With the assistance of Jerry David DeCicca and The Black Swans, the last record by the recently departed cult folk rocker Bob Martin will be released through Worried Songs on May 19.

Martin, a Lowell, Mass. born singer-songwriter, recorded a handful of albums sporadically between the 1970’s and 2010’s, and is perhaps best known for his debut LP from 1972 on RCA, the melancholic Midwest Farm Disaster. Over the years, he developed a small, but loyal fanbase, which included DeCicca. In 2008, DeCicca began to work with Martin on Seabrook, but it remained shelved until 2021, when Martin’s health was in decline. With DeCicca’s Black Swan bandmates providing back up, the record was completed, but unfortunately, Martin passed away before he could hear the final product.

Available for preorder now through Worried Songs, Seabrook is a mighty final statement by this legendary artist. Martin plays acoustic guitar and harmonica while singing with a roughened voice filled with sage wisdom and dusty highways. Meanwhile, The Black Swans provide subtle but poignant support that emphasizes the lonesome or hopeful atmospheres of each song. Together, they make this record sound like something between Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and Will Beeley’s Highways and Heart Attacks (also produced by DeCicca). Check out the album’s first single, the stripped down, JJ Cale-like “Stay Away Sunshine,” for example:

If Neil Young, Blaze Foley and Jesse Colin Young are amongst your favorite artists, you should preorder Seabrook on vinyl, CD or digital today.

-KH