{"id":296085,"date":"2025-11-17T00:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296085\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T00:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:42:12","slug":"martin-barre-on-jack-white-jimi-hendrix-and-paul-mccartney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296085\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Barre on Jack White, Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days after the fact, Martin Barre is not yet aware that Jack White<\/a> name-checked Jethro Tull as an influence during his acceptance speech for the White Stripes\u2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. But the forebear is nevertheless pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s brilliant,\u201d Barre says when Guitar Player informs him of the shout-out. \u201cHe\u2019s great. He\u2019s a great, talented guy. I have a lot of respect for what the White Stripes produced \u2014 my family as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But far be it from Barre, of all people \u2014 a professed (accurately) \u201cexpert on Jethro Tull\u201d \u2014 to be surprised by that, or any, accolade.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an immense respect for the brand,\u201d he says from his home in Lancashire, England, overlooking the moors. Given his history \u2014 nearly 45 years and 20 albums, including classics such as Aqualung, Thick As a Brick, War Child and more \u2014 Barre is right to \u201csort of picture myself as a flag-bearer, carrying the banner\u201d with his own band since 2013, including a current acoustic tour in the U.K. He\u2019s also released eight albums of his own and contributed to recordings by fellow Tull alumni Mick Abrahams (who he replaced in 1968) and Clive Bunker, as well as Paul McCartney, the late John Wetton and Ten Years After\u2019s Chick Churchill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m intensely proud of what Jethro Tull was, and Jack White saying that reinforces my belief that we\u2019ve left something behind that\u2019s indelible. People have taken notice and it\u2019s inspired them down the line, and that\u2019s something to be really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"The\n<\/p>\n

Out now in the U.K., Barre’s memoir is scheduled for U.S. publication in January 2026. (Image credit: Courtesy McNidder & Grace)<\/p>\n

Barre, 78, has funneled his Tull expertise into a memoir, A Trick of Memory: The Autobiography of Jethro Tull\u2019s Guitarist<\/a>, just out in the U.K. and due during January in the U.S. The 182-page book takes readers from his early days, growing up poor in Birmingham and being introduced to music by his father, an aspiring professional jazz clarinetist turned engineer, as well as his older sister Jeanne. It traces his journey through the 1960s music scene, playing saxophone and flute as well as electric guitar<\/a> in R&B bands and encountering the heroes of the day, before joining Tull in 1968 and making his recording debut on the band\u2019s second album, Stand Up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s concisely told, with plenty of details and anecdotes \u2014 some positioned as sidebars dubbed \u201cA Tull Tale\u201d \u2014 along with appendixes about his favorite Tull songs, performances and venues to play. He also gets into the weeds about his gear, from his first guitar and amp \u2014 a Dallas Tuxedo with a Watkins Dominator combo<\/a> \u2014 to a chapter titled \u201cGuitars, Amps and Instruments of Torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a lot \u2014 a whole life, in fact \u2014 to talk about before Barre has to depart for his next gig, getting into the stories behind the story he\u2019s told…<\/p>\n

\n

\"Portrait\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Joby Sessions\/Guitarist Magazine)<\/p>\n

Why a book?<\/p>\n

I figure everybody has a story, and the worst thing that can happen is you don\u2019t leave that behind and that story\u2019s lost forever. As reluctant as I am to try and pretend that my story\u2019s important, I want it on record. \u2026 Not on record, but for those who might be interested in just what happened in the \u201950s and the \u201960s and the \u201970s and how that developed into what and who I am now. That\u2019s why I did it.<\/p>\n

Your next read<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story you wanted to tell?<\/p>\n

The book is biased to the earlier part [of his life], and I leave the latter years to the abundant amounts of material that\u2019s online about Tull, with all the facts and figures.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s more about the preamble. In those days every event had the biggest impact, and the people I met had a big impact on me as well. They were formative years, and they\u2019re quite dear to me. I just feel now, later in life, the things that are most important to me are those more private parts.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a rock star; I\u2019m not a guitar hero. And, every day, to live a very ordinary life where 99 percent of the people I come into contact with either don\u2019t know who I am or don\u2019t care what I do…<\/p>\n

