Martyn Joseph is a completely unique artist. Take everything you think you know about singer songwriter and rip it up. For one man and a guitar he creates a performance with a huge far-reaching sound that is energetic, compelling and passionate. He is gifted with the rare ability to speak to the soul with his expressive and poignant lyrics and has a career spanning over 30 years and thousands of live performances, that many have described as the best live music experience of their lives.
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Martyn Joseph is a completely unique and mind-blowing artist. Take everything you think you know about singer songwriters and rip it up. For one man and a guitar he creates a performance with a huge far-reaching sound that is energetic, compelling, and passionate. Be it to two hundred people or twenty thousand, he blows the crowd away night after night.
2024 kicked off with the release of a new “masterful and career defining” (Fatea UK) studio album, “This Is What I Want To Say” , along with a sell out UK tour, followed by shows in mainland Europe and North America. Last year started with Martyn being part of BBC Radio 2’s “21st Century Folk “ project, with his song “Albert’s Place” and included appearances on BBC Breakfast TV, the Jeremy Vine and Ken Bruce shows on BBC Radio 2 along with Radio 4’s World at One.
His critically acclaimed 2021 record, “1960” was made Folk Album of The Month in Mojo and awarded 4 starts by Uncut, and remained in the UK Official Folk charts for much of 2022.
In April 2019 he won a “Wales Folk Award” for “Here Come the Young”, and in 2023 he was nominated for Best Solo Artist.
He is gifted with the rare ability to speak to the soul with his expressive and poignant lyrics and has a career spanning over 40 years, 27 studio albums, over a half a million record sales and thousands of live performances.
Compared to Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, Bruce Cockburn and Dave Matthews, he has created his own style and reputation as a mesmerising live performer and stands in his own right, built on a reputation for giving what thousands have described as the best live music experience of their lives.
A unique talent driven by passion, social awareness, and love for his trade, he's a jaw dropping guitar player who has developed a unique percussive style, teamed up with a powerful show stopping voice, and has been called “The Welsh Springsteen”
Concerned with making music that is relevant and vital to his audience, he engages with challenging narratives tackling the complexity of the human condition, underpinned with a promise of hope. In his own words “Really what I do is to try and write songs that might step up and make some sense of a moment in time. A good song makes you feel like you’re not alone in the world.”
Martyn is also founder, along with his wife Justine, of the “Let Yourself Trust”. LYT works alongside Martyn’s music to help give profile to and fund Grassroots organisations across the globe. They have given away over half a million pounds to 14 different projects in the last 8 years.
He is hailed as a raconteur weaving tales on topical concerns, as well as stories on the fragility of love, with a magical ability to reach out to his listeners through his passion and humour. Stunning reviews single him out as an unmissable solo performer whose music stays with you long after the show has ended.
“Stunning, heartfelt music” Bob Harris BBC Radio 2,
“Relevant, challenging and vital” Songlines
"Intelligent and enlightened songs are both energising and provocative…from subtle tenderness to growly indignation. A Welsh national treasure” MOJO
“One of acoustic music’s most original voices, and most forward looking of his generation of singer/songwriters” Q Magazine
“Full of treasured memories and universal themes of joy and sadness” Uncut “1960” 8/10 review