking Starbucks!!!!

Apart from such eccentricities, the year has had a tougher side. Getting through it as a family made me decide to have "time out". I know that both Doane and myself have needed it. The downside was that I had to say no to some shows in India.  I don’t like to let people down, on this occasion I felt I had to and I don’t feel good about it at all!

The next Tull tour is in the UK in March and this will be a great start to my year; I hope more shows get booked later on.

This year I have met up with the people at PRS guitars. I was already using a PRS 513 model so I’m really delighted to get such energetic support from the factory.  They build truly wonderful instruments.

In the USA I also met up with Mike at Soldano amps and Dave at GHS strings.  What a perfect trio!!!  I can’t wait to "fire up" my setup for the next tour. I do hope I see you there!!

All the Best

Martin

It’s been, maybe, the busiest year I can remember!  Whether that is a good enough excuse for my seriously out of date home page letter!!

I am now in Mexico sitting in the shade in a park in Monterrey.  It’s very hot and only four ^five of us have diarrhoea, so you can say the tour is going well, so far! There is more time off than we need or can afford, so I am putting pen to paper plus writing new info for the website.

Workwise, we have travelled to Dubai, Russia, Australia, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and now Latin America, with the U.S. and Toronto, Canada still to come.

Every day off at home we have tried to take our R.I.B. boat out and wakeboard; it’s great therapy. 

On the road, things are fairly much the same.  I’m really enjoying my new PRS 513 Guitar which I totally blame the acquisition of on Seth at Manson’s Guitar Shop.  He had the audacity to hang it on the shop wall, where he knew I would see it!  However it’s good to find a guitar that really inspires me to play even more.

My family is very much looking forward to spending time in British Columbia.  This year we “found” a beautiful “Ski Lodge” and fell in love with it and the area.  We returned in the early summer, having broken the golden rule: Don’t buy a house when it is surrounded by snow – you don’t know what is underneath!  Happily we can report that the “underneath” is even more spectacular – of course, we knew it would!?

My thoughts for next year are to write and record another solo album – it feels like the right time and I am desperate to take my music out on the road.

It’s been a tough year for many friends with ill health and difficulties.  I won’t go into detail but I wish them well.  Maybe we all need a dose of vitamin Canada.

I’ve read all your emails, as always, and have tried to include many of your queries into the website - see my new "Gear" page. It’s very tempting to say thanks and reply with a simple message, but I hate computers and can only just cope with very basic messaging, in fact, all the web info I write in longhand, to Andy Webmaster*. Great frustration!!
 

Yes, it’s been a very long while coming, but here it is at last, an updated newsletter.  I blame the situation on a lack of news added to time I have spend finding property in Canada. We eventually had a success and now hope to spend a lot of time in British Columbia, having discovered what a magnificent part of the world it is.  We love skiing in the winter and hope to wakeboard in the summer, but of course will plan to write and play music while over there.

We have also spent a lot of time “sailing” our RIB over the winter months with some spectacular days out in heavy weather.  In fact I’m writing this whilst watching a gale blow outside our harbour side hotel, not being able to get out to sea!  By the way RIB is a rigid inflatable boat, most famously used by rescue organisations such as the RNLI and is capable of handling any weather and in calmer conditions travelling at 40-50 mph.  Standard gear includes a hard helmet and visor – say no more!

Anyway, back to music, or did I never start? I have been writing a column for an Acoustic Magazine, a brilliant new music publication of excellent quality.   It gives me an opportunity to rabbit on about nothing, but the rest of the magazine is really worth buying.  You can look at it on www.acousticmagazine.com and you’ll be impressed!  In all honesty, I find it difficult to give advice and information about guitar playing.  I don’t think I’m qualified, even though, I think that those who are do a lousy job!

Anyway, the magazine has rekindled my interest in guitars and I blame it on the recent purchase of three Taylor acoustics and a beautiful PRS electric, which I hope will become my main live instrument.  Fender guitars are not my favourite people, as they totally ignored me when they organised the Fender Anniversary Concert in London.  I’m not saying I’m worthy of playing on the bill, though many who did were playing other makes of instruments, but I do think a couple of tickets might have been appropriate.  Goodbye Fender and thank you Chris Felacio, who is a gentleman, a good guy and Fender inc. don’t deserve him. Anyway the PRS is gorgeous and I actually paid for it in full!!

Your e-mails continue to be of great importance to me.  I always take note of your comments.  Most are gear related questions; a list is needed from myself very soon!

