Martin Ballard

Los Angeles, CA

$300 and up.

Travels up to 10 miles

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Contemplating American Primitive Gutar

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Tangled Up in Blue (Celtic arrangement)

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Deep Blues

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Overview

I specialize in instrumental guitar that adds depth and character to a room without drawing unnecessary attention. The goal is simple: create a sound that people feel more than notice.

My style draws from folk, blues, and cinematic textures, with an emphasis on tone, phrasing, and restraint. Cocktail receptions, showers, private dinners, galleries, and intimate celebrations.

I provide a compact, professional PA with volume balanced perfectly so guests can comfortably talk while enjoying the music. Minimal setup.

I’m reliable, easy-going, and comfortable adapting to the flow of an event—whether that means continuous background music or shaping the energy as the room evolves.


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Booking information

Price range: $300 and up.

Influences and inspiration

As a guitarist, my roots are in the hills of Kentucky, hitch-hiking distance from Nashville in fact. Back there, if you even say the word 'guitar' you'd better be able to prove it. I mean, Kentucky gave the world the Everly Bros. No Phil & Don, no Beatles. No 'Wake Up Little Susie,' no Rolling Stones. I'm not this is widely understood and I consider it part of my mission to correct this.

I got my first bottleneck guitar lesson from Merle Watson backstage at the Kentucky Theater, and I then took the fork in the road where the Mississippi Delta meets the River Shannon by way of Appalachia, if that makes any sense. In the highly probable event that it does not, I'll be happy to explain! Since then, while living in Spain a few years ago, I absorbed a bit of flamenco to the mosaic that, now some 50 years in the making, seems to have become a quite distinct style.

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