Martyn Bennett 17th February1971 – 30th January 2005... Award Winning Artist in Celtic Music Innovat

I am honoured to say a word about one of my top favourite musicians to date! It’s long overdue and yet certain things needed to take place before I was released in my spirit to say a few words about Martyn Bennett’s life and legacy! One of the most recent events written in ‘The Scotsman Magazine’ highlights the play ‘Grit’, a stage show inspired by Martyn Bennett’s life and the legacy he’s left for so many modern Celtic and beyond musicians! ‘Grit: The Martyn Bennett Story’ was created by award-winning theatre-maker Cora Bissett and a special tribute concert will open this years Celtic Connections 2015 event in Glasgow! Bennett is regarded as one of Scotland’s leading musical talents of the 1990s for the way he fused dance music and club culture with traditional melodies and instruments, and is cited as a major influence by many of today’s leading bands on the trad scene.’

For me, Martyn’s life and legacy have profound personal meaning, my hope is to convey that here and honour his life and the life of his mother Marilyn whose own life and gifts have had a foundational restructuring for me over the pond. They literally rescued me in my darkest hours immediately following the death of my own son! So it is here that I wish to thank both of them for their own lives and their outreach now~

Martyn was not afraid to leap the standard ‘norm’ of Celtic music in his day and create something entirely new and the sounds he invented are innovative and fresh in a world where standard musical lethargy often occurs when a style or genre is overused. By fusing two different styles or sets of popular music in his generation he birthed a unique blend of something new! 'Bothy Culture'

'Aye?'

A Bothy is a simple building, often found in remote areas, left unlocked for anyone who needs shelter! Typically found throughout Britain, inaccessible by ‘normal’ methods employed by man. So it is during my journey of pain, loss and eventual healing I too had begun to seek shelter. Happily my musical journey has led me to just that in the form of Martyn’s music, his mother’s life in music and story telling and the people who’ve led me there since my son’s death. I can say with great peace and joy now that I too have, at long last found my own ‘Bothy’ or more accurately ‘Bothy has found me’ and I am going home~