Craig J Martin

Craig J Martin, Nashville singer songwriter most noted for writing Tim McGraw's first number one song "Don't Take The Girl" The former Mercury/Polygram recording artist also penned Western Flyer's chart topper "What Will You Do With M-E" And many others. CMA Nominee 3 times, ACM Nominee 2 times. Member of BMI 2 million airplays club. Has reached Platinum 1 million sales 15 times over. Admits that the highlight of his songwriting career so far is hearing George Jones sing Craigs song "Dyin Day"
Born and raised in McMechen, West Virginia (Marshall County) It began when he was 8 years old, at Christmas. Craig’s older brother (by two years) got a guitar for Christmas from his father. It only took a day for his brother to get bored with the gift, so to save his Dad’s feelings Craig picked it up. From that moment on, he couldn’t put it down. He taught himself how to play and not long after, started writing songs. Craig’s love for music progressed the older he got. At fifteen he started a band and played in honky tonks and bars that performed regularly in West Virginia, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky. At the age of eighteen, he put the music aside and took a job in the North Hall unit in the maximum security penitentiary in Moundsville, WV. There he stayed for five years. After he realized that the corrections life wasn’t what he wanted, Craig packed up and moved to Nashville and was immediately taken under the wings of hit songwriters and artists alike. Craig played for tips for a year or more at Hound Dogs Hot Dogs Stand on Music Row with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw before any of the three established a name for themselves. From there, Craig was noticed by Mercury/Polygram Records and signed to a recording deal. After a year of working on a slow moving album project, and disputes between him and the label of song selection he decided to leave the label and concentrate on song writing. At that time, Tim McGraw was recording his second album and asked Craig if he could record a song that Mercury Records wouldn’t let Craig record. The song was “Don’t Take The Girl”. You can imagine how his song writing career exploded after that. “Don’t Take The Girl” was Craig’s first number one song as a writer and Tim McGraw’s first number one song as an artist, And has been determined now to be within the top 5 selling country singles of all time. The hot dog stand days paid off! Craig went on to write other songs for artist’s such as; Western Flyer, George Jones, Clinton Gregory, Lee Ann Womack, Cledus T Judd and others. He has been nominated three times for CMA awards, twice for ACM awards, is a member of BMI’s 2 million airplays club. His songs have appeared in television shows, and on albums in excess of 15 million sales.His new CD entitled “Let Him Walk You Home” can be purchased or downloaded now at www.craigjmartinmusic.com.