Jodi Martin

Jodi Martin started writing songs when she was five. Noticing this trend, her Mum loaned Jodi her tape recorder. At five, this was a momentous event and confirmed Jodi’s obsession with songwriting forever.

Jodi met Kasey Chambers and the Chambers family when she was sixteen. The following year, Kasey recorded Jodi’s song ‘Why’ for the Dead Ringer Band’s album ‘Homefires’ which took out Australia’s premier music awards, winning an ARIA Award the following year for Best Country Album.

Like Kasey, Jodi spent her formative years in the remote desert region of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain. With the recording of ‘Why’, and the Chambers family encouraging her to move to the more populated East Coast, Jodi left her small coastal desert hometown of Ceduna to begin her own career as a singer/songwriter.

Four critically acclaimed albums later, the sparse landscape of her childhood still resonates in Jodi’s music and the legacy of a small town remains in her honest lyrics. Her songs are not afraid to tackle controversial issues, like her own childhood spent growing up in an area with a large indigenous population. Her story comes through in songs like ‘Riddles’ (Water and Wood) where racism is witnessed through a child’s eyes. Jodi writes frankly and incisively about everything from relationships with lovers, parents, to social justice and personal issues like abuse. Jodi strong feelings of connection to place ensure that Australian imagery weaves itself into her work.

Jodi has two major album releases in Australia, ‘Water and Wood’ (2002) and ’15 Minutes Out to Sea’ (2005) out on her own label Hot Bread Records. Her popular live album ’21 Stairs’ and an unofficial debut ‘Sandcastles’ (1997) which to date has been a limited edition release, are also available through HBR.

Jodi’s strength is her live performance and she has toured solidly throughout Australia for the past six years, playing some of her country’s finest venues, both solo and with her band. Jodi has also toured with the likes of Arlo Guthrie (US - 1998 & 2004), Bruce Cockburn (CAN), Eric Bibb (US), The Frames (IRE), Richard Thompson (UK), The Waifs (AUST), Joel Plaskett (CAN) and Ember Swift (CAN) and has performed at major Australian festivals including Woodford Folk Festival, East Coast Blues and Roots Festival (BYRON BAY) and Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Jodi is touring the U.S. and Canada this Summer with the release of her latest album ‘15 Minutes Out to Sea’.