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Named after his grandfather, Frank Gayer, a Baptist preacher from Louisiana, Frank Gayer Martin was born in Houston in 1958. His family moved to Colorado Springs in 1965. Martin began playing guitar at 13 — a bit of black sheep in a family of classical musicians (mother, violin and viola; sisters, piano and cello).
After a year of engineering school in Wyoming, he returned to Colorado to play music full time and was soon swept up by friends into the music of Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard and the like. Too much Hee Haw at an early age, perhaps.
Martin later pursued photography and graphic design and has worked for newspapers, magazines and design agencies in the Roaring Fork Valley, his home since 1981. Martin played rock and roll and R & B for many years in the local dives, and continues to play with the Sirens, an eight-piece wedding and party band, as well as Matt Johnson and Boneyard. Martin performs his original music solo or with accompaniment including fiddle, mandolin, steel, bass and drums. He also well respected as a sideman with a unique and masterful style on electric and acoustic guitars as well as mandolin, slide and lap steel guitars.
In 2002 Martin finished 4th in the Songwriters Showcase at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival in Lyons, Colorado, and returned in 2003 to back Dan Sheridan along with Christian Theile and Marc Bruell. Martin released his first CD, In the Slanting Light, and has enjoyed radio play locally and in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Japan and New Zeeland.
Notable Performances
Opening Act for Flinner, Phillips & Grier, Beyond Bluegrass Series,
Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, 2004
Main Stage Rocky Mountain Folk Festival backing (electric guitar and lap steel)
Dan Sheridan, 2003
Main Stage Carbondale Mountain Fair, with band, 2003
Opening Act for David Grier and Mike Compton, Beyond Bluegrass Series,
Opening Act for Speak Truth to Power, An Evening with Kerry Cuomo Kennedy
with selections from the play, “Voices in the Dark,” Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, 2003
Finalist (4th) in the 2002 Songwriters Showcase, Rocky Mountain Folk Festival
Opening Act for Stacy Earl and Mark Stewart, Glenwood Springs, 2002
Opening Act (with Matt Johnson) for Tony Furtado, Carbondale, 2002
Soloist with the Olympic Torch Choir, Aspen, 2002
Opening act for Vance Gilbert, CCAH, 2000
Guitarist with CCAH band performing with Ernie Watts, Wheeler Opera House and Sopris Park
Recordings
Dan Sheridan, Small Town Love CD, electric guitar
Jan Garrett and J.D. Martin, I Dreamed of Rain CD, acoustic guitar and mandolin
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