The Thomas Martin odyssey begins in Chicago in 1960 when he, cousin Tommy Kinsella, and neighbor Billy King formed a trio inspired by the folk music scene in Chicago. After several years at DePaul University, Martin soon wound up on active military duty in the U.S.Air Force, where he began performing for his fellow air-men, first in the barracks during basic training, then in larger facilities in Mississippi and Alabama. Eventually arriving at Hamilton AFB in Marin County, Martin hooked up with fellow folk-enthusiast Bruce Lee and performed at clubs in San Francisco and Sausalito. He was next introduced to his singing-partner-to-be, Carolee Robbins, which led to the singing duo of Tom & Lee. They performed at the Drinking Gourd , the Holy City Zoo ,and Bimbo's in San Francisco. Then it was on to engagements at the Purple Onion, around the corner from the Hungry I. And then they landed a record deal with Fantasy Records (before their move to Berkeley).
Their Bassist during this period was Nat Johnson, later seen in the music scene of the Steve McQueen movie, “Bullitt”.
Tom & Lee did concert performances with Malvina Reynolds, with the great Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete, and with up and coming bands like the Youngbloods and Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
The duo toured Colorado, performing at resorts in Steamboat Springs, Grand Lake, TheVail Village Inn ( the year it opened ) and Golden. They ventured further east, performing in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Madison and Fond Du Lac. The duo ultimately split-up at the end of the 60’s.
Martin continued on as a solo performer, all along writing songs and establishing the extensive catalog which today numbers over 200 songs.
Martin continued touring up and down the state and eventually landed a concert date opening for David Carradine in South Bend, Indiana. He performed with Ramblin’ Jack Elliot on the Balclutha in SF Bay. He did several performances with Kate Wolf, who he met at the Drinking Gourd. He went on to co-produce a 45 rpm single ( 8:05/Think Of Me )with Pam and Gary Penders, on the Runway 5 label out of Sausalito. He was heavily involved with the Runway 5 club, as well as with a club which began as “The Gas Works”, which became “The Cantina”, and ended up as “The Lions Share”, on Caledonia street.
After leaving Marin, Martin moved to the East Bay, where he lived and performed in Danville, ending up in Martinez, where he lived for 25 years with his second wife, Georgia Rowe, and established the Project Studio known as Big Whole Sounds They recently relocated to the city of Concord, there re-establishing BigWholeSounds.
Martin is currently a front-of-house mixer at Armando’s music club in downtown Martinez. He occasionally performs at the club, and is also involved with the Hawaiian music and dance group," 'Ono Like ". He has released a cd project entitled “Summer Works” and has now completed work on his second release, “Metal And Wood”.
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