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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Mile After Mile by Martin Craig
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fave it Rockin' Blues | Modern Folk
16 tracks | 61 minutes
Released Aug 2002
on Goldmist Productions
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:51 Contract Killer lyrics FREE 04:51 Contract Killer lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:51 Contract Killer
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:35 Love at the Downbeat lyrics BUY MP3 03:35 Love at the Downbeat lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:35 Love at the Downbeat
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:26 Rockin' at the Ace Café lyrics BUY MP3 04:26 Rockin' at the Ace Café lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:26 Rockin' at the Ace Café
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:19 Postcard from the White House Hotel lyrics BUY MP3 03:19 Postcard from the White House Hotel lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:19 Postcard from the White House Hotel
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:44 Smokescreens lyrics BUY MP3 04:44 Smokescreens lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:44 Smokescreens
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:13 Sharp Shoes lyrics BUY MP3 03:13 Sharp Shoes lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:13 Sharp Shoes
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:55 Living on the A19 lyrics BUY MP3 03:55 Living on the A19 lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:55 Living on the A19
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:21 Taxi for the Waitresses lyrics BUY MP3 03:21 Taxi for the Waitresses lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:21 Taxi for the Waitresses
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:21 Detour into Danger lyrics BUY MP3 04:21 Detour into Danger lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:21 Detour into Danger
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:10 Old V-Twin lyrics BUY MP3 04:10 Old V-Twin lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:10 Old V-Twin
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:57 Teesside Blues lyrics BUY MP3 02:57 Teesside Blues lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:57 Teesside Blues
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:18 Grease on my Pillow lyrics BUY MP3 03:18 Grease on my Pillow lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:18 Grease on my Pillow
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:06 Ghost Train lyrics BUY MP3 02:06 Ghost Train lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:06 Ghost Train
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:29 M62 lyrics BUY MP3 04:29 M62 lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:29 M62
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:46 Gear Jammin' Boots & a Three Speed Hat lyrics BUY MP3 04:46 Gear Jammin' Boots & a Three Speed Hat lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:46 Gear Jammin' Boots & a Three Speed Hat
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:29 At the Quayside: II lyrics BUY MP3 03:29 At the Quayside: II lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:29 At the Quayside: II
English road stories: stripped down solo acoustic rock'n'roll, blues and folk originals from the writer of the British biker's tale 'Rockin' at the Ace Cafe'.
Bio / Background
'Mile After Mile' is a 16-track acoustic solo album of English road songs by Martin Craig, whose 1973 single 'Rockin' at the Ace Café' helped to spark interest in the re-opening of the legendary 50s and 60s British biker haunt in North London.
The songs are drawn from his life in Britain; born in Yorkshire and growing up mainly on Tyneside in the North East of England during the post - WWII era. In his early teens he latched onto the Rocker culture of the late fifties/ early sixties, visited the Ace Cafe in 1961 as an awestruck 15 year old and went on to found, record and gig with bands such as the Hot Rod Gang, the Sabre Jets, Diesel & the Firebirds and the Kindness of Strangers, as well as performing solo and in two duos (including MG & Lynnette) live, on CD and on radio.
↓ more ↓Martin's experiences range from running a 13 year music and songwriting project in a high security prison to leading community development programmes in one of Britain's most troubled areas, working for many years with local people to help their neighbourhood move away from poverty, bad health and high crime.
Songs on 'Mile After Mile' that draw on these experiences include 'Contract Killer', where Martin says that "...every verse is an incident seen, a boast overheard or a threat received." An acoustic version of 'Rockin' at the Ace Café' presents a stripped-down version of his story of two rockers' fight over a teenage runaway that has become the Ace's anthem.
Martin describes 'Old V-Twin' as, "...a chase-to-the-Ace story with a catch ending", and 'Grease on my Pillow' as a "...cheated rocker's lament." British roads themselves feature in 'M62' and 'Living on the A19'...
"Living on the A19", says Martin, "is for every band who slung their gear in a van six nights a week, drove to another town, dragged their amps up a rusty fire escape in the rain and played rock'n'roll through a smoke haze to a roomful of card playing drunks".
'Love at the Downbeat' takes listeners on a tour of clubland in pre-Beatles Newcastle, while 'Smokescreens' is about Lindolph de Oliveira, former saxman with the East Side Torpedoes, who died in 1990.
Only one song on 'Mile After Mile' is set in the USA. 'Gear Jammin' Boots & a Three Speed Hat' was originally written for Elvis Presley! Martin takes up the story....
"The tracks on 'Mile After Mile' were written as English road stories, with the exception of 'Gear Jammin' Boots & A Three Speed Hat' which I originally wrote with the plan of sending it to RCA as a demo for Elvis! Trouble was, the demo was recorded in early August 1977...."
"I've read that Bob Dylan was strongly affected by Elvis' death. Me too. The Sabrejets were gigging in Durham the night he died (before news had reached the UK) and I remember swapping in 'Hound Dog' to replace one of my own songs on the set list, for no special reason except that I felt like singing it. The song follows the crew of an 18-wheeler from Watsonville, California through 3,000 miles and 14 states to a loading dock in New York.
Apart from time spent on music, family and their four dogs, Lynnette & Martin love to get out and ride the Border country roads of Northumberland.
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