After having this project on my mind for a couple years, I decided to reach out to longtime friend and owner of Martin’s Downtown Bar and Grill, Jason Martin, about my idea of hosting a live Reggae Night each month. After nearly a decade living in San Diego, I always loved the fact that I could easily hit up a venue in Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and elsewhere and always catch live Reggae music. “Martin’s” as it is known locally in Roanoke, has been a bastion of local live music and touring live acts since opening in 2005. Jason has always supported live music and long made it a priority to have live music at his venue 5 nights a week. I explained what I envisioned for the project and “Reggae Night at Martin’s” was born February 2023.

Reggae Music has been a favorite overarching genre of mine since first hearing the likes of Burning Spear, UB40, Sizzla, Steel Pulse, Bob Marley, Toots and others my freshman year in high school. Everyone knew Bob Marley’s works by that time it seemed, and his music was a gateway of sorts to so many artists that I have since added to my musical library and some that have shaped my own inspiration in song writing.

Whether rock steady or roots, lovers rock or dancehall, there have been many great songs that I’ve enjoyed over the years, both chart setters and the lesser known B-sides, that I wanted to share with our Martin’s Downtown family and the larger Roanoke/Salem/Blacksburg, Virginia community in general. My ultimate goal with Reggae Night is to provide a release from the daily grind by playing some tunes people will know, love and sing/dance to but also introduce listeners to artists and songs they may not have heard otherwise. These evenings generally do not consist of music from my original catalogue, but rather from a mix of my personal favorites from the ‘60s to current, spanning the world and many different artists and reggae subgenres.

My hope is that exposure of this sort leads listeners to expanding their own music libraries with new and inspiring works, just as Reggae music done for me for so many years. To this end, I have assembled a band that is up to the task and well capable. My brothers from “Father Sun”, part of which also make up my backing band Chosen Few, rock this Reggae themed evening with me on a monthly basis, the second Wednesday of every month. No cover, Ages 21 and up. I hope to see you at the next Reggae Night at Martin’s!