Gridley resident Marty Martin said his musical “glory days are over,” but they’re at the forefront again as he was named one of 12 inductees in the Western Swing Society’s 2012 Hall of Fame.
The singer, songwriter and guitarist made time from his return to singing in public to receive the award in Sacramento.
The honor is for people “who have put their whole life into it,” Martin, 66, said.
The Hall of Fame honors individuals who have contributed significantly to the preservation and promotion of western swing dance. The Western Swing Society was established in Sacramento in 1981.
Martin performed with bands and made recordings for decades, fitting it in around his work as carpenter and a Teamster.
“Unless you hit it big, you don’t have retirement in music,” he said. As a Teamster, he received benefits and retirement for his family.
He returned to performing recently after not singing for more than a year while recovering from the death of his second wife. Now he sings often at the Gridley Moose Lodge, Stan’s bar and private events.
The musician, born Larry Leon Martin, started singing with his family in their church in Pleasant Plains, Ark., and later with his sister in talent contests and on a weekly radio program.
After graduating from high school and serving in the U.S. Army — where he was the lead singer for an R&B band — and marrying his first wife, he started performing with Big John and the Western Ramblers before moving to California.
He worked as a carpenter for 14 years and as a Teamster for 20, also playing music five nights a week — lead singer for several bands including his own, the Marty Martin Magic Four, appearing on television shows and recording songs in Nashville, Tenn., including “That’s All She Wrote” and “Number One Man.”
Martin is backed by the Jordanaires, known for working with Elvis Presley, on the USS Records single “That’s All She Wrote.”
He even had his own booth at the CMA Music Fan Fair in 1974, next to Charley Pride and Charlie Walker.
Martin said he was offered a multiyear contract by Buck Owens.
But, “I didn’t want to leave my job. …I’m a family man,” he said. “It would have taken me from my family for eight to nine months a year.”
And it would have been “jump when he (Owens) hollered,” Martin added. “I made the right decision.”
A resident of Vacaville since 1976, he retired to Gridley in 2004 to care for his second wife, Patty. She died in 2009 after 37 years of marriage.
He resumed singing, he said, to combat the loneliness and depression he felt.
“I knew I would get ill,” he said. “That’s why I got back into music,” starting at the Gridley Moose Lodge.
“I was getting my feet wet to see if I wanted to do it,” he said.
Martin met his new wife, Mary Jayne Murphy, 47, in July 2010, while singing karaoke at Stan’s in Gridley. She liked his voice and asked for CDs to play from her father’s FM radio station in Sutter.
They were married June 4 this year. She brings three children and a grandchild to his existing family that includes two daughters and six grandchildren.
“As long as I can play music and I get someone to listen, I’ll play it,” he said. “I’ll always play it at home.”
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