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Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre gets back to basics with album, tour
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
On first listen to Martin Barre’s new solo album, “Back to Steel,” it’s immediately obvious that his role in shaping the sound of Jethro Tull was massive.
Barre was the band’s original guitarist in 1969 and remained with the act until just a few years ago. His intense style is one of the most recognizable of the prog-rock era, and it still dominates.
Barre remains closely linked to Jethro Tull, which otherwise had an ever-revolving lineup of players surrounding its frontman and star, Ian Anderson.
His new solo album distances himself from those days, while at the same time providing a link.
And while Barre is marking his 50th year in the music business, he isn’t living in the past. On his current tour — which comes to Bojangles Blues and Brews on Saturday — he is playing equal parts solo material, selected covers and reworked Tull classics.
In a phone interview from a tour stop in Ames, Iowa, last week, Barre talked about what concert-goers should expect at Saturday’s show.
“It’s one-third Jethro Tull tracks that haven’t gotten played in the last 30 years,” he said. “We make them more guitar-driven and energetic. It’s a good selection of the ones I enjoy, like “Teacher,” “To Cry You a Song” and “Minstrel in the Gallery,” but tougher versions.
“Then it’s a third off my own albums, particularly the new one. Then we do some covers, blues songs. We rewrite them and they’re fun to play. We deconstruct the songs and rebuild them in a heavier way.”
As the title of his new album might indicate, Barre finds himself starting at square one in reintroducing himself to American audiences on this U.S. jaunt.
“You’ve got to go back to basics to let people know what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s common perception that if someone from a big-name band goes solo, it’s typically a holiday, getting drunk and playing blues. But from me, people don’t know what to expect. It’s a slow conversion process. You got to spread the word. That’s why I like smaller places. I like people to be able to get close and have a dynamic, energized night of music. When they talk about it, they’ll say, ‘you missed a good show’.”
The United States has always been special for the British-born Barre.
“I’ve gotten so many messages from American fans asking when I would get here to play,” he said. “My heart and soul lies in the U.S.A. When Jethro Tull did its first U.S. tour in ’69, it was a big turning point. America has always been big for us. I like playing here, and I like American fans. American audiences have always been very receptive.”
While a Jethro Tull reunion doesn’t appear to be in the cards any time soon, the question of when the band will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame increasingly arises.
It’s a glaring omission, but Barre isn’t stressing over it.
“When it happens, it will happen,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. Deep Purple and Chicago just got inducted, huge bands both.
“And then there’s the question of which version [of Jethro Tull] do you induct? There’s been so many members.
“But I’d love to see it happen, and I would be very proud if it does.”