Have you ever been to a bar and heard the most interesting guitar player staring right in front of you playing like a possessed man on stage? Well that happened to me last year.
My wife, sister, brother in law, Stevie cakes (long story), and myself went to a bar that is in our neighborhood which I have always wanted to visit. It’s called The “Eton House“. It’s commonly known as the “Greek/Newfie” bar in this area.
A newfie is of course a person from the Canadian province of Newfoundland. It’s just a nickname that the rest of Canada and possibly the world has for the people that come from that province. Newfie’s are the nicest people in the world that you will ever meet. We have many Newfie friends. If the world had more of them, there’d be no wars, honestly!
So, there we were. We had a lot of light refreshing beverages in us at the time and the music coming from the outside speakers of the music playing in the bar sounded fast and furious. It sounded like a band but to our surprise,it was a single guy alone, playing acoustic guitar with some machine in the back ground playing drums and keyboards.
His chord progressions are similar to the ones that I play, but when he adds some little riffs to the songs, it’s just like he’s some kind of mad genius, hell bent on blowing you not only out of your seat, but the building as well! He blows you away with his ability to play.
If you are ever in Toronto on a Saturday night, it would be a crime not to see this guy. He is a musician that you can’t help but love. His voice is great and his selection of tunes would make a dead person tap their foot as his energy is intoxicating!
A couple of weekends ago at the Eton House, Marty and the kids were having a fund raiser for his niece and her mother. His niece has a disease that has to be treated at a hospital, in the capitol of his province which is far from the little village they live in, in Newfoundland. The money raised that night was for some pocket change for her mother to use while she is receiving treatments. God speed on her recovery!
A co-worker from the hospital had told me of their plight, and the event gave me an excuse to go and see this great guitar player again. She had also informed me that she knew Marty personally. I was introduced to him and talked for a while during one of his breaks. He said that he remembered seeing me there watching him perform. It was probably the envy energy that I was directing towards him that probably caught his attention those nights.
While chatting, he asked me if I might be interested in playing with him in a band with another guitar player and a stand up bass player. We would be playing more progressive acoustic folk music and performing at venues where the audience was there for the music and not just the beer.
I told him I would think about it. Wow, what a lucky break for me! I still have to get back to him but the answer is a definite YES!
Stay tuned for further updates.
Keep on Jammin’
I grew up playing music with Marty and we still play together today – whenever we can. He not only is one of the most unique guitar players in Canada, he is arguably the warmest person you could ever meet from anywhere. I am privileged to have grown up with someone as talented. Music has been pretty good to me over the years thanks to Marty and his family. They had a major impact on me personally and I am forever grateful. Thanks to the writer of the story for recognizing greatness in someone so humble and deserving of high praise.
Hey Luke, it’s my privilege to be exposing the world to this great talent that they call “Marty Delaney”! I too just love listening to him play live!
He adds just the right amount of honesty in his approach to music. It’s very,very refreshing to see this in such a hugely talented guy! The man is a gem of a guitar player and the crowd at “Eton House” just eats him up.
Luke, have you played with him there at Eton House? Are you going to be playing soon with him there? If so, please write back to this page and tell us the dates. Maybe a few people will show up who reads this blog and hear what we are talking about. I just want to spread the word about him and see if we can develop a cult following.
We talked about getting together for a project but he has not gotten back to me for quite a while now. Maybe he lost my info. that I gave him a few weeks ago. Please pass this on to him and I hope that he still is into it!
Keep on Jammin’
Hey,, I have some tracks of Marty’s original stuff we cut right here in my living room over a couple days,,plan was to do an entire album,, but a last minute tour with Eddie got in the way,, and Marty hasnt gotten back to it.
They are still a bit rough,, need some final mixing,,and one needs redone entire,, but it is VERY clearly Marty Delaney style.
Get his okeydokey and ill be happy to pass them along.
Hey Al, do you mean Eddie as in “Van Halen”?
Now this is the type of buzz that I wanna start about this fellow named Marty!
When do ya think it will be completed? I know that my good readership will be very keen on having a little listen to.
When it is all said and done, maybe you he will let us put a new song, from his latest release, on Guitar Licks plus put a link to his page to drum, or should I say “guitar up some business? Ask him for me when you see him next.
The last part your post is encrypted I’m sure so, I’ll have to get out my old newfie decoder ring out of the old closet and see if it still works!
Keep up with the news about his new album and …
Keep on Jammin’
Eddie as in Eddie Coffey,, they have done a number of tours,,inlcuding extensive tours of U.S. army bases.
http://www.atlanticseabreeze.com/ItemOne.asp?ID=2281
He is scheduled here in july http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=30297&sc=29
The work Marty did here is almost 2 years old now,, not sure when/if he wants to finish.
Best way to reach him is show up at Eton House on a sat night,,, if you do,, request “Kiss and a Tear”,, then ask him to give the guy who wrote it a call (me lol).
Al
Hey Al, howz it going sir?
Wow, for a minute there I thought that you meant Mr. Van Halen!
Ok, back to reality! Whats taking Mr. Delaney so long?
So, Mr. Delaney, lets hear from you on your recent conundrum? I challenge you sir for a response!
There Al, I did it! I feel releaved to ask the question how about you?
Keep on Jammin’
Hi,
My name is Jack Delaney. I am Martys nephew. I remember even as a young boy in NFLD watching Marty play. He was just as good then as he is now.
I was in a small pub in Ontario one night where Marty and my Dad were playing. I was having a couple of beers with my Uncle Chris (Martys brother) he had just finished playing a song he wrote about my Grandfather……Piece of Pork it was called. His song list was folk and country, when out of the blue……Marty starts wailing out “Crazy Train” by Ozzy. He looked and winked as if to say..”hey buddy I bet you will like this one” lol
So much to love about the guy…….his music is just an invitation to get to know him. When you love his music you love Marty Delaney.
Thank you for writing such a nice blog entry about such a wonderful person.
Jack Delaney