There\u2019s evidence, including in the book, that argues otherwise, you know.<\/p>\n

[laughs] The achievement is history, you know? I can tell people that I played in Shea Stadium. I can tell people that we did three nights in a row at Madison Square Garden, we played in front of a quarter of a million people at the Isle of Wight, I played onstage at the Royal Albert Hall \u2014 and I\u2019m so proud that I was able to do that. I don\u2019t disown it; I\u2019m really proud to have been there and privileged to have done those things. I think about them enough, but I don\u2019t dwell on it.<\/p>\n

I just feel now, later in life, the things that are most important to me are those more private parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Martin Barre<\/p>\n

My personality isn\u2019t rooted in who I was and what I did; it\u2019s rooted in who I am today and what I\u2019m gonna be like tomorrow. What\u2019s important to me is that I play the best I can and give a great performance and the quality of the music is of the highest standard I can produce. That\u2019s my job, and I\u2019m very intense in the way I approach it. But when I close the door at the end of the night, I\u2019m just the guy next door. I don\u2019t live a rock-star life, and I\u2019m quite glad I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The book is definitely not a tell-all.<\/p>\n

I just wanted it to be factual and positive. I think gossip is very frivolous, and it\u2019s very private and subjective. It has no substance to it. The experiences I\u2019ve had are sort of private little events, and I change my mind about them. One day if I think of something that happened as being terrible and how bad it was for me, then another time I may weigh the pros and cons and look at it from a different viewpoint.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t hidden anything at all, but I haven\u2019t gone into personal relationships to a great degree \u2014 and there\u2019s a few things that were redacted, expunged by the people who publish and proofread. There are a few fruity anecdotes that are missing. They\u2019re not forgotten, just maybe something I\u2019ll do another time, maybe a volume 2 when I live on a small island in the South Pacific. [laughs]<\/p>\n

\n

\"British\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud that I was able to do that.\u201d Jethro Tull perform at the Royal Albert Hall, October 13, 1970. (from left) Clive Bunker, Barre, Glenn Cornick and Ian Anderson. (Image credit: Michael Putland\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

You talk about focusing on the early days, and it\u2019s very striking and heartwarming how supportive your family was.<\/p>\n

My dad had a tough life, but we were never made aware of it when we were kids. My parents put me and my sister before anything. They sheltered us from whatever things they were going through and gave us the positivity to be able to do what we were able to do.<\/p>\n

My dad loved music; that\u2019s what he wanted to do when he was 14, 15 years old and he couldn\u2019t do it because his parents made him go into the family factory at an early age. So his passion was squashed, and he never talked about it. When I threw away my to-be career, my schooling and college to do something frivolous like being a musician, he didn\u2019t say a word.<\/p>\n

You write in the book about being blown away watching the guitar player in Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders at a youth club when you were young and then wanting to start playing yourself. What was the allure of guitar back then?<\/p>\n

It was my sword. It was my… I could be really poetically, dramatically pretentious and say that like when medieval soldiers would fight for king and country, that sword was their emblem, their strength. That\u2019s what the guitar was for me; it was my way out of what I didn\u2019t like about what I was doing. It was the thing that was going to open up doors, possibly \u2014 and I could never know how many or how big those doors were going to be. I just saw it as something I could really put myself into.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t particularly love music enough to think that, Oh, I have to play music, and the guitar is going to be my instrument to get me on that pathway. I think it was just that guitar was a symbol, if you like, of a bit of freedom.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t particularly love music enough to think that, Oh, I have to play music. I think it was just that guitar was a symbol, if you like, of a bit of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Martin Barre<\/p>\n

