Martyn Joseph nominated as hardest working artist

Martyn Joseph 2016

Welsh singer songwriter Martyn Joseph, “one of acoustic music’s most original voices”, had the honour of being nominated at the AIM Independent Music Awards at The Brewery in London this week – in the closely contested category of Hardest Working Band or Artist.

Known for his astute songs of compassion, and as one of the finest live acts on the circuit, Martyn was the sole representative of the folk roots scene at the Awards ceremony, facing strong competition from artists from the R ‘n’ B, rap and indie worlds. The award was clinched by singer songwriter Darren Hayman but Martyn was proud to be a flag bearer for the tradition.

“It was an honour to be the voice of folk within the wide cacophony of so many other musical genres and among some incredible artists. It was a fantastic night for independent music.”

Adele, Stormzy, Roisin Murphy and Slade were among the night’s winners.

It’s not hard to see why Martyn earned the nomination, having played over 140 shows and Festivals across the UK, Canada, USA & Europe in the last year including his own event PipeFest. He’s released two albums (Sanctuary and Sanctuary Acoustic) and taken part in the English Folk Dance & Song Society (EFDSS) Sweet Liberties project, as well as developing his own UK based charity, Let Yourself Trust, which has been supporting grassroots projects in Palestine, Guatemala, Uganda, Canada & the UK.

Long known for his humanitarian work, in the past 12 months he has travelled to Palestine with volunteers to help rebuild a demolished family home and to Guatemala, leading a 25-strong team in the building of a music centre for a Children’s Village. Last year also saw him playing a show in Swansea homeless shelter Zac’s Place with Bob Harris OBE (patron of Let Yourself Trust) to celebrate raising £16,000 for their work in the first half of 2015. At the start of 2016 he presented a Let Yourself Trust cheque for £18,000 to the charity Advantage Africa and last September he ran his first 10k race to raise further funds.

A previous winner of the Best Male Artist title in the BBC Welsh Music Awards, Joseph’s story (three decades of performance, half a million album sales and 32 album releases) continues to grow and connect on both sides of the Atlantic.

He will shortly embark on a tour of USA and Canada before returning for a UK tour in November/December.

If you would like to order a copy of the album (in CD or Vinyl), download it or just listen to snippets of selected tracks (track previews are usually on the download page) then click on the Martyn Joseph link to be taken to our associated partner Amazon’s website.

Artist’s website: www.martynjoseph.net

‘I Searched For You’ – official video: