Jeffrey Martin + Tenderness / YES Basement, Manchester / Thu 22 Jan
Schedule
Thu, 22 Jan, 2026 at 07:30 pm
UTC+00:00Location
YES | Manchester, EN
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As a babe Jeffrey Martin sought out solitude as often as he could find it. He’s always been that way, and he has never understood the whole phenomenon of smiling in pictures, although he is a very happy guy. One night in middle school he stayed up under the covers with a flashlight and a DiscMan, listening to Reba McEntire’s That’s the Night that the Lights Went Out in Georgia on repeat until the DiscMan ran out of batteries. That night he became a songwriter, although he didn’t actually write a song until years later. After high school he spent a few years distracting himself from having to gather up the courage to do what he knew he had to do.Eventually he found his way to a writing degree, and then a teaching degree. He wrote most days like his life depended on it, all sorts of things, not just songs, but songs too. He fell in love with teaching high school English, which was fantastic because he never thought he’d actually come to truly love it. His students were fierce and unstoppable forces of noise and curiosity, and for all that they took from him in sleep and sense, they gave him a hundred times back in sparks and humility.
All the while he was also playing truckloads of music. There was one weekend where he flew to LA while grading essays on the plane, played two shows, and then flew back home, still grading essays, and woke up to teach at 5am on Monday morning. It was around this time he started wondering if such a life was sustainable.
Alas, music, the tour life, was a constant raccoon scratching at the back door. Jeffrey spent nights on end sitting up in bed, and then sitting on the front porch, staring off into the dark, wondering if he could bear to leave teaching to go on tour full time. Eventually his brain caught up with what his guts had known for months. With tears in his eyes he announced to his students that he wouldn’t be back the following year, and that he didn’t feel right hollering at them to chase their dreams at all cost if he wasn’t going to do the same.
Jeffrey Martin tours full time now. He is always making music, and he is always coming through your town. He misses teaching like you might miss a good old friend who you know you’ll meet again.
‘[In Thank God We Left The Garden,] Martin has delivered one of the finest albums of recent times, which if there is any justice should elevate him to the very forefront of the current crop of confessional singer-songwriters and sit high in all the end of year top ten lists’ – Americana UK
‘Reminiscent of early Nathaniel Rateliff and John Moreland, and prime John Prine, there’s no reason here to doubt that Martin might one day eclipse them all’ – Mojo
Tour support comes from Tenderness. Tenderness is the solo project of Katy Beth Young of Peggy Sue and Deep Throat Choir. She writes strange love songs about romance, grief and re-read text messages. She’s been listening to a lot of Patsy Cline and a lot of Yo La Tengo, Big Thief, Wye Oak and Bill Callahan. It turns out all of her favourite bands are a little bit country <3
Tenderness will release her debut album True on 13 March 2026 via Amorphous Sounds. The album features tidal pools, video calls, streaming algorithms, heat waves and a full moon on a touchscreen. Produced by Euan Hinshelwood (Younghusband, Cate Le Bon) at his VacantTV studio in South London over four years, True is a solo album in name, but a communal one in spirit, with Hinshelwood adding layers of synths, drones, bass, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy–inspired guitar solos.
Price: £20 adv
Info/tickets: https://www.heymanchester.com/jeffrey-martin-2#info
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Where is it happening?
YES, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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