Martin Stephenson

Martin Stephenson began busking on the streets of the North East of England at fifteen, then taught himself jazz, blues, country, skiffle and reggae from a single Spanish guitar book, a magpie method that became his signature. Fronting Martin Stephenson & the Daintees, he rose out of the same Newcastle scene as Prefab Sprout, signed to Kitchenware Records, and released the acclaimed Boat to Bolivia in 1986. His writing moves freely across rockabilly, show tunes, rootsy pop and punk, and he has never shied from unglamorous subject matter that most songwriters leave alone. He has recorded in a Scottish church and a disused lighthouse, shared stages with John Martyn, Aztec Camera and Roy Buchanan, and now lives and works in the Scottish Highlands. In 2018 Billy Connolly filmed with him for a documentary and called him his idea of a musician.