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I don't want to be redundant with the news of my friend Reed Martin's passing on Monday, and hope the moderators allow this, but wanted to hopefully open things up a little more to encourage sharing of any memories and encounters of Reed, this per his families request. This seemed like a good place to try and collect a few memories of Reed.
I can hopefully start things by sharing what I posted on Facebook and Instagram about Reed, I have been largely avoiding social media even including BH for the most part during the past couple years, but had to share this.
I lost a great friend on Monday, he's been on my mind a lot these past couple years as he wrestled with the growing impact of Alzheimer's, which I believe also took his mother, father and sister. I wasn't quite ready to publicly talk about him until just now, so I spent a fair amount of time on the phone since I heard from his family yesterday letting mutual friends know and of course many memories and stories came to our minds. Reed Martin was one of the most memorable and talented people I've met in my lifetime, as he lived his life with great enthusiasm, gusto and intent. He was genuinely interested in people, and a whole lot of other things, and was the best clawhammer banjo player I've ever heard. He was a collector of the first order, not only of material things such as vintage banjos, antique automobiles, spark plugs, circus giant rings, and miniature engines, but more importantly with a real focus on the stories of the people that owned, made and used those items. He was a wonderful collector of stories and rare old fiddle and banjo tunes, and could play those tunes in the unique styles of many of the best old players. As a young green banjo builder, he played the first little fretless Stanley Hicks style banjo I made in 1975 when I first visited him, and encouraged me enough that day that between him and Bob Buckingham's encouragement I am still at it almost 50 years later. Reed also was a great encourager of our son Russ, among with many, many other young and older players he impacted. I have met a great number of people either directly or indirectly through Reed, some of whom I treasure that became real friends. Reed would call, and say you have to be here on Thursday, the such and such at 11:00 am, because somebody special (like Jimmy McCown, or Jeremy Stevens, or Bob Anderson) is going to be here, and you need to meet them! And so I did rearrange my life a little bit, and meet them I did.. Russ and I had many adventures with Reed, including road trips, music camps, antique auto shows, flea markets, miniature engine shows, and other on and off the wall activities... I don't know what the final plans will be to honor Reed's memory yet, but will be talking with some of his family tomorrow and hope to share them as it gets worked out. We do encourage those of you who knew him well or had a special encounter to write down some of your memories so that they may be shared with his family and friends, and I'll try and gather a copy of everything I see to be shared with his family. A friend (Chris Curran) has been working very hard to collect every recorded thing he can find of Reed's playing during the past several years, and I am hopeful that some of that special music will be able to be shared with the public and Reed's many fans at some point in the future. I will surely miss him.
Was so saddened to hear of Reeds passing. I didn't know him very well at all, but I did contact him the day of, and with his permission recorded the house concert he gave at Scott Killops house in Portland that I eventually posted on Youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=i0RGNafyod0&t=2495s
Being a 3 finger style player I wasn't much interested with clawhammer style playing but hearing Reeds version of "Off to California" totally spun my head around. Anyway, I was so pleased that he let me set up and tape his show (in Scotts very cramped living room).
Biggest surprise came a day or two later when my phone rang and out of the blue it was Reed! He just wanted to call and chat, see how I was doing, I could't believe it! I had a VW bug at the time and we talked a little bit about the foibles of those cars and he shared a little of his adventures driving around the country in one he had years ago. Anyway, a cherished memory for me, deepest condolences to his family and to you Glenn and Russ as I know you were like family.
Off to California: youtube.com/watch?v=SKD6JbIBu5s
Very end of this video, the little handshake: youtube.com/watch?v=RlQW4AKRJO4
Reed was a rarity in the musical instrument/banjo world!
There was no limit to his kindness, generosity and hospitality!
I called to buy one of his CDs many years ago...
We chewed the fat on many things banjo, etc.
One thing led to another and before I could say thank you and good-bye....
Reed had invited me to his home to look at some of the banjos in his amazing collection!
Reed's love of the banjo was only surpassed by his love for those who shared his
passion for the instrument. How many lives were made richer by Reed's willingness to
share his knowledge and expertise!
Thinking about Reed today..... I am reminded of a line from Shakespeare:
"If music be the food of love, play on."
Edited by - Mark Douglas on 10/02/2024 15:08:36
Glenn, I know that Reed had many stories about his experiences at festivals and having to be resourceful in dealing with a lack of facilities in those days ( he didn't mind telling you that many gas station bathrooms were used for shaving and getting cleaned up when that's all that was available).
Moreover, his sense of humor was priceless!
I sure hope you will share some of the anecdotes that Reed might have related to you! I'm sure the folks here will enjoy reading them.
Edited by - Mark Douglas on 10/02/2024 16:43:07
I too received the sad news about Reed. Reed and I shared interests in banjos and antique cars. He was a master storyteller and regardless of the topic, they were worth retelling, which I often do. If you ever got a tour of his house and the collection of amazing items he had, you couldn’t help but be amazed. Not only were they interesting, but the story of how he found them was even more interesting. I have to agree that he was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known.
Hey Glenn - sorry to hear about Reed's passing. I was unfamiliar with his playing until Pete and I visited you a few years back, and you gave me one of his CDs. To say that I was floored by that album is an understatement! He sounded comfortable at any speed and I loved the tune choices. it sounds like he was a pretty special person too. Thanks for introducing me to his playing - I'm sorry that I never got to meet him.
I never met Reed. But when I was first learning how to play the banjo, my instructor loaned me a few of those clawhammmer compilation CDs and encouraged me to take some more out of the library (remember when you could do that?). He said I should just listen to them, and write the track numbers down of what I like best, what like in my tier two and so on. Then I would have an “unbiased” opinion on my favorite players and could listen to them more and figure out what they did stylistically.
I did this. Every track in my “favorite” column was a Reed Martin tune or another player who has publicly cited Reed Martin as an influence. I purchased his yellow CD and have been a fan ever since. Thanks Reed. Also, thank you Glen for sharing stories of him. I’m sorry for your loss.
Here is a one hour performance by Reed from 2000. He really shows that he was a good entertainer and an excelent banjo player: https://youtu.be/CDZ0I2my_Ps
From Reed's family re a celebration of life for Reed. We want to spread the word that the grandkids WILL be working to organize an In person music/stories gathering, probably at Glen Echo, when it warms up in the spring. Stay tuned. Glenn
Also, my son has some video's I filmed with Reed at his home in 2002 on his Youtube channel you might enjoy.
youtube.com/watch?v=9KaDqNC_a3E
youtube.com/watch?v=3znScniAxHE
youtube.com/watch?v=AVpf4UCmpms
youtube.com/watch?v=IqrLzJXpkg0&t=736s
I met Reed Martin at a house party during the 1974 National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap. I had just started playing banjo and some well-connected friends in my home town made the trip to the festival and found accommodations on various living room floors. My eyes and ears were wide open for influences, and it was a real privilege to hang out with some great players. At the evening party, the unassuming Reed sat himself down at the dining room table with a pipe in his mouth and proceeded to play the cleanest, most intricate clawhammer banjo I have heard to date. He was quite personable and responded to my request for the few tunes I knew then.
Reed was playing a fancy Tubaphone with a resonator, but the head was stuffed with some sort of foam that was custom-fit to look like it was meant to be that way. At the time, I didn't quite understand why he would play a banjo renowned for having such presence of sound, and then dampen the thing with foam. Having been away from banjo music for so long, it was a real treat to stumble across and watch the house concert video done by Jeff Wold, mentioned above.