Doug Martsch
“NEWSFLASH! Indie guitar godhead Doug Martsch, having grown tired of the fast-paced corporate Idaho lifestyle, has relocated to the backwoods of Lou’sana (or Mizzou, depending on your sources), and decided to re-learn his chosen instrument from scratch. To accomplish this feat, he has studied under a succession of colorfully nicknamed Delta bluesman like “No-Toes” Willie Green and “Hodag” Rufus Dillingham. Martsch was last seen wearing denim overalls and a straw hat, sitting on a log in an undisclosed swampy location, plucking on a banjo with a half-empty jug marked “XXX” resting by his side.
Indeed, Doug Martsch has made his blues album. Since 1993, Martsch has been kicking out poptastic classic rock with his full-time unit Built to Spill, crafting crazily infectious hooks and ripping Malmsteen solos that’d fit nicely between The Who and Styx on your local oldster-demographic FM stop. In accordance with this image, it should surprise no one that Martsch has made this record– the solo blues album is a textbook 70s move. So, those of you who’ve been waving those DOUG MARTSCH IS THE NEW CLAPTON signs for the last ten years can finally take your bow.” - Pitchfork (2002)
Links:
Song Sample:
“Gone”
Doug Martsch