I often feel sorry for the Martin D-35.  Forced to live in the shadow of its big brother - the Martin D-28 - the guitar doesn’t seem to get the credit that it deserves.  The story goes that the guitar would never even have been made except for the fact that Martin couldn’t get large enough pieces of rosewood to make D-28’s after a fire in the Martin factory.  The company was forced to use a 3-piece back to create the D-35.  The surprise was that a lot of players preferred the D-35 to the D-28 and a classic was born.  You can buy it here.

One of those players is Ray Lamontagne.  As legend has it, Lamontagne was listening to music one morning before going to his job in a shoe factory.  He heard Stephen Stills’ Treetop Flyer and decided that day to become a musician.  Ray sold his Volkswagen van to buy a 1972 Martin D-35 because he wanted the same brand of guitar as Stephen Stills.  A great new artist was born.

Related Article: The Guitars of Johnny Cash

Tabs

Fortunately, Ray has released good books with the tabs for both of his albums.  Here are the links to the books with tabs for Trouble and Till the Sun Turns Black.

Songs

I’m a huge fan of both albums.  Clips from both are below (with a treat thrown in at the end):

Video

Ray performing his song “Jolene” on one of his many Martin D-35’s is below.  Enjoy.

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Buy the Martin D-35 Dreadnought Guitar Standard