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Martin Simpson




Over the next ten years he became more and more adventurous, playing blues, bluegrass, cajun and even Indian-inflected music. "Cool and Unusual" (1997) lived up to its title. Several admired guitarists joined him on this all-instrumental album, including David Lindley . "A Closer Walk With Thee" presented Christian hymns. "Smoke and Mirrors" was such a confident display of blues, that some people thought he was American. Not until 1999 did he record several of his own compositions on "Bootleg USA". He founded a record label called "High Bohemia". Perhaps suffering from homesickness, he visited the UK in 1994, recording "Martin Simpson Live" in Oxford . In 1999 he was a session musician for an album by Welsh singer Julie Murphy. "The Bramble Briar" (2001) was a turn to basics, a collection of British traditional folk songs.

Martin has written guitar instruction books and recorded DVD guitar tutorials. His career came full circle in 2003 when he teamed up with June Tabor again. In 2004 he surprised everyone by performing at a gig in Nettlebed , Oxford, where he played banjo all evening, without touching a guitar. A readers' poll of the magazine "Acoustic Guitar" voted him as number 12 in the world in 2005.

Jessica Ruby Simpson is not related to the more famous pop singer Jessica Ann Simpson (born 1980).


DISCOGRAPHY



Solo albums

  • Golden Vanity (1976)

  • Special Agent (1981)

  • Grinning In Your Face (1983)

  • Sad or High Kicking (1985)

  • Leaves of Life (1990) - instrumental.

  • When I Was On Horseback (1992)

  • A Closer Walk With Thee (1993) - instrumentals, mainly gospel,

  • Red Roses

  • Smoke and Mirrors

  • Motherless Child (1996)

  • Cool and Unusual (1997) - mainly British traditional ballads.

  • Live (recorded 1994, Oxford) (1997)

  • Bootleg USA (1999)

  • The Bramble Briar (2001)

  • Righteousness and Humidity (2003) - collection of american blues, played on acoustic and steel guitar, amd banjo.

  • Kind Letters (2005)



Collaborations

Martin and Jessica Ruby Simpson.
  • Truth Dare or Promise (1987)

  • Band Of Angels (1996)


Martin Simpson, Jessica Radcliffe and Lisa Ekstrom.
  • Beautiful Darkness (2001)


Other compilations
  • The Collection (1994)

  • The Definitive Martin Simpson (2005)



Martin Simpson as session musician

  • June Tabor: Ashes And Diamonds (1977)

  • June Tabor: A Cut Above (1980)

  • June Tabor: Abyssinians (1983)

  • Albion: Lark Rise To Candleford (1980)

  • Julie Murphy: Black Mountain Revisited (1999)

  • Chris Leslie: The Flow (2002)

  • June Tabor: An Echo of Hooves (2003)

  • June Tabor: At The Wood's Heart (2005)



DVDs

  • Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals - Martin Simpson Vol 1 (1993)

  • Instrumentals 2 (2005)

  • Martins 4 --- (2005)

  • In Concert At The Freight and Salvage (Berkeley, Californmia) (2005)




Book

  • ''Cool and Unusual: Creative Fingerstyle Guitar Solos'' (2000).