INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton
The Music Mill
Saturday, Jan. 19, 9 p.m., $22, 21+

Blues, folk and rock-influenced singer-songwriter Martin Sexton brings a lot to the stage, even if it’s just him, a guitar and a mike, which will be the case when he plays the Music Mill next Saturday. He had some good stuff to say, so we’ll skip straight to him and hear about monkey bars and when a mistake isn’t a mistake.

NUVO: This is a solo tour after several months with a band; how do the sounds differ for you?

Sexton: They’re like two totally different beasts. I love both of them equally. I love all the energy and girth that you can have on stages with a band, and the volume; and I love playing solo, because [along with] a lot of that girth and that volume, I can have 100 percent spontaneity. I’m most joyful when I’m solo. No show is ever the same. It’s always different. My songs are like monkey bars. I like to play on them in different ways every night. I like to keep sets fresh, so I try not to repeat songs too much within a four-night period.

NUVO: Do you tend to change up the lyrics as well?

Sexton: Nine times out of 10 if there’s a lyric change in my song, it’s because I screwed up. I just pretend like I meant it and keep going. That’s another trick I learned from Jimmy Page. If you make a mistake on guitar, just do it again and then it’s not a mistake. It becomes art as opposed to a screw up. Mistakes are my stock in trade. Every record I’ve ever made is peppered with mistakes that are beautiful, I think, and lend artistic merit to the songs.