10 AMAZING Songs Played on MARTIN Guitars

You love Martin guitars. I love Martin guitars. They are effectively the most popular and famous acoustic guitar brand on the planet. It’s not a huge stretch, then, for me to say that these guitars feature on some of the greatest recordings in history.

From rock to country, folk to pop, Martin guitars have been utilised by some of the greatest songwriters we’ve ever had, to deliver much of their best work. Today’s a simple brief: I want to gather a number of those songs together in one place, for your enjoyment and inspiration. The only criteria in place is that the songs are amazing, and that they feature a Martin acoustic guitar!

Folk-grunge-rock icon Neil Young has shown himself to be partial to a few Martin acoustics throughout his career. And by that, I mean 1940s model D-45 dreadnoughts, right? Priceless heirlooms, used to create some of the best folk-rock out there. Classics like Old Man, Heart of Gold, The Needle and the Damage Done, and this one - My My, Hey Hey - are all performed on Martin guitars.

This excellent song from Dylan comes from his 15th record, Blood on the Tracks. Concerning itself with the narrative of a flattering relationship told from several viewpoints, Dylan uses his 1969 Martin D-28 to give a framework to his elliptical, poetic words. Dylan’s strumming and picking techniques are well worth studying: what initially seems haphazard and sketchy actually develops into something altogether more intricate upon repeated listens.

Folk superstar Joni Mitchell showed us the darker commercial side of the hippie dream with Big Yellow Taxi. The sentiment remains today, as does Mitchell’s sublime acoustic playing, performed on a special 1956 Martin D-28. What made it special? The fact that it survived an explosion in Vietnam (which destroyed everything around it) before it found its way into Joni’s arms, that’s what! 

This song is perhaps an obvious one for inclusion, but if anything, it serves as a reminder to go and listen to more of her wonderful art.

Ghostly harmonising folk duo Simon & Garfunkel have given us an abundance of beautiful acoustic songs, most of which were written on Martin guitars. Mostly, Paul Simon used a D-18, but was also honoured with his own signature guitar, the OM-42PS.

There are loads of songs I could’ve included here, but the understated, graceful beauty of Homeward Bound has won it this time! As with Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, there are whole worlds of expression to explore within their bodies of work.

Wish You Were Here is one of Pink Floyd’s best loved songs, and amongst its best observed too, in terms of its lyricism. The sense of longing, and of staring into the face of mortality, were themes that the band were incredibly good at evoking.

We all know the ‘fake radio’ opening, but that doesn’t stop it from still being a very cool and creative way to set a scene within the song. David Gilmour’s ‘radio’ rhythm is played on a Martin HD12-28 12 string, and his 6-string accompaniment is performed on a Martin D-35.

This song was already a few years old by the time it became a hit single. Originally from Nirvana’s debut Bleach, it was performed again for their seminal MTV Unplugged in New York record in 1993. Released a year later - and some months after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, the acoustic version of the song became a hit all over again.

Kurt’s guitar of choice was a modified Martin D-18E guitar with large control knobs and a soundhole-mounted magnetic pickup. When it was sold in auction in 2020 for 6 million dollars, it became the most expensive guitar ever sold. That has only just been beaten recently by David Gilmour's Strat selling for 14.5 million dollars. Wow, basically!

This wonderful ballad from Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album showcases both Stevie Nick’s rich and emotive vocals, and Lindsay Buckingham’s understated and tasteful fingerpicking on a Martin D-18. Inspired by a trip to Aspen, where the couple had taken cleaning jobs due to struggles to get their music heard, Nicks wrote the song after gazing out at the Rocky mountains and seeing a metaphor for her life in the snow.

Johnny Cash’s empathy for those who’d found themselves on the wrong side of the law was well-known. He famously played in both Folsom and San Quentin prisons, in special concerts organised for the inmates, which was something that had rarely (not never) been done before.

One of his most famous songs is Folsom Prison Blues, with a narrative that talks about the daily soul-crush of prison life, and includes the notorious lyric ‘I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die’. Some reports say he wrote this on a budget guitar since he was serving in the Airforce at the time, whilst others say it was a Martin D-28. Either way, it’s a great song and Cash was a lifelong Martin player.

Blackbird is credited to the Beatles, but in reality it is only ‘Beatle Paul’ who appears on this song. Inspired by a Bach piece that both he and George Harrison learned as kids, Blackbird saw Macca singing, playing his Martin D-28 and tapping his foot alone, save for the sound of a little blackbird.

It’s one of his most beautiful, tender ballads, known as well for the many cover versions of it as his own. Always on My Mind is just one of those timelessly great songs; the kind we all wish we’d written. 

Willie wrote it on his famous Martin N-20 nylon string nicknamed Trigger. Trigger has been with him for decades, it has been signed by all manner of fellow musicians, and it has a big old hole in the front! It’s Nelson’s favourite guitar and you won’t see him without it.

This is only a small smattering of the endless hit songs that feature a Martin acoustic. What I’ve taken from this is just how resoundingly popular their dreadnoughts are, particularly the D-28! It seems to be the overwhelmingly popular choice. You can’t bear spruce and rosewood, can you?

I hope this curated list of songs helped illustrate Martin’s role in the history of popular music, but more than that, I just hope you enjoyed the tunes!

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