Friday , March 29 2024

Denny James Martin

      

For musician and songwriter Denny James Martin, it was an old 1930s Sears catalogue mandolin found tucked under a floorboard in a century old  house where the artist grew up that started it all.

Somehow, and as near as possible, Martin tuned that old eight stringed mandolin to his Father’s orchestra topped Kay guitar. For that seven year old budding musician, it was definitely a challenge considering he could hardly get his arms around what seemed at the time tree trunked body.

But..dreams of being the fifth Beatle and backing up hit list bands prevailed with mimicking as many songs or noises as possible. Fortunately, the wooden box dreams and tenacity did not go unnoticed by his Father.

On an unforgettable day, the artist’s Father said “if you learn the chords D, G, C and F (the devil F chord) I’ll buy you a guitar.”

By the time Martin’s Father returned home from work late in the evening, and with swollen red fingers, Martin hammered out the chords. Including the devil F chord.

That following day when Denny James Martin came home from school, there it was. A red guitar, and the next chapter began. Today, Martin still has his Father’s old Kay guitar which he played in a Nashville studio. To this day, the old mandolin still watches over the little red guitar in Martin’s studio.

In 2016, Martin teamed up with long time friend and fellow musician/songwriter Steven Allen Filipucci to form James StevenZ.  The team up just seemed natural and resulted in multiple co-writes. The partnership was not only a combination of names but talent too, setting the stage for an instrumental sound described by both as  “kinda like easy listening meets patio-garden cruise music and if you keep an eye on the exits you’ll  likely run into a hint of blues wearing Americana.”

Steven Allen Filipucci, also a native of Sandusky, had a knack for rhythm guitar and the ability to think fast and add punchy short riffs even during live studio sessions.

Martin and Filipucci provided their talents to the documentary film industry to create four short acoustic musical scores for a series of short documentaries titled “Archaeology in Ohio.”  The four part series was aired on Ohio public television stations.

In 2020 James StevenZ released their first CD titled “Wall Of Seasons.”  The CD is a purposeful line up of instrumentals to cover the seasons from the trail of Fall into Winter with “A Season To Believe” and “Window Shopping” to the warmer side with “Breeze” which always brings the high winds with “Rum Runner.”

“Wall Of Seasons” is currently on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and iHeart Radio.

For Martin, it also started a new chapter and musical pursuit….synchronization (Sync)for film, television, advertisements, and multimedia.

The past few years have also presented many opportunities to meet music supervisors and influencers in the music industry.

What’s on the horizon for Martin in 2022 and beyond? Along with pursuing sync, Martin has produced several new solo pieces. Plans are to debut the new tracks throughout 2022 and a new CD release (Between Midnight and Magic) for end of 2022-early 2023.

More on a personal level and as a musician and songwriter, Martin feels it’s very worthwhile and gratifying to be of service in some form. Local events like fundraisers  are a great way to express gratitude and a platform to acknowledge the value of family, friends and support of local businesses.

CLICK HERE TO FIND LINKS TO DENNY’S SPOTIFY, APPLE MUSIC, ETC.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DENNY’S MUSIC

CLICK HERE TO SEE DENNY’S VIDEO FOR WHO WILL TELL THE STORY

CLICK HERE FOR DENNY’S CO-WRITTEN SONGS ON DISCO LINK

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO WALL OF SEASONS

Physical CD’s can be purchased in Musician’s Alley (151 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, Ohio).