Picture of a Tricky Picker
“My name is George Goehl and I’m calling from Chicago,” he said. “Is this Jimmy Martin?”
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“I kept pressing him to get a real commitment, to let me spend a year of his life with him, asking him for some clarity about our plans,” says Goehl. “Finally he said, ‘Boy, I don’t know what in the hell this clarity is you keep talking about. You just need to get your mind wrapped around this thing and get to it. Do it and let’s make some money.’”
Goehl obediently called Martin back after the first of the year, but it took ten messages and a couple months for Martin to get back to him. When Goehl asked him if he remembered the conversation they’d had in November, Martin brusquely replied, “Can’t say that I do.” Goehl refreshed Martin’s memory, but sensed that his subject was holding out on him.
Over the last nine months Goehl has shot some 70 hours of footage, including interviews with country stars like Ralph Stanley, Marty Stuart, Tom T. Hall, and Crowe. He has hunted raccoons with Martin and his pals, shot scenes on the Sunny Mountain Boys’ tour bus–including a fascinating one where Martin painstakingly labors over a tempo shift with his fiddler, revealing a fastidiousness on par with a classical musician’s–and taped nine performances. He’s also been trying to track down vintage footage (he recently scored 22 soundless seconds of Martin performing on Louisiana Hayride, a popular country radio program from the 50s) and memorabilia. He’s especially proud of a 78 of the first single Martin made for Decca, which he recently bought on eBay.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Marty Perez.