I get a lot of comments about Jethro Tull concerts that I know nothing about!  The reason is that there are two other guitarists who play Tull.  One is called Flo Apolle; he is a young talented guitarist and has all his hair.  Another guitarist is called Kit Morgan; he is young, talented and has all his hair.  The other one is I, so now you’ll know who’s who!  If you want to know who is playing, check with the local promoter.  However I’ve played  in some great concerts this year.  We played in Russia, the Ukraine and Lithuania and met up with some familiar faces.  We are made to feel very welcome over there, so it was a very enjoyable experience.  The rest of the year gets very busy, so please go to www.JethroTull.com to get up to date tour schedules. I’m really looking forward to seeing you in Australia, Europe and the USA.

I’ve been doing a few studio sessions recently including the new Pentangle album – Feoffees Lands.  This was recorded in my studio in Devon.  We have another project coming up with Khuala Shaka, so there is lots of music on the horizon.  With a lot of concentration there will also be a newsletter update on the Horizon too!

Well I’m off to Australia.

See you soon

I'm sitting on a beach in Miami with Julie - sorry but there's no guilt. We have just finished two very hard weeks on the road. I drove all the shows, many of them over 200 miles. The whole band loaded in and out, set up the back line, straight into sound check, a short break and then the fun began.

The Martin Barre / Willy Porter Band played two sets - the first mainly acoustic, the second mainly electric and the audience reaction was absolutely superb! I was very proud to be up on stage playing my own, (and Willy's) music and getting such a positive response.

Willy and I work so well together, not only is he a great singer/songwriter, he is an excellent guitar player and the blend of instruments, from acoustic guitars, mandolin, electric guitar5s and even the bass flute worked so well. As always, Jonathon Noyce, Doane Perry and Andrew Giddings showed their great talent and untiring support!!

My thanks also go to the crew, Dan and Johnny, who were really amazing and an inspiration to all. They worked ridiculously long hours with total dedication. Jon's girlfriend Raffaella and my wife Julie gave considerable support and organized food and drink. Julie ran the merchandising and was so delighted to meet and chat with so many nice people. Lastly, we all thank the fans for supporting us and we promise to be back!

More thanks to Willy's sister, "Bit's", Catherine and Bob at Taylor Guitars.

We also would like to apologise to disappointed fans in Pittsburgh. The "promoter" double booked the venue, tried to put us in a tacky and very small club a week before the show. We felt the venue was unsuited to the band and the audience, so we sadly were forced to cancel.

Willy and myself will listen to live recording of the shows and perhaps, with new recordings in the new year, will will release an album- more news soon!

So we had highs and lows, many Starbucks stops, Mrs Hertz never lost satellite navigation, and never got angry with me, even when I ignored her! The promoter in Fall River met us for load-in dressed as a clown!.....not a great opening gambit but, after explaining it was a Halloween party for his son that afternoon, it turned out to be a great gig! Some "naff" hotels, (they know who they are!!), but always great company and humour!

Will we tour again? Yes!

Well in four days it all starts again, this time with Jethro Tull, I really look forward to seeing you at one of our shows and maybe I can catch up reading your emails. When I return to England, I plan to work on expanding the web site with more info, (instruments played-albums bio. etc.) and many new photos. Please also look out for my column in the new magazine, Acoustic Guitar, available very soon in the UK.

PS Our new toy is a R.I.B., (rigid inflatable boat). Our friend Hugo is giving us invaluable instruction, so if you see anyone off the South West Devon coast in Artic protection gear this winter, being bounced around in a Force 8!!!- it's OK it's the Barre's!

See you soon,

I always look back at the year around this time and wonder where it went!

We seem to have had various periods off the road and, other than a brilliant holiday in Greece where Julie and I learnt to wakeboard, plus loads of windsurfing and tennis, I can’t remember any time off!

The tours have, as always, been fantastic.  I was completely exhausted after the UK tour; playing two sets a night (mine and J-T’s) was fairly “full-on” but very rewarding.

The South American tour that followed was like a holiday.  Our promoter, Aquiles Sojo, did a great job and made what is usually a difficult continent to tour, very enjoyable. 

The parks in Buenos Aires (Palermo) and Sao Paolo (Ibirapuera) are superb and I spent many happy hours running round them!

Eastern Europe was another treat in store.  Although the weather was fairly grim, it was a great opportunity to revisit so many countries, all which seem to have beautiful towns.  It’s a great joy to see the pride and effort put into improving living standards.  As well as the well-documented beauty of Budapest, Prague and Istanbul, I can now add  Zagreb, Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade and Bratislava to my favourites!

