Show 8pm

All Ages

FULLY SEATED

Ventura Music Hall Presents

GUY MARTIN & FRIENDS

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Ventura guitarist, and songwriter Guy Martin has spent decades developing a musical identity rooted in blues and rock, built around expressive guitar playing, and the energy of live performance.Martin began playing guitar as a teenager, forming his first band, The Threads, while attending Ventura High School. After high school came Rude Mood—a nod to one of his strongest early influences, Stevie Ray Vaughan—and several years immersed in the music of Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and the blues-rock tradition that helped shape his approach to the guitar.

That evolution eventually became the Guy Martin Group, a power trio that remained active for more than a decade, combining original material with Martin’s interpretations of the artists who influenced him. Today, that lineage continues with the Guy Martin Band, while Martin’s musical palette has grown well beyond those early influences.

Over the course of his career, Martin has shared the stage with an extraordinary range of artists, including B.B. King, Gregg Allman, Slash, Little Feat, Jeff Healey, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Junior Brown and Dave Mason.

Original music has remained an important part of Martin’s musical identity throughout his career. His songwriting draws mostly from his blues and rock foundation. Martin continues to write and record new material today, allowing the music to develop on its own timeline.

Martin has also maintained a strong connection to the Ventura music scene and community while remaining selective about his hometown appearances. In 2012, he independently produced and headlined a Jimi Hendrix Experience Night at the Ventura Theater, drawing approximately 800 people for the one-night event.

Away from the stage, Martin is also a producer and recording engineer, and operates BlackCouch Studio in Ventura. His work on both sides of the glass has broadened his musical perspective and continues to influence his songwriting, guitar playing and approach to live performance.

Guy Martin & Friends brings those different chapters together for a special hometown show at Ventura Music Hall—built around Martin and his band and joined by a hand-selected group of musical guests and collaborators. Rather than a traditional multi-band bill, the evening is conceived as one continuous, curated live experience celebrating songs, musicianship, collaboration and the guitar-driven music that has been at the center of Martin’s musical life from the beginning.