John Martyn passed away yesterday. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Martyn’s music when I was sleeping on a club promoter’s floor one night in a small town outside of London. We stayed up late and when she put on his “Solid Air” album I was immediately entranced. This guy was doing things differently. He had so much soul, groove and emotion. And his guitar playing was off the hook. I was rapidly influenced by him and I found his percussive fingerpicking style working it’s way into the album I was writing at the time (Soul Variations). I often cover his song “Don’t Want to Know” and every time I play it I strive to do it the way he did it…with pure emotion.