Mar-Tie (partially found musical recordings; 1980's-early 2000's)

Mar-Tie's Avant Garde Grandpa Album Cover

Status: Partially Found

Mar-Tie was a character created by the late Neil Martin Stringham and was self-described as a "Country Western Superstar" with number 1 hits in Portland and Seattle. This character was a byproduct of his severe bipolar disorder, and caused him to spend his life savings on backup bands and a tour bus, which was repossessed the day after he bought it. During the early 90s, Stringham often showed up at The Academy Theater in his hometown of Provo, Utah and would sleep during movie screenings. Eventually, he became familiar with the staff there and would perform with them on his Casio-SK1 keyboard. He gave some homemade tapes to a worker named Christopher Lynn. While Mar-Tie seemed to look harmless, he was a danger to himself and others, and his constant recording put much strain on his family. Eventually, he had to be committed to the Utah State Hospital, which he once worked at. Stringham passed away in 1999 and his body was donated to Grand Canyon University to be a medical cadaver. Out of the hundreds of tapes he recorded, very few are known to exist and his grandson, Phil Jacobson, says that he kept them in storage lockers that he never paid for causing them to be auctioned off and most likely destroyed or sold by the buyers.

Avant Garde Grandpa Release

"Avant Garde Grandpa" is a compilation record by his grandson, Phil Jacobson, that has all of the recordings in his possession and includes: Navajo Lady, Beat Drun Juel, Tribute to Betoven, Mar-Tie's Voice of God, Old Mac Donald, Mea Deserets , and Santa/Timpanogus.

References

• https://archive.org/details/csr026
• https://web.archive.org/web/20040117025615/http://www.tinypineapple.com/chris/archives/martie_productions.html
• http://www.comfortstand.com/catalog/026/index.html

http://www.comfortstand.com/artists/martie.html