In July we were back in Europe with more familiar territories; through Austria, Switzerland, France and Spain.  Two new territories were Malta, where we played with Steve Hackett (whose band had sensibly made it into a holiday!) and the Faroe Islands where we were treated with superb hospitality.  The scenery was breathtaking and we were incredibly lucky to have blue skies and good temperatures.  I hope we didn’t cause too much offence when we decline the obligatory meal of whale blubber!

More recently we saw the band back in Turkey playing at a beach resort, not the most suitable environment for our music and then Israel, again presenting a picture that you don’t see on the news!

So many gigs, many new friends and the best yet to come!

In October I will start rehearsals with Willy Porter in the States and then we begin about ten gigs in the North East of America. The set will be a mix of my material and Willy’s with both acoustic and electric sets. It’s very exciting and it’s going to be great, worth waiting so many years for!

I hope to see your face in the audience!  The band will be very familiar, but more about that later.  I have to start a good month of practice and planning – only the best will do!

Regards - Martin

The month of May was taken up mainly by a tour of Eastern Europe with Jethro Tull.  We visited twelve countries in fourteen days!  The travel was a nightmare; thank goodness the gigs were really superb. Great audiences always make up for lack of sleep.

So successful have been the tours of India, South America and Eastern Europe that there are talks of returning as soon as possible.

June was a month of recovery and than planning with Willy Porter. Our tour in the USA is now definite and will take place in late October this year. About four to five dates are confirmed, we will cover the North East from Milwaukee through to Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

The second I have details, I will post them on the website. The concerts will be billed as an “evening with” (me and Willy) and will feature a fairly equal mix of acoustic and electric music, starting off with the two of us and ending with full band and one or two musical surprises!

This tour will link with the November tour of the USA/Canada with Jethro Tull - dates on Jethro Tull website.

Through your e-mails I now have a good picture of the sort of information you would like to know.  Mainly this includes equipment used through the years and a full discography.  I will put pen to paper very soon.

Later in the year I will be writing a regular article for a new guitar magazine in the UK – details to follow.

I hope “Stage Left” is now available throughout Europe.  I’m sure I will hear through your e-mails.

Well, it’s time to start packing again!  A week’s holiday sailing and then some dates in Europe, including Malta and the Faroe Islands!  Can’t wait!

August 13^th sees Tull at Cropredy in England.  We play the Friday night and I will stay on to play with the Fairports on Saturday night.  I’ll try to arrange a signing session for my CD on the Saturday as well.

We are covering a lot of territory this year; and loving every minute of it.

See you soon

Newsletter #9
April 2004

At last we are having a break in this year’s touring schedule. 

We’ve had an amazing few months. After playing India and Dubai I started rehearsals with Willie Porter, Jon Noyce and Doane Peray in preparation for the UK Tour.

As some of you know I was the opening act for Jethro Tull!!  It was a great success, huge amounts of adrenalin and I think it has been the most rewarding time I’ve ever had on stage.
 

I now understand how difficult it is to go onstage “cold” – it’s pretty nerve-racking! We were overwhelmed by the reaction; both on stage and from emails; I can’t thank enough the efforts of Willie and the other guys – it was a lot of work and worth every moment.

After the UK tour the South American gigs were quite relaxing!  But what a great response.

I had received many emails beforehand from fans looking forward to our tour and now afterwards, even more emails all saying how much the shows were enjoyed.  Thanks to a good promoter (Aquiles) we were extended much hospitality and we were very well looked after.

I think I’ve never had such good running days on the road, thanks to beautiful parks in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and the Porto Algere – I hope we can return soon!

Projects for this year?

a)  Mixing live tracks from the UK and German tours (“The Meeting” album) for a possible album (plus some new tracks) to be released at the end of the year.

b)  Update and expand my website in order to answer your questions; many about equipment used on different albums/tours.

c)  A complete discography.  (Does anyone have information on a “B” side track issued in Japan with me playing with Paul McCartney?)

d)  Plan solo tours – possibly the USA in October and Germany/Italy at end of 2004 beginning of 2005???

e) Jethro Tull dates in Europe, USA/Canada etc.

f) A holiday with my family??

Yes; it’s good to be busy.

P.S. Check out “Devon Today” magazine (April issue) for a brilliant article and photos (thanks to Kirstie). See Here

By Now “Stage Left” should be available worldwide thanks to RandM records in the UK, Fuel 2000 in the USA/Canada and Favored Nations and Licensees for the rest of the world.

Please keep sending in your comments.

Take care …

So much has been happening, I’m afraid this newsletter is very late!

After a short family holiday at Christmas (snowboarding and skiing) things rapidly got hectic.

