Clint Martin Band

Some folks find themselves standing close to the stage on a Saturday night with a cold beverage in hand, just a few feet from their musical idol thinking, "This guy's got it made. come Monday, I'll be back home to work, but he's off to another 24-hour party. A musician's life is the life for me." Make that statenent to Clint Martin, and he'll give you a grin and invite you to his south Texas home for a little horseback riding. Make sure to wear your boots and jeans. You'll need them while your're repairing fences and feeding the livestock. Martin is an old school cowboy who just happens to play music. His first release, Proven, is evidence that he's here for the long haul. Utilizing the same effort and perseverance it takes to hunt down the calf that wanders from the herd. Martin won't quit until he realizes his dream. In a fickle music world where singers transform themselves from country crooner to pop prima donna and vice-versa, Martin is content to pin a single label on himself: "I'm really country", he admnits "I grew up listening to George Strait, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. Right now there's more and more crossing over from pop to country. It gets on my nerves when I see pop artists come over to country. Then, after it fails, they go back to pop. I think you need to be yourself; if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Just don't try to be someone you're not." At an early age, Martin seemed destined for bright lights. As a precocious 5 year old, he'd burst into his own version of Strait's "All My Ex's Live in Texas" with a Mickey Mouse guitar. He was drawn to the Texas country scene after enrolling at Tarleton State University at Stephenville in 2001. Putting the Disney guitar aside, he purchased a six-string and taught himself enough to be noticed by a local band, Lost Cause. After a two-year stint, the group disbanded. At the time of his graduation, from Tarleton in 2005, Martin had already written several songs for what would be his first cd. The next two years found him running the Texas roads to college towns and musical hot spots, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and a used PA. Then came the Clint Martin band in 2007, and recording at Floresville's Cherry Ridge Studios in 2008. In 2009, Martin emerged with Proven, the 11 track result of his life's dream. Opening the first cd's is a moment he says he won't forget. "I had 'em duplicated in Dallas, and my wife and I drove there to pick 'em up, " he says. "I remember opening one up and thinking, 'This is a dream come true'. "What was funny was that three or four days after that, I was still picking it up and looking through it, thinking, "This is cool. I'm up there with the big boys now.'" During 2009 Martin put his old-fashioned work ethic to the test, as he and his band shuffled their boots across many a Texas stage. Their efforts are beginning to reap rewards. "I just heard myself on the radio for the first time!" he says. "My wife and I were going to Thanksgiving up in north Texas, and we tuned the radio to KACQ 101.9 in Lampasas. They finished their local news and immediately got into "West Side of The Tracks" It took a couple of seconds and then I thought, 'Thats my song!' I was smiling from ear to ear. My wife got teary eyed." Martin has a favorite track on Proven, a reminder of the support and foundation he receives every day from his school teacher wife, Lindsay. "The Lady She Is" is my favorite song," he says. "Even though my wife and I are happily married, and it's about a breakup. The guy is on the raod, traveling and doing his thing, and she says. 'The heck with you. You're always gone.' "Years later she comes to one of his gigs and they hook up again. Then he starts to realize, 'Hey, I've got the treat her like the lady she is. She's all I ever wanted.' "My wife is extremely special, and I want her to always be treated like the lady she is. Like the song says, I want to treat her like I should." A true Texas cowboy unfazed by hard work, Clint Martin approaches his musical career with the same effort he'd use to wrangle a wayward steer. "Music has to be something you really want," he says. "The people who stick with it are the ones that make it."
Randy Cunningham is a freelance writer based out of Baytown, Best in Texas Magazine - Best in Texas Music Magazine