How the album came to be:
I started playing the guitar at about 14. I taught myself how to play “Yesterday” by the Beatles because it was in a song book that my mother had. She never played but always had an acoustic guitar and music books because I think she thought she’d play someday. Her brothers all played Bluegrass music back in the hills of PA. Later on, a school buddy of mine, John Pyatt, who lived down the street, taught me how to play bar chords and I picked up playing the guitar really quickly. 6 months later (somewhere in 1979) I was playing in Pyatt’s garage band using his dad’s electric guitar. I could strum really well and I was playing songs I didn’t even know. He would tell me, “just strum like this and change when I change”. I never set out to be a guitar player, but I started writing songs. And over the many years that followed, I came up with a LOT of cool hooks and chord changes with fun lyrics. And I always putting off recording til “Someday”. Cut to 2020 (Someday was knocking), I was contacted by George, who works with Nick and Joe on VCR Party Live (Youtube) and he asked if I was Martin Carlton from the 1st Annual Martin Carlton Stunt Special. After confirming he got more than a little excited and told me “they” are big fans of my work and that they wanted to come to Cleveland and interview me. Wow! In late December of 2021 Nick and Joe brought their Found Footage Festival show to the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. I almost didn’t get in because they were requiring vaccinations, which I didn’t have yet. I think Nick got them to make an exception. Before the show I regaled Nick and Joe with a few of the many stories of the adventures of my “stunt tape” and its bizarre path through Hollywood. Like watching the tape in the Frank Sinatra room at Bally’s hotel and casino in Las Vegas with Penn & Teller, Licensing the footage for a Paul Thomas Anderson movie but never made the final cut, cramming into Bobcat Goldthwait’s TV Room to watch my silly little stunt tape with Adam Sandler, Eric Idle, Daryl Hannah, and a room full of various comedians and Hollywood types. Now mind you, I had never seen Nick and Joe’s show. I had NO idea what to expect. It blew me away. I was so amazed of how they created this “career” out of thin air. It was truly inspiring. I was beside myself. Not to mention, I had a blast. No celebrities, no explosions, no “special fx”, just real people, like you and me, caught in an “awkward moment” on video for others to enjoy for YEARS to come, thanks to Nick and Joe. I was so enamored at what they had created. My brain started clicking. “How could I squeeze a little bit more juice out of this seemingly evaporated lemon of a tape?” Then it hit me, “The 1st Annual Martin Carlton Stunt Special Christmas Album.” That made me laugh and as I said it to others, it made them laugh too, and they hadn’t even seen the tape. They just heard my brief explanation of what it is. I went through the stunt special again and again (as if I had never seen it, HA!) I took notes of stand-out moments and things that happened that I could write songs about. In January of 2022 I began writing songs for this album. Throughout this entire process it was important to me that I wrote plenty of songs for the “fans” of the 1st Annual Martin Carlton Stunt Special. That’s what I hope I achieved. Police Car was the first and the rest followed. If you listen closely you'll hear me answer the age old question, “why in the hell did you do that?” or “what were you thinking?” Listen to the album, and you'll find out what I was thinking. Now I'm thinking I want to make more music. Thank you all for your continued inspiration!