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Jun 17 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Waking up to rain in a Portuguese summer seems incongruous to the myth of Southern Europe’s abundance of sunlight. Having said that Porto has 300 sunny days a year but so does London, the difference might be that the sun shines a lot longer on those days in Porto. So a walk to the gym with an umbrella, grey, wet, muggy and a relief to get into the air conditioning. On the way back it was cooler but still raining. Andy Cousin called me and I was juggling the brolly and my bag whilst talking. Back home the electrician had been around to fix the broken oven. Olivia had stayed in to wait for him and told him about the other issues including the power going off altogether when we have heater, toaster, cooker on at the same time, plus there’s the broken power outlet that looks like electrocution is nigh. A few hours later the oven was still broken and needs to be replaced but the hob that wasn’t broken now has one ring that won’t turn off and two that don’t work with the smallest one the only one that functions properly. First world problems, but the nuclear hoover that Olivia bought from the expat group was so powerful that it didn’t just suck up the dust and the dirt it also swallowed the sofa, the bed, the washing machine and the parrot. And thanks to Noel for coming up with another product that goes by the company name – Velcro.

In 1973 I queued up in a shopping precinct somewhere in Liverpool for a ticket to see Led Zeppelin at Earls Court in London. I also wrote away for a ticket, probably with a postal order as payment. I don’t remember how much each ticket was and I don’t remember how long I queued, whether it was overnight or from the early morning, that is lost in the mists of time. Miraculously, I was successful with the mail as well as the precinct and I remember that the ticket I got from the precinct was green and the one through the mail was white. I was 15 at the time and was old enough to go over to Liverpool to see concerts from my house on the other side of the river Mersey, just 5 miles away. But as it happened the same day (or weekend) that The Zep were playing at Earls Court, England were playing Scotland in what was then called a Home International. As I remember they were notorious for clashes between fans. Somehow my father knew about the game (no one in my family followed football) and he wouldn’t let me go to London to see the concert. I suppose it would have been for Houses Of The Holy, I still despair over missing the chance to see them in their heyday. Later when I left home my family threw away all my memorabilia from the shows I saw, programmes, posters, ticket stubs and those unused tickets for the Led Zeppelin gig that never was.

So tomorrow, England are playing Scotland in the European Championships at the same venue (Wembley) but unfortunately, Led Zeppelin will not be performing songs from Houses Of The Holy with songs from their previous albums. This all reminds me of another Led Zeppelin moment where John Paul Jones wanted to produce one of our albums, I suppose it might have been Gold Afternoon Fix, one of the worst-produced records we ever made. He came to see us in Nashville and met us and we were up for it but our bright manager canned it with the line, “What’s he ever done?” Haha. He’d also recently produced The Mission’s Children. Some years later my friend Bucks Burnett from Dallas got me tickets for Loew’s theatre in New York to see the premiere of the DVD box set Led Zeppelin were releasing, they were all there to watch parts of the video collection on the big screen. Afterwards, Bucks managed to get me into the afterparty where I met Jimmy Page and had a nice talk to him, he was surprisingly aware of me and I was very aware of him. His 12-string playing was an essential influence along with Mike Rutherford and Patrick Mata from Kommunity FK. Later I spoke to JPJ and asked him if he remembered me and my band and how we almost worked together and told him I wish it had happened. He quickly said, “Big mistake”. He actually wasn’t very nice about it and gave me a bit of a lecture, blaming the management didn’t really seem to be much of an excuse and perhaps we should have fought harder. Jimmy was much friendlier.

Music today does not come from anything to do with Led Zeppelin because you just might have heard them before, not that that stops me from posting about popular groups as well as more obscure ones or newer artists. Today’s album is a compilation called When The Day Is Done – The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby. Kirby was a string arranger who in the seventies (and beyond) famously arranged the strings for Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan, Shelagh McDonald, John Cale and many more folkies (and others), many of whom are not on this album. But it’s a beautiful record, seemingly only available on CD, highly recommended.

Music Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

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Bye bye, Oz! Okay, so I’d better go pack, we hav Bye bye, Oz! Okay, so I’d better go pack, we have to be up at 5.30 AM. And oh yes by the way, Olivia remembered at 11.41 PM that today was our six years anniversary together, haha 😍

📷 @tonyrumble
Triple Marty Triple Marty
OUT NOW 💪 Afridi/Willson-Piper present SISYPHU OUT NOW 💪

Afridi/Willson-Piper present SISYPHUS off their debut album In The End, The Birds Will Sing (2022, tba).

Available to stream via the usuals.

@ahadafridi @afridiwillsonpiper #ahadafridi #martywillsonpiper #intheendthebirdswillsing #thesessioneerseries #songwritingandguitarguidance
We can't decide what colour this Strat is... We can't decide what colour this Strat is...
Ambidextrous Comping 🎸 #arktiklake Ambidextrous Comping 🎸 #arktiklake
Star Tracking 🖖 #arktiklake #oceanicstudiobroo Star Tracking 🖖

#arktiklake #oceanicstudiobrookvale
In autumn 2018 I went to Nashville, Tennessee, to In autumn 2018 I went to Nashville, Tennessee, to work with Salim Nourallah and his band, Richard on keys, Joe on guitars, Jason on bass and drums, and John on drums and bass and in a co-production role with Salim and as a fifth member of his band. After Nashville we retired to Dallas where all but Joe live (he lives in San Antonio) and worked on overdubs, mixing was next…then the pandemic hit. Finally, the album is now mixed and will be released in early 2023 but before that, we have the See You In Marfa EP from those sessions released yesterday on Bandcamp:

www.palosantotx.bandcamp.com/album/see-you-in-marfa-ep

A CD is also available and streaming will be from August 19th. The lead track on the EP is Hold On To The Night, complete with a video featuring an animated yours truly and co-written (a bit) by me: https://youtu.be/GhUk-MDm1VQ

This whimsical video was done by an Australian videographer/musician, Jordan Thompson.

#salimnourallah #martywillsonpiper #holdontothenight #seeyouinmarfa #seeyouinmarfaep #anuclearwinter #jordanthompson #rickenbacker
Are we at home here or what? #lardocelar #garagea Are we at home here or what?

#lardocelar #garageandstage #jazzbirthday
Many years from now... ✨ #handymen Many years from now... ✨

#handymen
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Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER © 2022 - Front Page Images by Hajo Müller