Wednesday, July 28, 2004 11:57 AM CDT
Charlotte Martin's busy summer includes tour, CD release
By JANICE HUNT, Staff Writer
Charlotte Martin can describe her summer schedule in two words.
"It's (dramatic pause) in- (another pause) -sane," Martin said.
But a little insanity is welcomed by the Charleston native flirting with national fame.
"I've been hanging on for a few years," Martin said in a telephone interview from her Los Angeles home, as her two Chihuahuas yapped in the background.
Now, just days away from releasing her first major album and kicking off a tour with big-name talent, she can also be seen on E!'s two-hour program "E! True Hollywood Story: Young Divas."
While filming Martin's segment for "Young Divas," the E! staffers asked her if she gets recognized by fans.
"I get recognized at What's Cookin' and Wal-Mart," Martin said, referring to two Charleston businesses. "That's about it."
That could soon change.
Her first major-label album, "On Your Shore" on RCA Records, is set for an Aug. 10 release.
"I've been working to get an album released since I moved to L.A.," she said.
But the wait has been worth it, she said, because the material she put on this album surpasses the quality of her previous recordings, which said were all a "forward motion to ‘On Your Shore.'"
She wrote all but one song on the album. Her piano-driven melodies, complex lyrics and solid vocals have drawn comparisons to Tori Amos and Kate Bush. Influences include The Cure and Joy Division.
It's not something most people expect out of a former Miss Teen Illinois trained in opera.
Critics' reactions have been polarized, she said.
"The reviews I'm getting, either they're praise or they're disgust, ... which is what I wanted to do as an artist," she said. "I've seen five-star reviews, and I got ‘worst album of the year' from a metal Web site. It was pretty strong. It's hard to read that."
Then again, Martin doesn't exactly expect a metal Web site to love her music.
The album is challenging, she said, describing it as "an art record that has pop songs on it."
The original approach to her music, she said, is a direct result of music classes she took with Jerry Daniels at Eastern Illinois University, where she was encouraged to spread her unique musical wings.
"It's all his fault," she said, laughing.
The album was produced by Martin and her boyfriend, Ken Andrews, who also engineered and mixed it.
She's in the middle of creating a video for the single "Every Time It Rains," which is to be released to triple-A radio on Sept. 13.
She is happy that her songs aren't being released to commercial radio yet, as that is good "for an artist like me," she said, preferring the "very organic, natural" marketing strategy RCA is using.
This means that Martin gets to tour to promote her album, "making fans one by one ... like the olden days."
Martin was hand-picked by Liz Phair to join her, The Cardigans and Katy Rose for Maybelline's Chicks with Attitude tour, which kicks off Aug. 4 at The House of Blues in Chicago.
Martin, the daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Martin of Charleston, said she's looking forward to seeing old friends in the crowd, including her first boyfriend from EIU.
Phair — "such a nice woman," Martin says — also hails from Illinois, so the show should have special meaning for both.
She is looking for opportunities to sing on television talk shows in the near future, and she hopes to one day get the chance to go out on the road again with her friend Howie Day.
She also would love to get to go out on her own small-club tour. It would be good for her fans to see her name on a ticket as a headliner, she said. "A lot of them are very patient."
She envisions such a tour coming as close to the area as Champaign.
"I would love to see everybody," Martin said, referring to her Coles County-area friends.
"Tell everyone thanks," Martin said. "I love my town and I come home six times a year. The whole area has been very, very supportive."
We'll pass that along to the folks at What's Cookin' for you, Charlotte.
Contact Janice Hunt at jhunt@jg-tc.com or 238-6866.
Where you can see/hear Charlotte Martin this summer
-- Maybelline's Chicks with Attitude tour, including the opening date Aug. 4 at House of Blues in Chicago. General admission tickets, $29.50 each, can be purchased at www.hob.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
-- Clairol Natural Instinct's Find Your Balance yoga festivals with Mariel Hemingway, including Sept. 4 at Lincoln Park in Chicago. See www.findyourbalancewithclairol.com for details.
-- "On Your Shore," Martin's first CD to be released on a major label. Release date is Aug. 10.
-- "True Hollywood Story: Young Divas," in repeat airings. The next is set for noon Sunday.
-- "Ones to Watch" section of the July/August edition of Performing Songwriters magazine.
-- Benefit CD for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Other artists on the CD, released Tuesday, include Tori Amos, Michelle Branch and the Indigo Girls. See www.rainn.org to order.
-- Pull-out "Little Black Book" feature in the September issue of Seventeen magazine.
Head to the Web
http://www.charlottemartin.com
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
CLICK TO ENLARGE
|
|
|
