kip martin - ProfilesArchive

About Me

first and foremost, i am a Sunny Mountain Boy, having toured with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass. i was with him longer than any bass player in 17 years. although i've played extensively across the US and throughout Europe with several nationally and internationally known acts and artists, my tour of duty with Jimmy Martin was the single most memorable musical experience of my life.

another Sunny Mountain Boy, Paul Craft, once asked me if i thought about Jimmy Martin every day. i thought briefly, then said, "As a matter of fact, I do!" Paul replied, "Me too!" a quick survey of the many Sunny Mountain Boys i have come to know (we are like a club or fraternity) reveals Paul and i are not alone in our understanding of the importance of Jimmy Martin in our lives. i love Jimmy Martin.

thanks to Pricilla Warnock for use of the picture.

in addition to my stint with Jimmy Martin, some of my musical credits include performing and/or recording with Ric Ocasek, Chris Jones, Stan Martin, Mike Auldridge, Norman Wright, Dudley Connell, Darren Beachley, JoDee Messina, Kitty Wells, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

i also love the Seldom Scene. here's me with them on banjo...

My Interests

music, literature, linguistics, writing, technology, conspiracies (in your heart, you KNOW they're true!!), bad (Dude, Where's My Car?) and good movies (Last Picture Show), sci-fi, comedy, politics:

"We were asked to give up our freedoms and let them do what they needed to [after 9/11] and we zipped our lips and gave up challenging them because they had a 'difficult job'. And it sure was good timing for them." --Robert Redford

the 'Toltecs', theology, philosophy, tattoos, Britain, iceland, getting my GED, incredible people...

springer spaniels, kitsch/bad art, South/Central American religious art, popsicles, humor...

rural american musicians and performers, the civil war, stereo gear, theoretical physics...

performance art and installations, duplex planet, linguistics, appalachian ethnology, Mars, and YouTube...

I'd like to meet:

My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ...

...Stephen Hawking, George Harrison, Thomas Merton, James Joyce, Stori, Buddha, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Albert Ellis, Brian Wilson, Carlos Castenada, Don Miguel Ruiz, Robert E. Lee, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith...

Jerry Garcia, Dave Chappell, and Rita (Ding! Ding!)...

Music:

the Beatles, the Byrds, the Band, Tony Rice, Cheap Trick, Lee Rocker, Lonesome River Band, Carlos Santana, Mingus, Patty Loveless, Flatt and Scruggs, Buck Owens and Don Rich...

John Coltrane, John Duffey, Charlie Waller, Mike Munford, Doyle Lawson, Hank Williams, Sr., Del McCoury, Prince, Steve Earle, Horrorpops...

AC/DC, Brian Setzer, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Earle, Los Lobos, Elvis, Zep, John Coltrane, James McMurtry, Jerry Lee Lewis...

McCoy Tyner, JD Crowe, Jaco Pastorius, Sting, the Band, Jimmy Smith, Jack Ingram, Allman Bros, Sonny Rollins, John Mellencamp, the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Page...

Pearl Jam, Longview, Red Allen, Mike Nesmith, Poco, Joey DeFrancescao, Lou Reid and Carolina, Metallica, Mike Bub, Marshall Crenshaw, Jimmy Smith, Charlie Moore, Phil Lesh, the Dead...

Johnny Cash, Stan Martin, Tom Petty, the 1976 New South, Bill Yates, Government Mule, Frank Zappa, Poco, Dudley Connell, the Ramones...

Buckcherry, Dwight Yoakam, Bruce Hornsby, Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard, Marshall Wilborn, the Seldom Scene, Van Halen, Vince Gill, and this guy...

Movies:

Star Wars, JFK, Men In Black, An Inconvenient Truth, anything by Werner Herzog, Nosferatu, Lonesome Dove, Mad Max, 39 Steps and anything by Alfred Hitchcock, Dude Where's My Car?, the Star Trek movies, anything by Akira Kurisawa, Hud, Walk the Line, Will Ferrel movies, Mr. Bean, the Conversation, High Lonesome, the Last Waltz, The Matrix Trilogy, Napoleon Dynamite...

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the Matrix movies, Crouching Tiger, Car Wash, Chuck Norris...

James Bond, Pink Panther, Last Picture Show, Seven Samurai, Woodstock, Last Waltz, Night of the Living Dead, the Rob Zombie movies.

Television:

Lost, Jericho, Eureka, the Office, the Simpsons, Andy Griffith, David Letterman, Big Bang Theory, Chappelle Show, the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson...

Jericho, Ken Burns, any old Seinfeld or Drew Cary episode, all those Star Trek shows, Deadwood, and...thats about it. TV is addictive.

Books:

the Bible, the 'Big Book', C.S. Lewis, Jack Kerouac, Lonesome Dove, Getting Your GED, Lord of the Rings, the Four Agreements, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, I Me Mine, the Purpose Driven Life, Melville, James Joyce...

Ray Bradbury, Charles Bukowski, 12x12, Isaac Asimov, Guide to Rational Living, Jazz histories...

No Ordinary Time, the Bhagavad Gita, any bios about the Beatles, Elvis, and Dylan.

Heroes:

George Harrison, Geoff Firebaugh, Marshall Wilborn, Berry Oakley, Mark Fain, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Moore, George Harrison, Jesse Ventura, Ray Brown, Paul McCartney, Bob Moore, Billy Graham, Jerry Scheff, Al Gore, Jimmy Garrison, Mike Bub, Jim Garrison and Oliver Stone, FDR, Roy Husky Jr., JD Crowe...

Marcus Miller, John Wesley, Missy Raines, Sting, Roger Clemens, Bill Black, Jaco Pastorius, Joe Zinkan, Jeff Lynne, Herman Melville, Ron Block, Carlos Casteneda, Paul of Tarsis, Dr. Bob Smith, Ebby, Bill Wilson, David Mustaine, Brenda Lee, Doyle Lawson, Norman Wright, Merle Haggard, Noel Grzech, and my dad--a preacher who first introduced me to my biggest hero, Jesus Christ.

My Blog

extra solar planets

Astronomers have discovered a record-breaking 5th planet around the nearby star 55 Cancri, making it the only star aside from the sun known to have 5 planets. it's approximately 41 light years away, w...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:23:00 PST

help a starving musician in nashville

i need a Gibson J200 (Sunburst), a flat panel TV, an old epiphone upright bass, an underwood transducer, the Matrix movies on DVD, an XBox, a motorola Q set up for verizon, a mint pre-owned BMW, a Red...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:08:00 PST

anyone seen JD Simo?

aloha from Nashville! has anyone else been absolutely floored by the tele playing of JD Simo with the Don Kelly Band at Roberts Western World in Nashville? hes a 22 year old guy from Arizona who wear...
Posted by kip martin on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:41:00 PST

watching the conservative ship sink

Remember when liberals were equated with communists? Some still call us names left over from the early Reagan years. But communist? I dont think so. I love making money, am a TOTAL believer ...
Posted by kip martin on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 01:27:00 PST

Illegal Immigration Rant .2

In the 1840s, a huge influx of 13.1 million Protestant Irish immigrants came into the United States. Most Americans at that time believed the Irish brought disease, low morals, violent temperaments, l...
Posted by kip martin on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:09:00 PST

Just More Telemarketer Stuff

If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you sure could use some money to help get you through your prison stay. When the telemarketer says, "Hi, my name is Jud...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:51:00 PST

my bass equipment

Upright Basses- 1917 (?) John Juzek: Prague-built, 3/4 w/ Obligatos, Revolution transducer- American Standard: #660 w/ SuperSilver E-A, Golden Tone D-G, Realist transducer- American Standard: #27...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:35:00 PST

Neocon Nation: Wake Up You Morons!!

I guess I'm a liberal now. I used to be a libertarian, but I find I agree with hard line liberals more than my republican friends. Seems they've decided it's time to stop thinking and all they can do ...
Posted by kip martin on Fri, 11 May 2007 01:25:00 PST

I'm Sick of Bluegrass

I am growing weary of bluegrass, its asphyxiation owing to conservative sameness, and its self-imposed lack of vision, open-mindedness, and creativity. And I'm MOST tired of the debate surro...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 02 May 2007 09:49:00 PST

The Anglican Nutcase Thing

Currently, the Episcopal Church is going through some tough times. And the Methodists are about to suffer through the same thing. Maybe the Presbyterians, too. In the late 90s, an Episcopal Dio...
Posted by kip martin on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:28:00 PST