Now a special announcement. In cooperation with Dennis Newhall from K-Zap dot org, we are starting a series of posts focused on Sacramento blues legend Mick Martin’s massive body of work.

Mick was the heart of the blues in Sacramento. He was the co-founder of the Sacramento Blues Society and released/appeared on over 40 albums and compilations- starting in the 1960’s with the band Joshua and performing into the 2020’s with hs band the Blues Rockers.

Mick passed away last year at the age of 76 years old. Today would have been his 77th birthday.

We will be releasing 2 Mick audio documents every 2 weeks, for the next 11 months- that’s how long it will take to put up his massive body of work! We still don’t know what to call the series- Months of Mick? Multitudes of Mick? Or maybe just something like the Mick Martin Memorial series.

Huge thanks to Mindy Giles for providing the majority of material for this project.

I figured it would be good to start with these 2: a “best of” which highlights his career, plus the Joshua demo from the 60’s, where it all started. Enjoy.

More images, liner notes, etc at sacramento music archive dot com- search for Mick Martin

Recorded by: The band
Extract and prep for upload by Shayne Stacy
From Mindy Giles and Dennis Newhall’s collections

Joshua- Demo 1960’s featuring Mick Martin xfer f/band archive tapes Psychedelic Blues

This is the one that started it all for Mick Martin- the band Joshua.

Here is what Mick had to say about it (taken from a Sacramento News and Review interview): “The first band of significance was called Joshua. We played at the Fillmore and we were a psychedelic band, but we were doing blues.”

The band was:
Mick Martin- Lead Vocals and Harmonica
Wayne Smith- Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ray Halverson- Lead Guitar
Larry Sherwood- Bass and Back-up Vocals
Rick Yarrison- Drums

Recorded by: The band
Extract and prep for upload by Shayne Stacy
From Mindy Giles and Dennis Newhall’s collections