Were you a natural talent?<\/p>\n

Oh no, no. Still not. I work on all my faults every day, and I do every day. I\u2019m so far from being good enough for myself that it\u2019s way off there. [points toward window] If you talk to people who I knew in those days, they always say, \u201cOh, yeah, you were always playing your guitar,\u201d and I don\u2019t remember it being like that. It was a slow process, \u2019cause there was no information. There was no YouTube or way to Google how to play \u201cStairway to Heaven\u201d in two minutes flat. You had to work it out yourself, with no help.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s great. You got to learn the neck of the guitar. Everything was a discovery, and I\u2019ve always said that kids now might be in a place in a year, whereas it\u2019s taken me 20, 30-plus years to get there. But I figured it out myself. I didn\u2019t learn it from a book or a YouTube channel or from a teacher. I figured out chords, scales, all the beautiful relationship between all the elements of music. It became mine. Not somebody else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

You had some early and personal experiences with Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n

I knew of his playing before I met him. We were in Rome playing soul music and some kid came from London to see us play and he had this sort of acetate demo disc. He said, \u201cHave you heard of Jimi Hendrix? Have you heard his new single?\u201d \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he played it, and it was \u201cPurple Haze.\u201d It was just a demo and I\u2019m listening and I can\u2019t understand how he\u2019s made that sound. It was such a beautiful thing. And, of course, he tried to re-record it and he couldn\u2019t get it any better, so they used the demo. I just remember listening to it, and it was such an alien situation, but it had such an impact on me.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jethro\n<\/p>\n

Jethro Tull perform cira 1970. (from left) Barre, Anderson and Cornick. (Image credit: Peter Sherman\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And then you got to share a bill with him.<\/p>\n

It was January 1969 and Tull was gonna be the support band with Hendrix onstage, and I\u2019m absolutely terrified. I\u2019d never come into contact with anybody more famous than Ian Anderson<\/a>. [laughs] And I was in awe of Jethro Tull before I joined them because they were the best band I\u2019d ever seen onstage, but this was a step beyond imagination. Here we are flying to Copenhagen, and that night I\u2019m gonna meet the Jimi Hendrix Experience<\/a>, and there he was onstage, and he\u2019s kind and humble.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s interested in me and we\u2019re talking and he\u2019s this really nice person, and he\u2019s saying, \u201cYou know, I really hate my voice.\u201d And I\u2019m like, Is this really Jimi Hendrix?<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know what to say. I said, \u201cYour voice is unbelievably good,\u201d but he truly hated his voice. It was an early lesson in humility, in him being accessible. He had no baggage. He didn\u2019t have anything but himself to give, and he was beautifully honest. It was inspiring that somebody that good could be so nice. That was my first lesson of many \u2014 not all of them learning something positive.<\/p>\n

Oh? What were some of those?<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say! [laughs] I\u2019ve met some of my heroes; let\u2019s just say I\u2019ve been disappointed in them. But you learn from everything.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve met some of my heroes; let\u2019s just say I\u2019ve been disappointed in them. But you learn from everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Martin Barre<\/p>\n

You say that it\u2019s important not to look for influences, lest you wind up just copying something. Explain that philosophy.<\/p>\n

Everything that inspired me is music I can\u2019t play, so by default I can\u2019t copy it. It\u2019s something I want to attain and would love to do, but it\u2019s always something a little higher up. Three weeks ago I went to see Billy Strings at the Royal Albert Hall, and between him and his mandolin player \u2014 \u2019cause I love playing mandolin \u2014 I was grinning from ear to ear. Some people get depressed when they hear somebody so much better, but I just love the experience.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always really enjoyed watching somebody do something masterfully well. It inspired me, the need within myself to do better. I\u2019m like, Right, you need to do better. I thought I did, and hearing them proves that.<\/p>\n

I go to classical concerts to listen to the flute players, and I take a pair of binoculars and I\u2019m on them the whole night, just loving every second because they\u2019re amazing, amazing musicians, and I\u2019m just a lowly, sort of wanna-be. I want to be a better flute player, and hearing them tells me why I want to be a better flute player.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Martin\n<\/p>\n

Barre photographed at home. (Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

You acknowledge some influence from Leslie West, however. Why is he an exception?<\/p>\n

