Samantha Martin has soul. It’s obvious from the moment the rural Ontario hometown girl opens her mouth. Whether she’s belting out country-tinged blues numbers with her band The Haggard, or trading stories from behind the bar, it’s apparent Martin has the music of years-gone-by coursing through her veins. Listening to her music, you can hear the dust and gravel of long, late-night road trips through nondescript towns and feel the dirt of a hard-days work under your nails.
One of the rising stars in Toronto’s roots-rock scene, Martin and her band can be seen frequently on stage at The Dakota Tavern and are now revving up for a weekly residence in the lounge of the Drake Hotel, playing every Tuesday night in August. On top of all that there’s a new album on the way — with one album already under her belt (her solo debut Back Home), this marks the first recording with The Haggard as her backing band. We bellied up to the bar with Martin to talk about her roots and where she’s planning on branching out to next.
Can you talk about how you got started?
I was a kid. My dad played guitar, so I’d sit on his lap and sing the songs as he played them. Then, when I was seven, he bought me a guitar. It was a really fancy three-quarter size electric guitar; it was white and had a sh**y amp. It was an electric because I told my dad I was sick and tired of playing country music and wanted to learn some rock and roll, therefore needed to have an electric guitar. So he bought me one. I remember the first lessons I ever took: I ended up teaching my teacher all these blues riffs and stuff that my dad had taught me. So that was the end of the lessons — I was on my own from there on out, when dad found out I was teaching my teacher. The first time I ever played live was probably when I was about 21 and I was living in Owen Sound. After a karaoke contest that I lost, I was invited to check out an open jam at The Harb. I got up and I sang “Piece of My Heart” by Janis Joplin and the band totally butchered it. They totally butchered it. I knew all the words and I was determined that would not be my last time with a live band. It was super fun, but they totally wrecked it. So I went back week after week and slowly we started writing more and doing my duo shows and stuff like that.
So how did you hook up with The Haggard?
It’s kind of a funny story. I was originally playing in a band that I dubbed Samantha Martin and the Mother Truckers. Some members of the Mother Truckers ditched me on a gig and so I was recording at the time with Derek Downham of The Beauties. The engineer took off, so I was freaking out because there were already people that ditched me for the gig and Derek was like “well, I know a guy who can do it!” And I’d never met Mikey before but he walked in the door and with never having a rehearsal I just gave him a list of the songs that we were going to do and he showed up and killed it. He was really, really good. I instantly not only fell in love with his guitar playing but started dating him shortly after (laughs). I went to see him play in his other band The Kensington Hillbillys and met Pete and Greg, asked them if they would be interested in playing a few shows with me, and they accepted, and the rest is history.
Is the album you were talking about the one you’re about to release?
That was my release in April of 2008. The one that we’re working on right now is with The Haggard. That was sort of the solo record; there were a lot of session-style musicians. Derek played a lot of the instruments on the first record. This one we had very few session musicians come in because we wanted this new record to sound more like the band live. One song on the album has a horn section. Yeah, it totally sounds great, but we’ve never had a horn section since. So with all the fun things you do when you’re recording, it’s really expensive to reproduce live. So until we start playing Massey Hall, I won’t be able to afford a horn section (laughs).
Is it coming out soon?
Well we’re going to release four or five songs that are going on the album—just different mixes—in October. So we’re going to release an EP of the songs and then the second mix will end up in February and that’s a 12-song disc.
Are you going to tour on it?
Oh, you better believe we are. I’ve been meaning to go on tour for years now, but it just wasn’t practical considering we, as a band, didn’t have a record out yet. We’ve been together almost four years as this band — I met them after I released Back Home, which was great because all of a sudden I could play shows and I have a band. So the first two years were spent promoting the first record. I learned a lot promoting the first record, about all my weaknesses as far as my marketing skills go. I’ll be the first to promote myself, but knowing how to promote yourself effectively is something you learn through trial and error — unless you hire somebody.
So you’re doing it all yourself now?
No, no… we’re hiring somebody.
Can we talk about your sound? What sort of songs do you get your inspiration from vocally?
I love bluegrass. I love blues and soul music… and country music as well, but less so vocally. The soul and blues is where I draw a lot of my influences. But rock and roll is fun and it’s a blend of everything. So that’s kind of what this band has become. It started out as a country band, playing honky tonk kind of country and they helped me hone in vocally what works best for me and it was rock and roll. (laughs)
Recommended track: “Truckers Daughter”
Samantha Martin & The Haggard are:
Samantha Martin: Vocals and guitar
Mikey McCallum: Lead guitar
“Lucky” Pete Lambert: Drums and harmonies
Greg “Craw-daddy” Sweetland: Bass