How awesome to see some long-time Albany friends and neighbors in this fantastic new live-in-the-studio clip! Jason Martin is an extraordinary artist, and I’ve followed his work happily and eagerly for years and years, having first interviewed him for Metroland way back in 1998. How many people do you know whose calling card reads “Artist, Musician, Wolfman, Consultant”? Not many, I’m betting, though Jason Martin is fantastic in each of those pursuits, as a spin through his generous and fascinating website will prove.

Jason also performed twice on Sounding Board, The CableACE Award-winning television show I wrote for and hosted in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A clip from his 2001 performance (featuring me introducing the show in one of the garish Salvation Army shirts I always wore on air) is now available online, so you can compare/contrast what Jason and I looked and sounded like then. Jessie Pellerin appears in both clips, too, as a clarinet player in the 2001 one and as the drummer in the 2012 one. Troy Pohl (the bassist in the 2012 clip) was one of the primary singer-songwriters for Kamikaze Hearts, who made my Top 21 Albums of 2012 list last week.

It’s wonderful to see them all making such great music together here!