Yes, he\u2019s very hard to ignore. I loved him to bits, and I think it was his attitude that influenced me more than anything. In that era, sort of very early \u201970s, most bands were fairly distant and disconnected. There was a lot of competition and the biggest thing was the support group tried to blow the main act off the stage. That\u2019s what you were trying to accomplish, so it wasn\u2019t the friendliest of atmospheres.<\/p>\n

Mountain was the support band, and they didn\u2019t give a shit they were the support band; they were having the time of their lives. They were such a tight unit, so friendly and supportive of each other. You\u2019d watch them onstage and the communication, the smiling, the little things they were doing between them was really special.<\/p>\n

And, obviously, his playing was so beautiful \u2014 his phrasing and his beautiful pitch and vibrato, understated but yet beautifully performed. I wasn\u2019t going to be Leslie West number two, but some things I did emulate<\/a>, just learning from it rather than copying. And we became friends, as you do.<\/p>\n

Also on the hero front, you write a bit about the cloak-and-dagger of being part of Paul McCartney\u2019s Atlantic Ocean project in 1987. What was that like?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky one because I had to sign an NDA, and I never had or a copy of it, or lost it, so I\u2019m not quite sure what I can say. I had a wonderful week with him. It was magic, the dream of my life come true, and it came at a great time because things were being a little taken for granted in the Tull camp at the time. We were in the middle of doing some album, very immersed in it, and I went to Ian and said, \u201cOh, I need a week off. There\u2019s something I\u2019d like to do.\u201d And, of course, when I told him it was Paul McCartney\u2026 [laughs]<\/p>\n

But it was nice for me, and it made me a stronger person because it was a terrifying experience to be in the presence and working for somebody on that level. But he was a fantastic person, just amazing, just full of energy and music never stopped. There are a couple stories \u2014 nothing nasty or negative, just sort of slightly amusing. If there\u2019s a volume two [of the memoir] I\u2019ll have to call his manager and say, \u201cCan I tell the story?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was magic, the dream of my life come true, and it came at a great time because things were being a little taken for granted in the Tull camp at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Martin Barre, on performing with Paul McCartney<\/p>\n

Did you feel any desire in the book to set the record straight about Jethro Tull and how the band worked and your contributions?<\/p>\n

No, because if somebody wants to know, they\u2019ll find out. It\u2019s all there to absorb. You can hear everything. You can hear what I played, you can hear what John Evan played. You can hear what Jeffrey [Hammond Hammond] played, what Ian\u2019s playing. There\u2019s always going to be people who don\u2019t like me and what I do and don\u2019t like the fact I\u2019m doing it without Ian, and vice versa. Who\u2019s right? They\u2019re all right, \u2019cause everybody has their own opinion and are entitled to have it.<\/p>\n

What was the creative dynamic and process within Tull? Were you assigned parts or given free rein, or…?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always been a mixture of both. Some things\u2026 like \u201cAqualung,\u201d<\/a> he wrote the whole riff, and the solo section I wrote, sort of based on the chords of the verse. Thick As a Brick was full of ideas from everybody \u2014 a lot from John Evan, who came up with amazing Hammond [organ] parts and ideas we developed into some of the instrumental passages.<\/p>\n

So there was no formula. If I came to Ian with some idea he would listen. He would take on board everything that was on offer, and be very fair about it as well. There was no resistance. It was all the mixture of ideas and people working together.<\/p>\n

Any favorite anecdotes about a song that developed from one of your ideas that became more than you may be expected?<\/p>\n

\u201cPaparazzi\u201d [from Under Wraps] was one. I think later on in the years I was more confident with coming up with big ideas. I was beginning to write more rather than just practice and do a concert appearance. Under Wraps, with me and Peter [-John Vettese] and Ian was just a very enclosed situation where we were constantly thinking up ideas.<\/p>\n

One day as we sat there, sort of having a cup of coffee, I said, \u201cLook, I\u2019ve got this riff I\u2019ve written. Do you want to hear it?\u201d \u201cYeah, yeah, yeah.\u201d So I played it and they loved it, and that became the song. That was great. It was the first Tull song I wrote, and I loved having a bit more in the cooking pot.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Martin\n<\/p>\n

