Layng Martine Jr. - Music Man

The occasion is Music Man, the wonderful new album by veteran Nashville based songwriter Layng Martine Jr.. A long-time dream project instigated by his son, Portland Oregon based super-producer Tucker Martine. A new Tucker Martine production is in itself an event due to his track record. His studio, Flora Recording and Playback has brought us wonderful albums by the likes of My Morning Jacket, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, Case/Lang/Viers, The Decemberists, M. Ward and Laura Veirs (who happens to be his wife as well as one of the country's most underrated artists) among many others. Layng is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and has quite the track record as a workingman songwriter (Elvis Presley's last-ever session included a Layng Martine Jr. Song) and quite the fine voice himself. You can add in the Father/Son part of the story, which is alway an interesting dynamic, but the cherry on top of it all is that the album is a damned fine record. Period.