BLUES RUN THE GAME
Martin Simpson is one of those players who is capable of transporting listeners with just a few notes, who invests every phrase with a haunting sonority that is, at times, not quite of this world. It’s somewhat ironic, then, that he is one of the most down-to-earth musicians you could meet and, true to form, he’s invited Guitarist into his home in Sheffield to talk about his new album, Rooted. As the name suggests, it’s a musical journey back to the origins of Martin’s love for the guitar and the music made on it – and features some memorable guest appearances from the likes of Sheffield songsmith Richard Hawley who, handily, just happens to be Martin’s neighbour.
While we’re here, he’s also happy to show off his fascinating collection of guitars and banjos, including some pre-war Martin rarities that changed the way he thought about the guitar several decades into his career. Along the way, he was able to share insights into his ability to coax extra sonority and musicality from the acoustic instruments he plays…
Tell us about the new album…
“Well, it’s always a challenge. You know, it’s a really big deal to say, ‘Okay, I have to make another statement.’ I think this is the 21st solo record that I’ve made. I’ve been writing a lot more over the last little while.
“So I really wanted to try and make this a record that had more of my own material on it. Obviously, always there’s traditional music, which is constantly inspiring me, even when I’m not looking. One of these traditional songs will leap in there and I will just feel that I’ve got to do this. ‘This is such a remarkable piece of music, I have to briefly make it mine,’ which is I think what you do, when you do that kind of thing.
“I had a picture of what I was going to do and then [record label] Topic said, ‘You know what we’d really like you to do? We’d like you to make two records at the same time: one of which is a record of songs and the other is a record of instrumentals.’ Uhh. You know that’s a really tall order. But what they said was, ‘In a sense, what we want you to do is, we want instrumental versions of what the other record is as well as individual new instrumental pieces, wherever they might come from.’
“You never really know when you start producing the material for a record which direction it’s going to go in. There were a number of], and one of those things was on the last record I recorded a version of , the Jackson C Frank song. And I would always tell the story of him and how the tragic accident that happened when he was 11 years old in the school classroom.
