Talking To... Martyn Joseph

#N You're something of a troubadour, but Wales is your home. Is it nice knowing you've got the green grass to come back to?

#M [laughs] I guess it's more that this is where my family are, my wife my kids, the people that I love. I like visiting places, but I'm not always in a rush to get back. Wales has got a lot of problems too and there are beautiful places elsewhere. This is the place that I really wanted to stay. The only other place that came close was Canada. I'm proud of being Welsh, I sing about Wales a lot more. I've discovered more about the place in the last ten years or so. There's a lot of people that will sing the stories of Wales in the language of Wales, but there's fewer of us that do the Welsh history in the English language.

#N When you first started in music did you see yourself, twenty odd years down the line making a living from touring and recording?

#M That's a good question…To some extent I still want to have that big album, big single, not necessarily a number one. Maybe not have to work quite so hard to pay the bills. I could be assured that I could sell out bigger venues less often. I love it when an audience shows up. I'd like to create a Martyn Joesph shaped space in the world. I played New York the other night and if someone had told me that I'd be there in 2007 playing several years back I'd have probably laughed. There are days I get frustrated and don't fully understand, why I haven't yet hit that bigger audience regularly. Perhaps be a bit like a Christie Moore.

#N You're going out on tour supporting a live album. How do you think things like that will work going forward as you can now buy cds of the gig you've just been at, more or less as you walk out of the venue.

#M Oh yes I know. This album I had to record it, we record quite a lot of stuff. I wanted to get out. I'll do a proper tour later in the year, November time. It's part of how I keep the whole thing afloat. It's a good live album and there are great versions of tracks that people want. It was a special gig. Whilst we give a way a lot of music, this was too good for that to happen to. I think it's great that the situation changes. I think the idea of selling the gig you've just done is good for artist and band. It captures something for both groups. It's going to be very interesting to see what develops in the next ten years or so.

#N In terms of songwriting. What is the song that you would most like to have written and which is your song that you most feel deserves a bigger place in the world?

#M I think if I really had to be screwed down to just one song "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen. I do it occasionally, but I do it real slow. It's just the quality of that song. It's expression of youthful naivety. My song, that's really tough. "Dolphin's Make Me Cry". I think it's one that really sums me up as well as being such a beautiful song. It's emotional, without being too sentimental. No thinking about it, I'd go for a song called "Proud Valley Boy". It's a song about Paul Robeson, his links with the Welsh Valleys. Having said that if I were to hit a lamppost tonight, there's a song called "Cardiff Bay".

#N Apart from being a little bit bigger, what would you like to achieve?

#M I'd like a body of work that people will admire and that I'm happy with. Going back to death. If I were to suddenly stop would I be satisfied with what I left? The answer at the moment is know. There's too much dross in there that I still need to balance up with decent songs. There's a lot more songs in me, a lot more writing. I want to make albums that are more authentic. I've had some incredible moments, but there are still some very warm albums wanting to get out. I think my live body speaks for it's self, but there are albums that still need to catch up to those connections I've made to people. I guess you sort of live for the applause, though when it comes I can be embarrassed by it. You get letters and e-mail that show how much you touch people. It's humbling.

#N Cheers