Simply Traditional

If you’re brave enough to turn on country radio these days – you just might have the good fortune to hear the voice of Leland Martin coming at you. Word is getting out…Leland Martin and his music are making their presence known. 

Debuting this past week at # 49 on Music Row's chart with a bullet, his debut album on IGO Records, Simply Traditional, is managing to accomplish something few independent efforts do these days, as it garners valuable airplay on both larger and mid sized markets.  

If I Had Long Legs (like Alan Jackson) is the album’s lead single. The song, although tongue in cheek and guaranteed to leave you with a smile, speaks to one of the long time barriers upcoming traditional country music artists face when trying to get any kind of attention in the country music industry. Leland wrote the song about five years ago and he’s hoping it’ll not only get the attention of country music fans, but country radio as well. "We are hoping to be as part of the reason Nashville steers back towards more traditional sounds." 

Recalling the impact that Randy Travis had in helping to turn country music from the slickness of the 'urban cowboy' sound to a neo-traditional movement, Leland's hoping that his music triggers a similar shift. Coming out of retirement and backing him is the man who helped make it all happen for Randy Travis in the early eighties, former Warner Brothers Records vice-president and general manager, Bob Saporiti. "He's got that thing that makes country music real and full and rich." he says of Leland. "What this country needs is country." 

"I would love to be a part of that, and I hope I am." Leland says "I hope it helps change their game plan, and bring some more traditional music back. Heck, re-sign Ray Price, Freddie Hart, and some of those guys, give them a chance to put an album out again and promote them a little bit. I would like to see some of that happening ." 

Country music doesn’t need any more pretty young faces that have over-saturated the industry for the past few years, as traditional fans sadly watched country music go from a primarily audio based industry, to a visual one. "Nashville kinda worries to much about the looks and stuff instead of how talented a person is. That’s a shame but that’s part of the marketing, I guess." 

With a knock out combination of voice and songwriting talents, Leland Martin doesn’t need to worry about coveting any anatomical attributes of any one else. His voice is an intriguing mixture of his life long influences, and as you listen you'll hear Leland Martin building on his own unique vocal strengths along with nuances of Merle, Conway and Jones. 

"That’s what Michael Burns, my producer, said when he discovered me at the Bluebird. My influences were the voices you're hearing. Haggard, that’s my hero. Buck Owens is a big influence as well as George Jones and Faron Young." he shares. "That’s what I grew up on. They just automatically come in there from years of being influenced by them. I don’t try and sound like any of them I just sing my own way." 

It was also his impressive songwriting repertoire that caught the attention of IGO Records president, Kacey Jones. "I’ve written enough for  two or three more albums. I got a ton of good stuff along the same lines." Writing most of the album's songs himself, he brings a lifetime of experience to the lyrics. "I think you can write better being a more seasoned person. When you live a lot of things that you write it helps instead of being 20 years old and trying to sing about and write about stuff you have never really lived."  

Leland Martin not only revitalizes country music's sense of tradition, but also it's sense of humor, while maintaining a reverent respect for his musical heroes, taking up their cause through the words of his songs. Steeped with steel and fiddle, the music and the words say it all. 

The thought provoking 'Don't Ya Think' bemoans the dust gathering, cast-aside classics of country music. "I wrote that about five years ago. I thought man you can’t hear Haggard and Jones and Faron Young and Buck Owens on the radio anymore. That started to aggravate me. I just started thinking about how everybody should just stop and pay attention and see how great that music is. Just stop and listen to it one more time and they may take it back off the shelf and start listing to it and asking for it for radio again." 

"I'm wanting show them appreciation and give them the courtesy that they deserve to play. They don’t want to be forgotten and left on a shelf somewhere. Changes are fine but that don’t mean why just have to throw out what’s got us this far and I am going to stand for them guys everywhere I go." he says adamantly "I’m not against the new country at all, I just don’t like the way they are leaving behind the pioneers that got us here. I don’t think that’s right at all. There is still room for all of us, that’s exactly what I stand for and I want all of them to know." 

Touring with the legendary Freddie Hart for a year gave Leland a first hand look at what separates the legendary artists from the rest of the pack. "I learned a lot from Freddie, how to treat fans for one thing and how to stay humble no matter how big a star you are. He was so down to earth and treated everyone equal to him. I learned how to keep things in perspective and don’t try and outshine your fans. He'd say, 'You’re a fan yourself or you wouldn’t have learned music and wanted to be in it, and just stay a fan and don’t try to outshine them.' Man, what a guy!" he says with obvious fondness "He sits on the bus and says to someone 'Hw much do I charge them people to get in tonight?  He’ll say 'Oh my goodness, I hate to see them spend that kinda money. They work so hard for there money, bless their hearts.' What a great person and there was nothing fake about him. He taught me to just stay real and honest with yourself and your fans, and never try to act better than them, because with out them,  you wouldn’t even be there. And a lot of artists forget that, and I’m not going to forget that, never have, never will." Freddie took the time to come into the studio and record a duet with Leland for this album on a song that was written with him in mind, making Freddie's Heart is clearly one of the highlights of the album. 

Great truck drivin' songs almost seem to be a thing of the past these days. Sounding like a long forgotten standard, Stone Cold Fingers resonates with the lonesome fugitive essence of Haggard, as Martin’s songwriting comes from his years as a truck driver on the open road, making for another outstanding track. One listen to this song and you'll know just what it is that's been missing from mainstream radio these past for years.  

The end of the album takes on a twist as Leland includes a traditional gospel song and two seasonal offerings to round things out to a ‘more than your money’s worth’ fifteen tracks. 

What A Friend We Have In Jesus is about as traditional as gospel songs get and fits in perfectly with the feel of the album. "I love gospel music. To be honest I’ve been stuck in the night club for so many years, that’s where you gotta cut your teeth and make your money. I never got to go to church much because of the business. I love gospel I just always wanted to have my shot at cutting a gospel album, the way I want to, to present gospel music the way I want to."  

Although it's not unheard to hear a traditional country album with a little gospel music tucked in, it is rare for a standard release to include a couple of Christmas tunes in the mix. "Well, you know, we wanted to be different. The producer said lets be different, let  pick a couple holiday bonus tracks on there. I'm tickled to death, because I wrote the flags on a Christmas tree a few years back for my grandpa." With it's obvious patriotic sentiment, Leland wants to make sure that the song was written five or six years ago. "It had nothing to do with 9/11. I hope no one will ever think when I put that on there I was trying to capitalize on the stuff that’s happening in the world right now. I wrote it for the veterans in the past. It's kinda a true story in a lot of ways. I wrote as true to form as I could. It’s pretty well about my grandpa and the things I’m gonna pass on to my kids, that I learned from him even though I didn’t have to go fight."  

When it's all said and done, the title track says it all. Leland Martin is simply traditional.  

"Its not that I just want to be traditional in music, it’s traditional things in life that mean a lot to me. Passing down something. It’s traditional to hand down your Grandpa’s Grandpa's gun to your kid, even if they don’t hunt, just to keep to. Keep a tradition going  in your family. Hand something down or follow in someone footsteps, like your Mom or your Grandma. Things like that mean a lot to me. Stay family oriented, I think a lot of people lose traditional values, lose family values, in today's fast paced world. I like to just see people slow down just a little bit, once in a while, and say, you know, you let's get together Sunday and have chicken dinner, lets go do that. It's more than just keeping music traditional." 

If you're longing for the good ol' days, go ahead – turn that dusty radio dial and see if they're playing Leland Martin. And if their not playing this album, make you sure you call them up and tell them of their oversight.