Jethro Tull played in Dubai and Mombai (Bombay) at the end of January.  The concerts were really fantastic, made doubly interesting by dabbling in Eastern musical styles with some success and much enjoyment.

We were treated “Royally” in both countries by the audiences and my thanks go to Harry Prasad and Vijay, flautist and tablas, who both made the trip memorable.

As soon as I returned to England rehearsals started for my support “slot” with Jethro Tull on our UK tour.  Willie Porter is playing guitar and handles vocals on a mainly acoustic set.  Unfortunately details of the support band were not printed on posters, ads and tickets but, so far, in Cardiff and Manchester the theatres were full from the start.

It’s a long day for all involved from 4.00 pm soundcheck all the way to 10.30 pm end of the show. Ian, Doane and Jon all join me and Willie on stage. I owe all of them a huge thank-you.

Sales of Stage Left are still good and with the release by favoured nations in Europe, should continue to be so.

In March, Tull tours South America. I’ve had quite a few e-mails from there. All are looking forward to our visit.

I continue to avidly read all incoming e-mails.  Most common questions are about gear used on different albums. I plan to put all these details on the Web Site soon.  At the moment I’m using a Fender Strat with two Seymour Duncan pick ups into a Soldano Decatone Amp. Acoustic Guitar and Mandolin both built by Andy Manson.

With dates this year in the UK, Europe, USA and South America, I hope to see you somewhere along the way! 

Best Regards

In November I flew to New York and Los Angeles to do valuable radio promotion.  It was a great success. I hope some of you got to hear the interviews. Len Fico at Fuel 2000 records and Ann Leighton, who handle publicity, both did a great job helping me.

So now December is fairly quiet, but there is a lot to plan for next year.

In January we have dates in Dubai and Bombay and then in February Jethro Tull tour the U.K. and I shall be the opening Band!  I have enlisted the help of Willie Porter on vocals and guitar as well as the help of Andy Giddings and Doane Perry. I shall play for 45 minutes and, of course, will feature a lot of music form “Stage Left”.

The month of March sees a South American Tour and at the moment I’m researching the possibility of a solo tour of Germany and Italy in April.  For details of all Jethro Tull Gigs please check Jethro Tull's website.

I’m hoping that by the end of the year I will have signed a record deal for “The rest of the World” (Europe etc.) possibly with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations Label.  This would be the perfect ending to a great year and for that I thank all of you!

I wish you a Happy Christmas. (Have you bought the Tull Christmas album yet??) And look forward to seeing you in 2004!
 

Well---- It’s good to be home!  We have now completed four months of touring. We’ve had a fantastic response from our concerts; we really had the best time ever, playing to you!

Great weather seemed to follow us from country to country, so the open-air shows were a treat and, of course, I got in some fabulous running!!

Julie (my wife!) was able to join me in Germany and Italy.  It was our silver wedding anniversary at the beginning of the American tour, so we took the opportunity to visit our good friends in California and, on our anniversary; our friends in Washington took us water-skiing. I even learnt to wakeboard – we took Jon Noyce along with us and he water-skied for the first time!  The evening was spent drinking champagne and eating glorious food; we persuaded Andy Giddings and Jon Noyce to join us – what a brilliant evening!

Stage Left is now available in the UK and the USA/Canada – a European deal is days away – all I can say at the moment is thank you Steve Vai!!

Your e-mails have been very supportive. I’ve had such positive comments from fans and the Press. It makes everything worthwhile. The downside, as always, is a lack of support from the big record stores, it really upsets me to think that after 35 years in Jethro Tull, the doors are still closed.

Unfortunately a proposed tour of Borders Coffee Shops/Book Stores has been cancelled due to cutbacks on Borders promotions. However, I still intend to play live concerts in 2004 in Europe and the US.

Again I thank you all for your e-mails, many of you asked for info on my guitar rig on tour. Here it is:

Fender Stratocaster “US Fat Strat”
Soldano Decatone amps
Marshall Cabinets
GHS strings
Samson Wireless system

I shall be in the studio again this autumn, remixing some early tracks and will continue to promote Stage Left.  Next year will see more tours for Jethro Tull and myself.

Take care and all the best. Martin

My new C.D. “Stage Left” is now ready for release: in the U.K. on August 5^th on RandM Records, and in the U.S.A. on August 12^th on Fuel 2000. In Europe I have to wait a couple of weeks to finalise a deal with the best available label.  Please order the CD from your local store.  The more orders they get the more likely they will stock up! I’m very excited that everything has come together so well.

