Music to me these days is about beating some different bushes hoping to flush the same birds. It’s about putting music in places people don’t always think about these days. But really, it’s about bringing music back to where it came from, living rooms and other places where people feel at ease, most like themselves. I don’t always see my role in these endeavors as the evening’s main focal point. I can tell stories and jokes between songs, or I can just provide the soundtrack for the evening. …click here to read more →

This Friday, March 12, I’ll be performing in my hometown at the Elysium Arts Folk Club (Rollinsford, NH). Good friends Eric Ott, Courtney Brocks and Jeff “JHawk” Hawkinson will join me to round the night into an event for all-time. The show is alcohol-free and all ages. Details and directions.

Music is a party’s soundtrack and life blood. It makes small talk seem like a conversation about life’s great mysteries, and saves us from those pregnant pauses where we wished trap doors existed. House concerts are a great way to have fun on the cheap. I’ll show up in your living room, patio or garage and supply you with songs, stories and laughs. You can make them whatever you’d like, but just know your event will resonate through people’s minds for years. In fact, house concerts are a sure fire way to add fuel to any mix, whether they’re in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries or just life itself.

I have the following avails open for house concerts: April 3, 9, 10, 16, 17 and May 8 & 15. June onward is wide-open. Book a show!

E-mail me.

Today’s scheduled performance at the Winter Farmer’s Market has been cancelled due to the deluge of the winter storm. It’ll be rescheduled and I will post the details as they are made available.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I never saw it coming. Not even a little. The first time I played the Hilton Garden Inn last summer, I envisioned a venue where musicians went to die. It’s a hotel lounge, after all. I say this without no disrespect to the hotel itself, it’s just an picture I’d painted. Ten months later, I couldn’t be more wrong. …click here to read more →

Martin England & Eric Ott - January 2010

Tonight (Feb. 20) I’ll be checking into the Hilton Garden Inn (100 High Street – Portsmouth, NH) for a night of songs, laughs, stories and more laughs with my pal Eric Ott. It’s a show worth its admission price (oh wait, there’s NO admission price. Anywho). Music starts at 8:00 PM, making it a perfect apres-dinner stop, or a launching pad for a night on the town. Whatever the case, Bartender Greg will be quick with the spirits.

Wendy Dawn from Associated Content listed Losing (from Pondering Judd’s 2002 release, October At Our Heels) as one of her “Top Ten Songs About Baseball.” Thanks for the kind words, Wendy! Read more.

Last Friday was my birthday. My friends pooled their money together and bought me a new ukulele (which I named Kevin, after Youkilis).

I spent much of last Saturday fooling around with my newfound toy, which resulted in the penning of a tune called Diamond (a song about a dude who’s driven to hold up a neighborhood liquor store in order to purchase a diamond ring for the woman of his dreams). I cannot thank my friends enough for this gift, as well as the inspiration that came along with it.

Here’s a demo:

Martin England – Diamond (©2010 Martin England)

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New clips added from last month’s Elysium Arts Folk Club Show on the Video page, thanks to Glen Stadig. Here’s a sample:

Ghost Train Review -- Oxycontin Blues by Steve Earle

Driving home from Thundering Sky at midnight tonight, I dodged goose feather snowflakes in my Element while listening to piano sonatas. It was the perfect backdrop for my mind set, at once born of exhaustion and absolute joy. It’s interesting to me how tough it is to finish. Anything. I wrote about this a few years back when PJudd recorded Coalesce at the same time I was putting in a new bathroom at our house. Now I find myself in the same situation, simultaneously renovating and (hopefully) finishing our kitchen while putting the wraps on my new record. The finish feels impossible sometimes, because (to be redundant) once you finish, your product is up for review. Right now everything feels possible: people will love it, it’ll sell like women’s handbags on clearance at Macy’s, and as a result, I’ll get lots of shows, radio appearances, and interviews. But all of this is nothing more than floating images which populate the mind just before slipping into sleep every night, not reality. …click here to read more →