Some of the best songs of all time sound like they were recorded in a parking lot, not a studio. Think of the distortion-soaked raveup that is Little Richard’s “Rip It Up,” Willie Nelson’s guitar-pull version of “If You’ve Got The Money Honey,” or the Black Crowes’ staggering rocker “Remedy.”
All were recorded in a studio and mixed professionally to sound like they weren’t recorded in a studio or mixed professionally, and that makes them all the better.
Such is the case with “When Karma Comes Around,” the new single by Charleston’s Michael Martin Band that now is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.
Ushered in by an acoustic guitar chord and some seriously haggard vocal harmonies, Martin sings, “When karma comes around/My grandma gets to dancin’/And the kinsfolk all get down/My grandpa takes a mason jar and passes it around/When karma comes around.”
Then a dusty mid-tempo groove kicks in, a burbling banjo pops up, and the song casually swerves back and forth across the road for three minutes, buoyed by Martin’s gravel-and-grits vocal and a sound that makes it seem like the whole ramshackle band is jamming in a barn.
Except it wasn’t. Not even close, actually.
“I did most of the recording in Indiana with my friends in my studio,” Martin said in a recent Charleston City Paper interview. Martin splits his time between Folly Beach and Muncie, Ind.,, where his studio band is.
But there’s plenty of Charleston in there, too.
“Will Evans, from (local band) Sexbruise mastered the recording, and the backup singers are Dallas Baker and Erin Haggerty,” Martin said. “Will told me that the mix was ‘raw,’ and that’s why he liked it. He said, ‘I feel like I’m sitting in the room with you guys, or I’m at a front porch picking party,’ even though it was all tracked separately.”
Martin also sought local help from Slaton Glover, singer and guitarist for Charleston’s The Travelin’ Kine.
“I’d been asking him how the band gets that raw sound, because I just couldn’t get it,” Martin said. “And he helped me work out my songs so that they were ready to go when we walked in the studio door.”
The single is also a rare double-banjo tune, featuring Indiana’s own Breezy Peyton from Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band and Graham Sharp of the Grammy-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers.
“I got a chance to open for the Steep Canyon Rangers in Indiana last summer, and I showed Graham the song,” Martin said. “Later on I just sent him a message asking if he wanted to come in and play banjo on it, and he said yes and laid it down.”
As for the song’s inspiration, you’re not going to see it coming.
“There was a place out in Colorado right when weed first became legal out there, and they announced that they were looking for a theme song for their company, which was called Karmaceuticals. I normally don’t enter contests like that, but I figured what the heck and sent them a song called ‘Take Your Pills.’”
The company politely rejected the song, noting that it was the exact opposite of their message, asking Martin to write another song, which they loved. Martin added that all he asked in return was “an ounce of their premium ganja when I came through Denver. That’s where the ‘When Karma Comes Around’ song started, which was about 15 years ago.”
Martin said he’s hoping that perhaps putting out a song about karma will convince the universe to reward him in the future.
“Lord willing, I’ll find that after years of grinding, it wasn’t for naught,” he said. “I’m hoping the karma that’s coming around is that my taking the time to focus on the songs shines through.”
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