Martin & Co.

If you play guitar and you've never owned a Martin, you don't really play a guitar. Martin & Co. has been a family owned and operated business since day 1. Day 1 being the 1820s when C.F. Martin learned to be a luthier in Venice. See this timeline for a quick overview of how Martin guitars came to be.

When I was shooting back east in the summer of '08, I passed by a sign on the two-lane highway that said Martin & Co. was just up the road in Nazareth, PA, I knew I had to stop by. It was kind of hard to find but after a couple of false moves on my iPhone GPS, I finally tracked the place down...

The company logo alone is enough to get my juices flowing to hear someone playing a Martin guitar.

Each of these windows has a lighted candle in it.

And I just noticed when I enlarged this window that each has a different picture filling the panes. Unfortunately, they were closed the day I stopped by so I didn't get to see inside.

J.D. Souther playing Doolin Dalton...on his Martin...



Beautiful.

J.D. Souther

Earlier today, one of my Facebook friends posted a youtube video of James Taylor and J.D. Souther singing Her Town Too.

It got me to thinking about J.D. and what an amazing singer/songwriter he is and that I should pass that on to all of you, just in case you've never heard of him. I first heard about him through listening to the Eagles and seeing his name in the writing credits of many of their songs, including Heartache Tonight, Best of My Love, Victim of Love and New Kid In Town.

Then I found out he had recorded a self-titled solo album John David Souther in 1972, which I bought and promptly wore out. If you have even one romantic cell in your whole body, I highly recommend you get this album...it is that good. The Fast One, Run Like A Thief, Kite Woman...okay, that's not going to work. I was going to name a few of my favorite songs off the album but I was going to end up listing pretty much all of them.

In 2007, when I heard the debut of the Eagles "brand new" single How Long off their Long Road Out of Eden album, I was totally taken aback. WTF...that's not a new song...I know that song. Sure enough it was How Long...the song I'd heard so many times...track 8 from J.D.'s debut album.

After I moved to L.A., I caught a show J.D. played at the small room in the back of McCabe's guitar store. Of course, my Pentax came with me...I was about to miss the opportunity to fire off a role of John David Souther. Here's one from the the roll...

After a two album stint with his supergroup Souther Hillman Furay Band, two more solo albums, the duet with James Taylor and a final solo album released in 1984, J.D. pretty much disappeared from the recording scene...at least recording himself.

So, after watching the video today I began to wonder whatever became of J.D. Souther. I was surprised to see he released a new album last October and has been playing live shows. And the once shy behind-the-spotlight singer/songwriter also has a website, a MySpace and a Facebook page where he seems to post on a regular basis. Wow. Just wow. That was all completely unexpected. You can go here to listen to bits of the tracks off the new album. He sounds as good as ever.

This is a very cool performance by J.D. Souther of Doolin' Dalton, a song from the Eagles Desperado album co-written by J.D., Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Jackson Browne...



And the James Taylor/J.D. Souther duet of Her Town Too, co-written by Taylor, Souther and Waddy Wachtel...