Introducing Martin: Version 2

Guitar2

Last week, I celebrated my 30th birthday…and the week before that…there has been much celebrating. I’m happy for that because otherwise all I’m left to dwell on is that time keeps moving forward and my body keeps aging. In reality, I’m still pretty young and thanks to wonderful family and friends, my 30 years feel more like an achievement of some kind–a right of passage to gaining more life experience and wisdom as I grow.

Party4

The hard part of a new decade is parting with the old. My twenties, while filled with ups and downs, were great. I learned so much about myself. Ultimately, it was my decade of discovery. While I expect to learn new things about myself throughout my life, the latter half of my 20’s truly operated in self-discovery mode. I can’t say I was in a hurry to leave them behind. I like the fact that I never felt overly rushed or pressured–I had the blessed illusion of time at the very least.

The nice part of hitting a new milestone/decade is looking forward to the things to come–more freedom, more stability, new trips and opportunities, personal and career growth. I imagine my 30’s to be a decade of evolution and development, where all of these ideas/discoveries I’ve made along the way will suddenly begin to take shape in more concrete ways. I’ll start taking bolder risks and giving and taking better advice knowing what’s most important to me. My music has also been changing over the last decade.

Party

In my late teens, I had completed my first album Caged Angel, which was full of techno/pop/R&B influences–I played with every sound I could think of and had a blast with it. By 23, I toned it down and was writing singer/songwriter ballads inspired by my hopes and dreams and loves. I bought my first Martin Acoustic-Electric Guitar at 24-ish and for 6 years, we have been through the heartache and the joy of self-discovery together. I wrote from the heart so many times with this guitar. I played my first show with Left on Vermont and countless after that. It’s the guitar of my 20’s without a doubt.

Enter: Martin, version 2. To celebrate the commencement of my new decade, my dear husband gave me a gorgeous Nowhere Bear guitar strap and the guitar of my 30’s to go along with it. I immediately fell in love with this guitar (so much that I started crying the second I opened the case). It’s a vintage special-edition model with rosewood, mahogany and spruce woods, pearl inlays, and gold tuners. It even has electronics built into the guitar to keep the aesthetic smooth and gorgeous. And most importantly, it has the most beautiful sound of any guitar I’ve heard. It’s clear, crisp, and bright without being tinny and has an impressive low register for its size. It’s simply perfect for singer/songwriter stuff and it’s a better fit size-wise for me than Martin V1. We played for a couple of hours right when I opened it and I’ve started to resurrect lyrics into new songs and re-writing old songs just because I’m playing it. How often does a new tool land in your hands that inspires you to create just because you’re holding it? Maybe it’s because it feels like I’m holding a piece of art to make art.

Here is Martin (v2) that you will undoubtedly hear in my future recordings:
Guitar