Stan Martin - Singer - Country Music - Songwriter - New England powerhouse country artist Stan Martin returns with Love Ain’t That Tough on Gibraltar Records

Vintage Guitar Magazine

Stan Martin
Love Ain't That Tough
Gibraltar Records

Stan Martin Love Ain't That Tough Gibraltar Records Like Rodney Crowell, Martin is a country artist who owes a clear but honorable debt to the Beatles and the British Invasion. You hear it in "Blue, Blue Tears," and like those artists, Martin is a fan of Roy Orbison. He doesn't have Orbison's voice (who does?), but in his pacing, dramatic arrangements, and heartfelt singing, you hear the echoes. He also knows his way around a guitar neck and has affection for deliberate, fat-toned, low register Telecaster solos that add texture and depth. That mature, disciplined-but-not-constrained approach works especially well on the mid-tempo swing of "Missing You Blues", and in tandem with coproducer Michael Dinallo's empathetic rhythm guitar.

All 11 tracks on the disc are Martin originals, and though he sometimes settles for the easy lyric, he is so fresh and adept at moving from style to musical style that he reduces that fact to a quibble.

Martin and Dinallo come from a young-ish Boston/New England music scene that simultaneously embraced both country and blues, and produced authentic, satisfying examples of both. That authenticity may mean Martin will find himself exiled from mainstream country radio, where he'll be in good company with people like Crowell, Kate Campbell, and Jim Lauderdale.

Maverick Magazine

Stan Martin
LOVE AIN’T THAT TOUGH
Gibraltar Records

A sound that includes powerful lyrics, supported instrumentally and with harmonies, this album seems to emit quality from every musical orphus. Originally from South Boston, this third and self-penned release from this very talented and listenable and likeable artist is one US country music fans from this side of the pond might not have previously heard of. His name a new one to me, having never heard his tracks played by Whispering Bob before nor on other country music shows, this album turned out to be quite a revelation due to some well-written songs which seem to have the chance to played on the perilously choosy American Country music radio as well as the possibility of being regarded as contemporary classics.

The track which many of his listeners could relate to and possibly come to love, especially in these times of financial crisis, is A Working Man Ain’t Working Out For Me. Telling of how the sad person is tired of being paid low wages for a long and tiring day, it has an extremely catchy beat which is bound to remain in your memory for some time. One of the best tracks of the eleven, this has potential to go places. Missing You Blues too has potential to be a track treasured by many. With its humorous opening line, as well as some guitar picking more familiar with the tracks of Willie Nelson, this has the benefit of sounding quite like it should have been recorded by the great Lefty Frizzell. With background vocals supplied by Amber Casares and some fine fiddling, this is one track which has found itself being played continuously by yours truly. No Money begins with a country-rock sound, but morphs into a Johnny Cash track with Luther Perkins-styled picking which makes you wonder if this is possibly an unreleased track from that infamous San Quentin gig. The riffs certainly worthy of being included in the same breath as the Man in Black, this too has the potential to be a future classic.

Like many artists from America, it is according to his website that there are no future British gigs. For those who have the chance to book artists, please do try because if he is as good live than what he sounds like on this album then I am sure that would be one heck of a fine night. —RH

The Boston Herald

Stan Martin
Love Ain’t That Tough
(Gibraltar)

A-

Classic country ace Martin grew up in the projects of South Boston, listening to his mom’s Merle Haggard records. Now this talented singer/songwriter has come full circle, recording a solid, sublimely catchy CD with former Haggard fiddler Scott Joss. With Mike Dinallo on guitar, the lived-in, emotionally savvy sound is inspired by honky-tonk and ’60s country-rock, but it isn’t a self-conscious revival: Martin’s sweet blue-collar holler doesn’t possess an ounce of pretension. Download: “Blue, Blue Tears.”

—Daniel Gewertz

Blurt Online

Stan Martin
Love Ain’t That Tough
(Gibraltar)

Any city worth its musical salt has artistic inhabitants like Stan Martin, who with each successive release--this is his third--has increasingly qualified as one of those best kept local secrets (the locale in this case being Boston). Martin plays modern honky-tonk music with an edge--Dwight Yoakam is an obvious reference point, with a bit of the moody intensity of a Chris Isaak mixed in to delicious effect. He wrote all of the 11 tracks on Love Ain't That Tough, and he shows himself adept at whatever style he tackles: swinging the blues on "Missing You Blues," pumped up Haggard-esque sound, sensibilities, and slick-picking on "A Workin' Man Ain't Working Out For Me," electric hillbilly on the title track, hard country balladry led by Scott Joss's weeping fiddle on "Set Me Free," unabashed Chuck Berry rock and roll on "No Money," and to close, "How to Let Go," a maternal tribute to that features just Martin's late mother on accordion paired with his acoustic.