I have lots of interviews coming up and I have plans to tour Germany, Italy and possibly the U.S.A. either later this year or early next year.

It has been difficult to co-ordinate the finishing of “Stage Left” whilst we have been touring in Europe, but Mike Andrews and Roy Eldridge at Randm Records and Len Fico at Fuel 2000 have all been very hard working on my behalf.  The cover has been a great success. I was keen to get a card surface that looked and felt like a real flight case and Richard and Dudley at Lemon Media have produced a first class job.  I hope the sound byte samples tempt you into a purchase and I look forward to your comments via e-mail!!

Jethro Tull have been very busy.  The European tour was brilliant fun.  The fans gave us an amazing reception. The whole band was really uplifted by the enthusiasm of our audiences.

Maybe we worked harder or maybe it was the hot weather, but it’s been a few years since I’ve come off stage every night completely soaked.  Even Andy Gidding’s shirt had a small damp patch or two!

I’m really looking forward to the US dates, especially with my CD being available.

Julie and I celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary during the US tour so we have planned a few days holiday in California (perfect for tennis and jogging!) My running schedule was perfect in Europe.  Every town seems to have a great park or river and I got to play tennis on clay courts several times (with the local pro).  The most difficult part was forcing myself to drink 2-3 litres of water each day.

As always I’m miles behind reading my e-mails. But I promise I will read them all.

Thank you for all your e-mails. A lot of queries concern equipment I have used over the years. I will try to summarise the history over the years with regard to gear and also albums I have been involved with.

I can now announce the completion of my new solo album. It is mixed and I am very very excited with the outcome. I do hope you will feel the same.

he album title is “Stage Left” I’m sure you can figure out why!!  There are 12 instrumental tracks, 1 vocal plus a “ Bonus” track and as always the music is a mixture of electric and acoustic approaches to Blues, Rock and even Jazz and Folk.  Mark Tucker has done a brilliant job of engineering and mixing, with me constantly looking over his shoulder.

I have received enthusiastic interest from a “few” record labels and the second there is news of a release, I will post it on my web site.  The CD artwork is close to completion and I think you will like it!!

Tull start touring in June so I have been busy with preparation both musically and equipment wise.  As always I am really looking forward to this year’s concerts. We visited Russia in April for three gigs and we were all overwhelmed by the friendliness and warmth of our Russian fans. I thank them all for a memorable trip.

We managed to grab a few hours sightseeing. I’m glad, my wife, Julie was able to share the experience! Our guide in Moscow was a very charming and intelligent girl. Thank you Masha (or in English Mary!!)

I hope to provide the opportunity for you to download some “tasters” from the new album very soon.

Many thanks again for all your emails.  I have been really busy recording Tull material with Andy Giddings, rehearsing for a short Russian tour and still finishing my new album to be released in June this year. Info for ordering will be in the next newsletter.

As usual you'll find responses to the most frequently asked questions on my FAQ page.

I have had lots of enquiries about future solo tours – please watch this space.  As promised I'll soon be putting some music “tasters” from the new album on this site for you to download.  See you soon.

Julie and I have been ecstatic over the response to our website.  We have read all your e-mails but, because of sheer numbers, we are unable to reply to you individually. However we have posted some replies to the most frequently asked questions on the new FAQ page. We will add to these over time.

Meanwhile I have had Darren Mooney on drums and Jon Noyce on bass at Presshouse Studio all week. All the album tracks are finished, minus keyboards and vocals!! I am very happy with the result and optimistic of having the album on sale by May or June of this year. I shall also have “A Trick of Memory” and “The Meeting” available.  I’ll keep you posted.

Next task is to put some music “tasters” from the new album on this site for you to download.  See you soon.

Welcome to my web site!

I know it has been a long time in the making; but thanks to the help of Andy Webb and much prompting from my wife Julie it has started.  We hope to expand the content of the site with much more information, facts, up and coming concerts and photos.  Meanwhile info on live gigs can be found at the excellent J-Tull website. This year was deemed to be fairly quiet but, thankfully, as it always happens, will get busier month by month. I am “finishing off” my third solo album.  All the music has now been recorded at Presshouse Studio with Mark Tucker Engineering again.  Having done the bulk of my own playing I can now enjoy adding the finishing touches – so far I’m very pleased with the result – but then, I would be!!! Wouldn’t I?? I am hoping that after the album’s release in the early summer, I can plan a modest tour either in Europe or the U.S.A.

I also hope to sell all three solo albums through this web site.

Thank you for your visit. Please keep in “contact” for more news and info.

All the best. 

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