(Photo by Christoph Lixenfeld)
Why Music?
I have been playing music since my teenage years.
I took a degree in orchestral percussion but then decided to be a drummer, recording (an early album for Folkways Records) and touring with Rock n’Roll, Pop, Jazz, Funk, Latin bands, sometimes adding backing vocals from behind the drums. I moved to England in pursuit of fame and fortune, tought music at various colleges, played Bracknell Jazz and other festivals, recorded for the BBC and toured through England, Ireland and continental Europe.
I also started to write songs, took courses in songwriting at the two universities in Bath, and learned to play guitar. Eventually I mothballed my drums -I still keep a complete kit, just in case- moved back to Germany and decided to concentrate on guitar playing, singing and songwriting. Some say it’s only because a guitar is so much easier to carry.
This is certainly true, and I do enjoy gigs in clubs, occasionally even without a PA, where I can just walk in, open my guitar case and my mouth – and we have music. But the other reason is, when it comes to music, what really gets under my skin is a good song. Never mind clever arrangements, it’s the song that counts.
I have been teaching songwriting at several institutions in the country, and for many years I ran the award-winning “Schiller Songwriter Stage” for singers / songwriters: only original music allowed, hand made and presented without electronics.
Nowadays I play solo, my own songs and some carefully chosen, dismantled and newly re-constituted classic songs by some of the greats. Some of these can be found under “Songs”, I hope you enjoy them.
At the end of 2021 I published an album of my own songs and two of my favourites by the greats: Flyin’ Shoes by Townes van Zandt and Easy Money by Ricky Lee Jones – Martin Lixenfeld, Catch Me (Prosodia Records). I arranged, played all instruments and sang everything myself. Here is the Spotify Link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3ivhkLuXw6wCQ5aF84o1wX
Why write and sing in English and why American Music?
I grew up in Germany, at a time when the country was technically still under occupation following the war, the North-West under British occupation. This was a very amiable affair between occupier and occupied, for the British squaddies it was a very easy and comfortable time, so they enjoyed being in Germany, und for us, the occupied – we had BFBS radio, the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
The BFBS supplied me and my teenage friends with a wildly exotic musical fare, certainly compared to the record collections of our parents and my younger sister. The high priests of this new religion were their DJs John Peel, (whispering) Bob Harris, Alan Bangs and others. They played Cliff Richard, The Beatles, The Stones, American Blues, Southern Rock, and stuff I could then not even begin to name (The Nice! Genesis!), oh, it was just too exciting!
Later, as I started learning the craft of writing songs, I became more and more interested in songs by some singers / songwriters who had a particular style of telling stories in song. Very reduced music, mainly acoustic accompaniment and storytelling. And they were American, mostly from Texas or Tennessee, people like Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark et al, following a tradition that goes back a long way and can be traced to many places all over the world, wherever the immigrants to America came from.
The music that fascinates me most is now referred to as Americana, the particular American musical styles and traditions, which are nevertheless still very much alive. I would locate my musical style and my musical interests somewhere between Americana, Alternative Country and Folk music.
Here a little bit more about American Music, if you are interested:
https://martinlixthesinger.com/american-music/