Martin's singing has gone from capably unremarkable on his first release to strong and distinctive here, his guitar playing--whether twangy lead, baritone, or 12-string--is fluid, deft, and unerringly tasty, and his efforts are complemented by a crack supporting cast. Will this record bring Martin the wider recognition he deserves? Who knows, but it ought to.

Standout Tracks: "Love Ain't That Tough," "Blue, Blue Tears"

—STUART MUNRO

Country Standard Time

Stan Martin
Love Ain't That Tough – 2009
(Gibraltar)

Boston area country rocker Stan Martin displays a variety of styles on his third release. He kicks it off with Blue, Blue Tears, complete with a lyrical allusion to a Roy Orbison classic ("In dreams my thoughts they always think of you/Then daylight comes and tries to chase the blues").

The strongest apparent influence is Dwight Yoakam, most evident on the title track as well as Missing You Blues and Set Me Free, featuring former Yoakam fiddler Scott Joss.

Martin composed all 11 tracks and co-produced with drummer Ducky Carlisle and rhythm guitarist Mike Dinallo. Martin's lead guitar work is stellar throughout, particularly with his James Burton-esque picking on A Working Man Ain't Working Out For Me and No Money, an all out Chuck Berry style rocker.

Martin's strong vocals, solid tunes and hot guitar licks highlight this enjoyable collection.

—Robert Wooldridge

The Boston Globe

Stan Martin
Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey
Twangtone Records

If you enjoy the honky-tonking side of Dwight Yoakam and Merle Haggard, then you should chase down this new release by Boston country stalwart Stan Martin. A convincing singer and an absolute master of twangy Telecaster guitar, Martin mines the rockin’ side of honky-tonk, so slam this into your CD changer and roll. Martin could easily be out of the Bakersfield school of country, but he cut the disc at Ducky Carlisle’s Room 9 From Outer Space studio in South Boston. Carlisle assists on drums, and several other locals chip in, with bassist Charlie Irwin and pianist Tom West standing out. The one surprise guest is Scott Joss, who is Yoakam’s fiddle player and adds zest to seven of the album’s 12 tracks. Martin is an excellent distiller of the medium, whether it’s on lost-love tracks ‘’Crying Over You’’ and ‘’Thinking You’re Wrong,’’ or moving-on anthems such as ‘’Honky Tonk Fever,’’ ‘’I Got the Roadhouse Blues,’’ and the fast shuffle ‘’I’m Leaving Town,’’ in which he and harmony singer Amber Casares sound like a latter-day Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. This is a solid record from a honky-tonker who means it.

Steve Morse

Freight Train Boogie

Stan Martin
Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey
Twangtone Records

3.5 out of 4 stars

If you are one of the many country music fans who think the music being played today on the so-called country radio stations sucks, then this new CD by Stan Martin is for you. This is also a CD for those who think the latest Dixie Chicks record is too modern and that George Strait is teetering on the cutting edge. In other words, Martin has basically turned in this love note to 50’s/60’s Nashville/Bakersfield country to the fans who remember what country music used to (and still should, damn it) sound like. All songs are by Martin and all proclaim their allegiance to classic country loudly. Guest Scott Joss lays down some tasty fiddle while Hank looks on and smiles and Merle thanks God someone has paid attention. This is the real deal, you classic country fans. If you like the old stuff and the new guys that do the old stuff better than the guys who actually did the old stuff, this stuff is for you. Now, stuff some money in your pocket and get this CD right away.

Reviewed by Scott Homewood

Take Country Back

Stan Martin
Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey
Twangtone Records

The projects of inner city South Boston sounds like the least likely place from where you’d expect to find a honky tonk hero emerge, but that’s exactly where Stan Martin is indeed from. You can check all pre-conceived notions at the door, because due partly to his mother’s musical background and partly to her love of the music of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and The Stanley Brothers, which nurtured her son’s love of the music, Stan Martin and Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey sound like they were lifted straight out of Bakersfield. Think the rockin’ honky tonk side of Dwight Yoakam or Merle Haggard.

Stan also plays a pretty mean Tele, and has received raves from such Texas guitar slingers as Jesse Taylor and the late Eddy Shaver. He’s far more subdued on it in the studio though, than he is live where he really cuts it loose. He’s also a strong songwriter who really knows his way around a great honky tonker, and penned all 12 songs on Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey.