Performing with the Martin Barre Band during the Fairport Convention’s 40th anniversary at Cropredy Festival, in Banbury, England, 2019. (Image credit: Dawn Fletcher-Park\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Any further insights now, after doing the book, into why things went the way they did with Tull back in 2012?<\/p>\n

No. I understand it completely because I had to analyze it for my own benefit. I needed to understand what was happening, why it was happening, how it was happening and put it into perspective. I didn\u2019t want to be the injured party. I didn\u2019t think I deserved to be. I just needed to know my own mind and what it was all about.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m fine. I\u2019m at peace, mentally.<\/a> I know other guys that have been in Tull and had sort of an abrasive end and didn\u2019t do so well coming to terms with it. It\u2019s a tough business.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re kind of the guy keeping the Tull music alive in a way, because you\u2019re pretty constantly out there and the current incarnation is a bit more episodic. Is there an appreciation from the audience that you\u2019re doing it?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t ask for reassurance. My reassurance is walking into a gig and, \u201cOh, you\u2019re sold out tonight,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah!\u201d That makes me feel great.<\/p>\n

But, yeah, I\u2019ve got a lot of self-belief, and it\u2019s based on how powerful the music can be. I know I\u2019ve got a great band. I know how good they are. But while everybody likes to hear good things, you must never, ever, ever take it to heart 100 percent because for every person that comes up and says, \u201cYou\u2019re one of the most underrated guitar players, you are amazing, blah, blah, blah\u201d you\u2019ll get another one who, whether they say it or not, will think the exact opposite. You can\u2019t believe one and not the other; that\u2019s how I deal with it \u2014 \u201cWell, that\u2019s nice of you to say. It\u2019s not particularly what I think, but I appreciate that you\u2019re enthusiastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of instrument and equipment detail in the book. Are you a big gearhead?<\/p>\n

Less than a lot of people, mentioning no names. I don\u2019t hold numerical values to what I have. I don\u2019t have a valuable collection of guitars. I have maybe 10 vintage, but I love them and they sound great and they play great, and that\u2019s their primary function being in my world. I use them and play them and they do a great job for me, otherwise they wouldn\u2019t be here. None of my guitars are in cupboards; they\u2019re all there to grab. And they come and go; I buy a guitar, sell a guitar, love one, love another more.<\/p>\n

Are any of your vintage guitars from all the way back in the day? Do you still have the \u201cAqualung\u201d guitar or something?<\/p>\n

No. I do know where those guitars are, but I don\u2019t miss them. They did a great job<\/a>, but to be honest I moved on because I found something that did the job better. People say, \u201cYou\u2019re completely stupid,\u201d and maybe I am, but that\u2019s what an instrument is to me. You give it a lot, it gives you a lot back, you move on. There\u2019s no snobbery in me.<\/p>\n

Are any of those older guitars owned by any one of note?<\/p>\n

[shakes head] I\u2019ve heard the names. It\u2019s people who don\u2019t play them; they just know what they\u2019re worth.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s coming up for you?<\/p>\n

Gigs, of course. I\u2019m booking into 2027. And I want to do a record. I haven\u2019t done a solo record for a long time [since Roads Less Travelled in 2018], so I want to spend a lot of time writing and recording. I\u2019ve got two live albums I want to release as well.<\/p>\n

Will we see you across the pond next year, maybe as the book comes out over here?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to come to America to talk about the book. America\u2019s on hold right now. I\u2019ve been there a lot done a lot of touring… to the detriment of other areas. So I need to redress the balance. I want to sit and think, and I want to come back with something that\u2019s gonna be amazing, because I think it needs to be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done a lot of tours with different headings \u2014 an Aqualung tour, a 50 years tour, a History of Tull. I need something that\u2019s really going to hit the headlines in the Martin Barre Band world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few days after the fact, Martin Barre is not yet aware that Jack White name-checked Jethro Tull…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-296085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}