Album Review: Joe Martin - Alone in Valentine

Joe Martin sharpens his writing tools, expands an horizon and revels in fertile pastures where good music grows. Frontiers are stripped away as a Brit heads out west following the scent of a road weary trail. The fruits of this endeavour lie in the bold tunes and incisive lyrics forming an album finding its optimum pitch. ALONE IN VALENTINE is heavily stocked with nuggets spilling across the imagination highway. Eleven songs purr with an inclusive warmth. Martin evokes a sense of space and feeling, respecting the country playbook, yet shaping it with anglicised eminence. 

From rousing rocker ‘Hand Me Down Heart’ igniting an authentic sound to the delicate ‘Paris Texas’ proving a idyllic resting place, there is much to admire in Martin’s take on the power of music to convey reality in storytelling mode. You are unashamedly in Isbell-Cobb territory with ‘Strangers to Lovers’, by instinct or design, you choose but the result is the same. At the heart of the album ‘Coal Town’ and ‘Brown Paper Bag’ are bang on examples of likely walking in others shoes, yielding to trusted themes yet composed in structurally excellent ways.

‘Alone in Valentine’ takes its inspiration from a real place in Texas, population 73, and a real journey undertaken by Martin. Many familiar references are pulled into the story without overkilling the cliches. ‘Backseat Driver’ exposes a heartfelt side to the writing with ‘But my best adventures
/They all start with you’ landing in the right place as a lyric etched in the context of a love song.

Fate linked Martin up with country family royalty Cal Campbell and Cornelius Webb (sons of Glen and Jimmy) to offer guidance and inspiration. From this bout of fortune, the mantle was grasped with a set of largely self-written songs shaped to satisfy demands of Americana ears. The variables to what makes an effective record are lined up with a vocally adept style imprinted. Tender moods and punchy sounds intermingle within a production smoothing the path to an instant appeal.

Joe Martin wanders into the caverns and canyons where greats from the past and present have illuminated a blank canvas, and can hold his head up high with an album rich in personal attainment. ALONE IN VALENTINE defies the hardened and casual to not hook onto Martin’s journey of discovery. The keys to unlock the door to stellar rock ’n’ country songwriting are in his possession without a hint of waste on a significantly impactful album. 

www.joemartinmusic.com