Stan is joined in the studio by Tom Miller and Charlie Irwin on bass, Ducky Carlisle on drums, Tom Belliveau on pedal steel, Tom West on piano and 3B, Michael Peipman on trumpet, Amber Casares on harmony vocals...and speaking of Bakersfield and Dwight Yoakam, Dwight’s longtime sideman, fiddle player Scott Joss shows up for 7 of the disc’s tracks. And though Pete Anderson isn’t credited with anything directly, he is thanked for his “generosity, studio time and inspiration.”

Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey blasts out of the gate with twangy Tele in the opening track, the rocking honky tonker “(Walking On) The Wild Side Of Life.” Actually, “Honky Tonk Fever” (another of the disc’s tracks) dominates the album, with the shuffling Bakersfield sound of “Maybe Someday,” “Thinking You’re Wrong,” “Because Of You,” the outstanding high octane “I’m Leaving Town” and the bluesy grit of “I Got The Roadhouse Blues.” “Baby I’m Fine” is the marriage of Bakersfield honky tonk with some kitchy surfer rock

Stan slows things down in a few spots, though not by much, when he tackles songs of lost love. “Crying Over You,” though slower, still shuffles. The outstanding “Don’t Tell Me It’s Over” has a haunting and soaring melody that sounds a bit retro, where Stan uses subtle tempo changes, and adds a touch of Mexican mariachi-like trumpet. “Forever Ended With You” is a shuffling waltz, and the only bona fide barroom weeper on the disc would be the emotionally aching, “Not On Me.”

Stan has shared the stage with a long list of artists including Shaver, Jim Lauderdale, George Jones, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, Michael Nesmith, Wayne Hancock, Mojo Nixon, Little Jimmy Dickens, Charlie Pride, Loretta Lynn, Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart to name a few. Cigarettes & Whiskey is technically Stan Martin’s second official release. His first was 2001’s 5 song EP, Wicked Heart, that showed Stan to be more than ready to take the stage, front and center, on his own. Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey more than proves it, and Stan Martin has delivered one of the most solid albums of well written and excellently performed honky tonk, this side of Bakersfield (and quite possibly even within Bakersfield itself).

—AnnMarie Harrington

Rockzilla

Stan Martin
Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey
Twangtone Records

Few honky tonk records manage to make it from start to finish without falling into the traps of parody, irony, and outright lame schtick, or without veering into self-conscious alt.country drollness or slavish retro devotion to style over gray matter substance. Avoidance of all the usual traps makes Stan Martin’s Cigarettes and Cheap Whiskey a keeper debut album. Scary thing is that even though this is longtime Boston-area sideman Martin’s first full-length record, he makes it seem terribly easy. Most honky-tonk albums wear thin to my ear fairly quickly, but Cigarettes and Cheap Whiskey is the exception, sounding fresh and bearing up well after considerable repetition.

The multi-talented Martin, who does all the singing, lead guitar work, and songwriting, has a firm fix on country fundamentals. His guitar tone is Pete Anderson huge and his songwriting mines the stylistic and subject-matter traditions of the genre but never settles for trite lines and tired clichés. He also has managed a nice sequencing of the tracks so that a listener is never left with that “this one sounds like the last one” one-trick-pony feeling that dogs so many modern honky-tonk records.

With his booming Telecaster and powerful voice developed in the ten years he has been a member of one of Boston’s premier bar bands, The Merles, Martin’s originals like “(Walking On) The Wild Side of Life,” “Honky Tonk Fever” and “Thinking You’re Wrong” work the hard-country ground of Dwight Yoakam in his early Guitars, Cadillacs period, while Martin’s Roy-Orbison-on-steroids sound on “Don’t Tell Me It’s Over” seems to share a party line with Raul Malo and The Mavericks. Martin may be from Pepperell, Massachusetts, but he knows his sawdust floor country, his Western swing, his two-steps and his polka. He even bows toward the psycho-twang roadhouse roots rock of Webb Wilder on the slinky, echo-laden “Baby, I’m Gone.” Where I come from, that’s as good a formula as any for an atomic country album.

By William Michael Smith

Miles of Music

Stan Martin
Cigarettes & Cheap Whiskey
Twangtone Records

In 2001, Stan Martin released a tantalizing EP that left you wanting to hear more. Well, he has now delivered a full length that definitely proves to be most satisfying. On numbers like “(Walking On) The Wild Side Of Life” and “Maybe Someday”, Martin exhibits a case of “Honky Tonk Fever” (another of his songs) that brings to mind Dwight Yoakam. He shows off his guitar picking skills on the rocking country tunes “I’m Leaving Town” and “Baby I’m Gone”, while being just as adept on slower, more emotive songs like “Forever Ended With You”. This release demonstrates that the long-time sideman can really shine in the center stage spotlight too.