Western Swing | Fort Worth, IN
From honky tonks in Texas and Tennessee to European concert halls, fans have come to know Carolyn Martin as a vocalist with a unique sense of musical style, a charismatic stage presence and a voice that exudes passion and experience and an elegance that evokes one of her lifelong heroes, Patsy Cline.
Born in Abilene, Texas, Carolyn is a member of the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Northwest Western Swing Music Society’s Hall of Fame in 2014 and joined the Western Swing Society of the Southwest’s Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2014, the Cowtown Society of Western Music named Carolyn a “Hero of Western Swing”, and Carolyn was the recipient of the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers award as the Western Swing Female Vocalist of the Year in 2008, 2010, and 2014.
Martin began playing guitar and singing in her teens, and before long, started playing in public. Carolyn soon began working with area bands, and a few years later took her own band on the road, playing in nightclubs, dance halls and hotel lounges.
She moved to Nashville in 1985 and worked as a freelance singer and guitarist. In 1999, she joined Time Jumpers which she was part of for 11 years with three CD’s, a DVD that has aired on hundreds of Public Television Stations and sharing two Grammy nominations with the band. She left the Time Jumpers to perform full time with her own group, Carolyn Martin’s Swing Band.
Her husband and bandmate took a position in Fort Worth, Indiana but that has not slowed them down from playing festivals and concerts far and wide, including the upcoming Montana Folk Festival to the great delight of audiences that will converge in Butte July 12-14.