Northern Renegades

February 28th 2008... TONY MARTYN

Making another appearance at our club, local singer Tony gave us a super non- stop show tonight covering no fewer than forty - six full length songs.


His concert covered lots of classics, some new songs and several not heard elsewhere on the circuit, all delivered in fine style, worthy of the enthusiastic applause our members conveyed.

Popular Country standards included ,Don Gibson's, Sea Of Heartbreak, and Oh Lonesome Me, Hank Williams', Your Cheatin' Heart, Ricky Van Shelton's, Life Turned Her That Way and Gene Watson's, Carmen.


Songs not heard very often also featured e g Steve Earl's, Sometimes She Forgets, Merle Haggards, The Old Man From The Mountain, George Strait's, Lead On, Marty Robbin's, Tonight Carmen, Gordon Lightfoot's, Ribbon Of Darkness, Hank Snow's, Big Wheels and three from Alan Jackson's catalogue, When Love Comes Around, Bluer Than That and If Love Was A River.


All the songs were ideal for dancers and listeners alike and my picks of the night were Vince Gill's, Love Never Broke Anyone's Heart and Marty Robbins' , My Woman, My Woman, My Wife. Fortunately, Tony's booked for more shows this year, and I for one eagerly look forward to them.


Cyril Insley

September 6th 2007... TONY MARTYN

It was an unscheduled appearance for Tony tonight as the original artistes booked had their equipment stolen from their van earlier in the day, so Tony replaced them at a minutes notice and gave us a show to savour.

As the vocal half of Double Barrel he is more than familiar with all aspects of country music, be it for dancing or just listening to and tonight his concert contained lots of old and new country all of which suited our members to a tee.

Tony freely admits his admiration for several country singer / songwriters the most popular being Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, and the late Marty Robbins and included lots of their songs not necessarily the most popular.

Tonght Merle's songs included, Today I Started Loving You Again, Swingin' Doors, The Farmers Daughter, and Big Wheels, Alan's were, Once In A Lifetime Love, Chattahoochie, and If Love Was A River and others, Vince's were, Little Lisa Jane and Love Never Broke Anyones Heart, and Marty's were, Singing The Blues, and Beggin' To You.

Other songs came from the catalogues of Hank Locklin / Send Me The Pillow etc., Geisha Girl, Keith Palmer / When I Close My Eyes, Brooks and Dunn, You're Gonna Miss Me etc., but my favourite of the night was a Jimmie Hodges 1940 classic, Someday ( You'll Want Me To Want You ) as recorded by Ricky Nelson , with Tony giving a perfect replica rendition. Several requests were fulfilled during the evening, two of them being end of show specials / The American Trilogy of Micky Newbury and Dave Sherriffs, Best Of Friends, both of which served to bring a super concert to a most enjoyable conclusion.

Cyril Insley

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