Musician seeks Ojai return
by Lenny Roberts

With the exception of former Major League Baseball player Steve Hovely, Ojaians who attain celebrity status seldom return home.
Although many actors and entertainers have called Ojai home over the years, most aren't homegrown talent. But Martin Young is, and he may be coming home soon.
No, he's not ready to quit Clint Black's band, where he has played rhythm guitar for the last 12 years, but as Dorothy once said, "There's no place like home."
"Ojai will always be a special place to me because it's where I grew up," he said. "I miss the small-town community that Ojai is all about, and I love that there are all walks of life. It's also a very artistic and spiritual of place, not to mention the beauty. I think one of things I miss the most are my dear friends. My mother is in Ojai, too, and it would be nice to be closer to her. Alan Thornhill and I have talked about doing some stuff together again and I've been dabbling with computers as a sideline that I would like to keep pursuing."
Young's musical ability emerged at an early age. He began playing at the age of 9, influenced by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Eagles and other groups that defined an era of innovative rock 'n' rollers.
In his late teens and in his early 20s, he played in various bands, and made recordings with several local artists. When Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina moved to Ojai in the early '70s, Loggins enlisted the help of a band Young played with to record some demos for his publishing company.
"After moving to Los Angeles several years later, I had the opportunity to record with James Hendricks, a successful songwriter/artist who had written hit songs for Johnny Rivers. The sessions were produced by Van Dyke Parks, who produced The Beach Boys, Nielson, Ry Cooder and Randy Newman," he recalled.
Over the next several years, he worked with good friend Alan Thornhill, who has written and performed with Messina, Loggins, Kim Carnes and Hoyt Axton. Together, Young and Thornhill opened shows for Taj Mahal, Loggins, Jackson Brown and many others.
Young's association with Black came about while Young was working in Ventura with Houston transplants Hayden Nicholas, who would become Black's lead guitar player and co-writer, and Dick Gay, who became Black's drummer. Several years later, Young got a call from Nicholas.
"I went to Houston with Hayden and Dick in '85 to do a gig for a month back there; at that point they had decided to move back to Texas. We stayed in touch over the years, and in December 1989, Hayden called me and asked me if I'd like to fly to Las Vegas and audition for the job as Clint's acoustic guitar player. I jumped at the offer. I was living in Los Angeles at the time," Young said.
After all this time, he still is impressed to meet celebrities that he has idolized for years.
"One of my favorite people is Steve Wariner, who is such a great writer singer and guitar player. They call him 'Mr. Nice Guy' around Nashville and its true. Vince Gill is also a real down-to-earth, humble guy. Some other people that were a thrill to meet were Dick Clark, Ringo Starr and Chet Atkins," he said.
Along with Gill and Wariner, other favorite country entertainers are Diamond Rio, Dwight Yokam, Martina McBride, Emmy Lou Harris, Alison Kraus and Patty Loveless. Noncountry favorites include Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor and Sting.
But never forgetting the caliber of local talent, he said Ojai is full of great musicians and writers, too.
"Alan, Milton Kelley, Michael Connor, Rain Perry, Left of Memphis,
Jonathan McEuen, Dan and Mary Wilson, and way more. They all could, and
should be on the radio, but the sad thing is that radio has gotten so formula-oriented and generic that a lot of really talented people never get heard by a huge audience." Nashville, where he currently lives, is unfortunately, the same way.
There are other similarities between Ojai and rural Tennessee, namely the beauty and the family-oriented living.
"It's much greener here and very humid in the summer. People are very friendly and down-home, but I think generally exposed to a much less diverse set of lifestyles, so certain extremes tend to offend people more easily," he said.
Playing before throngs of screaming country music fans with a boss he both likes and respects is still fun, " because the crowd is always enthusiastic and it's the highlight of our day. When we do gigs with other acts, it's always fun to see them do their show. The other 23 hours can be sort of a hurry-up-and-wait kind of a situation, a lot of hanging around the venue waiting to play. We do get to see a lot of the country, I think we've been to all but about three states over the years," he said.
Young's resume is impressive, having recorded or performed with Kate Wolf, Loggins, Messina, John Schneider, Chris Hillman, Jimmy Buffet, Don Henley, Wynonna Judd, Noel Haggart, Martina Mc Bride, Jett Williams and Shake Russell. His television and video performances include "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, David Letterman, Rosie O' Donnell, "Good Morning America," Regis and Kathy Lee, Country Music Awards Show, Academy of Country Music, "Donny and Marie Show" and Clint Black videos.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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