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MUSIC Martin Sexton kicks off One World Series The singer, songwriter tours behind his 2015 album, 'Mixtape of the Open Road' Comment By Alan Sculley Last Word Features MailTribune.com By Alan Sculley Last Word Features Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:44 AM By Alan Sculley Last Word Features Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:44 AM » Social News Any list of hardest-working musicians should include Martin Sexton. He’s released 10 full-length studio albums over his 20-year career and maintained a relentless touring schedule that commonly finds him on the road for a year or more. The touring cycle in support of his 2015 album, “Mixtape of the Open Road,” fits the pattern. He spent the spring hitting 50 cities from coast to coast until mid-May. Now he's on a run that has more than 35 shows booked through November. Sexton will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, in the Music Recital Hall on the Southern Oregon University campus, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland. Tickets are $25 for reserved seating, $8 for SOU students, and can be purchased online at ijpr.org , at the music hall's box office, or by calling 541-552-6348. The concert is part of the One World Performance Series reinstated at SOU by Jefferson Public Radio and SOU's Oregon Center for the Arts. Along with Sexton, the series will feature Lake Street Dive Nov. 1 and singer and songwriter Jose Gonzalez March 8. Sexton will not be complaining when he steps on stage at SOU. “You can do anything for 20 years," says the singer, songwriter and guitarist during a telephone interview. "You could be a taste-tester at Ben & Jerry’s and that can get old after 20 years. But by the grace of God, I love the work. I love finishing an album and getting on the horse and tour, doing the interviews, meeting people, throwing the shows, signing the records. I love all that. And I love the performance most of all.” Sexton even likes the traveling that comes with being a touring musician — an aspect of the job that countless artists find tedious and downright wearing. “What a wonderful thing to see Europe, North America and Australia, to see it and experience it, and to take in the people and the food,” he says. “To me, every day is like its own little gem that I get to unwrap and share with people.” Audiences have obviously responded well to what Sexton, who first made a name for himself on the vibrant Boston folk music scene, brings to the table. In a career that started with his 1992 debut release, “In the Journey,” he went on to include a pair of major label releases for Atlantic Records: “The American” in 1998 and “Wonder Bar” in 2000. Since then, he has recorded six albums on his Kitchen Table record label. Although he's never had a radio hit, he headlines theaters and large clubs across the nation because of the word-of-mouth raves for his music and his engaging live show that generate new fans year after year. "I’ll be playing songs off of ‘Mixtape’ and all of the other tunes that I ever play," he says. "I’ve been doing them long enough where I have a nice variety to choose from. It lets me play a different show every night. I've picked up a few covers along the way. It just makes for a nice couple of hours of fun for me." As its title suggests, the new album was inspired musically in part by mixtapes — those collections of songs friends put together for each other on cassettes (back in the old days) and more recently on CDs or digitally. Sexton followed the lead of the diversity of mixtapes he's received. “My records have always been very rangy,” he says. “I’ve always taken a tip from the Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘The White Album’ and the way songs range from ‘Blackbird’ to ‘Helter Skelter.’ I’ve always dug that. I’ve loved the whole journey of an album, how it can range from this quiet thing to a big thing. So for this record, I just stepped on the gas and headed in that direction and made it even more so of a mixtape." The album indeed covers lots of stylistic ground. There is the shuffling retro-country of “Do It Daily,” acoustic folk in “Set In Stone,” a bit of rootsy jazz on “Doin’ Something Right,” bluesy soul on “Give It Up,” Grateful Dead-ish rock on “Shut Up And Sing” and rowdy, fuzzed-up rock on “Remember That Ride.” Lyrically, “Mixtape of the Open Road” is more lighthearted than Sexton’s previous two releases. The 2010 “Sugarcoating” and his 2012 EP, “Fall Like Rain,” both leaned toward topical subject matter, as Sexton shared his frustrations with issues such as divisions within politics and the American population, the growing gulf between the rich and working class, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan. “Mixtape,” though, has more of a sweet, and at times nostalgic or humorous, tone. Sexton, though, still builds social awareness into some of the new songs. “There’s a track called ‘Shut Up and Sing.’ You wouldn’t know that it’s got any sort of dark subject matter,” Sexton says. “I remember when the Dixie Chicks spoke out against the government, and they caught all kinds of heat for it. Someone said ‘shut up and sing’ to them. So the track is sort of about that. If you put in a song and millions of people hear it, maybe it will inspire them to take action." By Alan Sculley Last Word Features MailTribune.com By Alan Sculley Last Word Features Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:44 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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