A Q&A with Martin Devaney

I recently had the very enjoyable experience of sitting down and catching up with Martin Devaney! "The unofficial mayor of St. Paul" has consistently been putting out fantastic music for more than two decades now and he's got even more on the way. We chatted about the new record, his thoughts and observations on the ever-changing music landscape and his journey to getting sober.

I caught part of your set at the Big Turn Music Festival in Red Wing this past February and you mentioned you’re working on a new album - can you tell me a little bit about it?

Most of this new record, I wrote last summer and I’d say it’s about 75% done. It’s really a record made for the band to play out live - it’s definitely got some twang and covers some good ground. The band that’s been playing with me the last couple of years and on this record - they’re all old friends that go back to the beginning. We tracked most of it with Rich Mattson up north last fall and now we’re getting around to mixing it with Tom Herbers. I’ve got a couple more tunes left and am recording some keyboard parts at the studio with Pete Sands.

It's hard to believe that it's been almost exactly four years since COVID pretty much shut the world down. How did that experience affect you creatively?

Yeah, coming out of the pandemic, which was also the time period when I got sober, I found myself not knowing how I fit into the larger music scene anymore. That first year, when we all started getting back out there and playing music for audiences, I was basically forcing myself onto stages and relying on muscle memory. I had so much residual shame from when I was drinking, I couldn’t play a lot of my past catalog of music - it felt too strongly connected to that identity. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think that’s where my Folios project came from - it cushioned me a bit from my past.

But something else that happened to me during the “quarantine era” – I completely fell in love with the writing process again. I hadn’t written much in the past several years. I got a record out into the world in 2018, but getting those tunes together was tough. A lot of unfinished work from that era.I also just didn’t have the hunger to write like when I was younger, but during COVID, I fell in love with waking up and writing again. I also found the enjoyment in the process of revising and tweaking it – and that hasn’t stopped.

And these days, I feel like I’m still in some ways dealing with the “fallout” of my sobriety, but I’ve found stuff from my back catalog that I’m at peace with and I’m focusing on moving forward. I am challenging myself to make the best work I can now  - fully in control of my abilities. I feel challenged by making interesting work and trying to share that with people. Playing music with my friends and others seems to be what feels good right now and I don’t define success in terms of the traditional sense, as much as I did in the past. I still have something to give and as long as I feel that way, I want to keep throwing myself into that. I’ll always strive to be a better writer. That’s what’s nice about music compared to something like sports. I can have a bad knee and still get better at this [writing].

Overall, I still have something to offer and feel grateful that I have a chance to, in some ways, reintroduce myself. I came out the other side - some people don’t. ​​Time, patience, and sobriety has given me the opportunity to reconcile my past while searching for what my role is at this point in the game. 

What other shifts have you seen with music and the music scene in the past few years?

Oh, a lot of things, but a couple big ones come to mind: It’s harder than ever to make a living playing music. People just aren’t as inclined to leave the house as much and we’ve also seen the continuation of the trend of the decommodification of music. We’re all awash in so much information and competing for people’s entertainment time. Music hasn’t lost its spiritual value – it still plays a significant and influential role in people’s lives and they want their favorite musicians to make a living and be able to put food on the table, but as an art form it has lost value over time. So I’m not really in a position to make a living out of making music anymore, but what I can do is instead of aiming bigger, focus more on what is at arm’s length. And for me, that means playing shows to as many people as much as possible, making records and making those things available and fostering something in the community that makes me feel good about how I spend my time.

Related to that, another shift is that as we’ve become more conscious of issues in the music community and society at large, is that more people are thinking about inclusion and safe spaces and more equality - to even the playing field as much as possible. Which I realize I’m talking about from the standpoint of the least useful demographic - a straight, white male who’s benefited from a privilege I probably don’t even fully comprehend, but I try to be a good person, conscious artist and ally and serve as a resource to others with the experience I have, in any way I can be helpful.

Who’s on your radar or you’ve been digging lately?

I’ve really enjoyed what Emmy Woods is doing lately. Also, Loser Magnet, Pleasure Horse, and Crush Scene are all great. I find myself looking back and thinking about the people when I was in my early to mid-20s who had been in the business longer and acted kind of like big brothers and sisters to me. I try to think about how I can make myself available for younger artists and also when I’m putting together shows, like my Third Thursdays residency at the White Squirrel.

What are some things you’ve got on the horizon?

Besides the new album, which will hopefully be coming out this fall, I’ll be doing a little regional touring and am also really looking forward to July 13. My record label, Pig’s Eye, is putting on a day-long festival at the White Squirrel. It’s going to be called the Fort Road Folk Festival and will feature music all day on both the indoor and outdoor stages, a pop up vintage shop, and hopefully food trucks - it’s gonna be great. Keep an eye out for the lineup announcement and more information soon.