Timothy Martin
ASCAP

Timothy grew up in a small town in West Texas, the son of a newspaper publisher and a very musical mom. "I learned more about music from Mom than I could from anyone. When we'd be in the car, she'd have Nat King Cole or Tommy Dorsey or Carole King playing in the 8-track. And she would harmonize and improvise. Soon, I started to learn to sing with her, and my love of music was born."

"I also had my brother and sister as examples. They were both extremely talented pianists, and my brother is a killer sax player."

A younger Tim

Tim playing a Guild 12-String

Tim sang and played in every organization he could get into during his school years. "I realized early on that I really didn't want to focus on just one instrument, style, or mode. So I switched instruments a lot in my high school band and learned to play as many different ones as I could in order to broaden my perspective. I played in jazz bands, country bands, good bands, rock bands, and just plain bad bands. By the time I got into college, I had yet another realization: I didn't really want to slap hamburgers for a living."

Even though he never left music completely behind, he decided to pursue studies in college that could provide a decent living, and so he took degrees in Abstract Algebra and Computer Science. "It was my hope that I could get good enough employment to provide for my family, and have enough left over to help finance the equipment I would need to pursue music the way I have always wanted to." With considerable advancement in technology, some elbow grease, and a great deal of tolerance and help from those around him, Tim's vision has been realized: eLithic Music.

Aside from dear old Mom, Tim counts his primary musical influence as Jon Anderson. "He's always been so versatile... and so dominant. He changes styles with such ease, but is never restricted by those styles." Other influences include Jon's band Yes, Tull, ELP, Kansas, Zep, James Taylor, Rush, Neil Young, Queen, Vaclav Nelhybel, David Lanz, Enya, Dmitri Shostakovich, Cat Stevens, Aaron Copeland, Aerosmith, Steve Morse, Paul Hindemith, Triumvirat, J.S. Bach, Deep Purple, Ronnie Montrose, Paul Whear, and of course, his wife Christi. "She tries to keep me on solid ground musically, and is largely responsible for making the music more accessible to a larger audience."

Tim has been married to Christi for the last fifteen years. They have a nine year old daughter, Danielle. Tim currently works as the director of development for a medical software company in Dallas.

To read about the gear used for Tim's projects at eLithic, click here.

Tim would like to thank Dr. Gary Garner, the late Don Baird, the late J.W. King, Gary Laramore, Gene Murray, and Nadina Baird for teaching him music.