The official Martin Guitar podcast, hosted by Jimmy Leslie, explores the music, creativity, instruments, and personal journeys behind some of today’s most compelling artists
NAZARETH, PA – September 1, 2026 – C. F. Martin & Co.® today announced the launch of Martin Stories, the official podcast of Martin Guitar and a new destination for conversations with the artists, players, collectors, and creators who have a Martin guitar at the center of their musical lives.
Hosted by Jimmy Leslie, Frets Acoustic Editor at Guitar Player, Martin Stories goes beyond the music to explore the careers artists have built, the moments that shaped them, the instruments they have connected with along the way, and the hard-won insights that come from a lifetime of playing and creating.
Every Martin owner has a story. For nearly 200 years, Martin guitars have been part of countless musical journeys—from songs written at home to performances heard around the world. Martin Stories brings those journeys to the forefront, creating a place where artists can share their stories about the moments built around that unmistakable Martin tone.
The Stories Behind the Sound
Each episode of Martin Stories takes listeners inside an artist’s relationship with music and the instruments that have helped shape it. Conversations span creativity, influences, collecting, songwriting, touring, career-defining moments, and the personal stories that can turn a guitar into far more than a musical instrument.
The first two episodes are available now.
The debut episode, released August 12, features Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids. Pattengale joins Leslie from his North Hollywood studio to trace the story of his main guitar, a 1954 Martin 0-15 he first encountered in a museum case and spent more than two years searching for before eventually using it as the inspiration for his own Martin signature model.
Their conversation explores Pattengale’s approach to creating The Milk Carton Kids’ distinctive two-guitar sound, his attraction to instruments that feel authentic rather than pristine, the unexpected origins of his accessible signature guitar, and what thousands of performances have taught him about choosing connection over perfection.
The second episode, released August 26, welcomes blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, whose Martin story began as a child playing his father’s mid-1970s D-35 in the vintage guitar shop where he grew up.
From “Nerdville Gotham,” his New York City home and vintage gear hub, Bonamassa discusses the path from that first Martin to seeing his own name inside one. The conversation explores the vintage 1937 00-18 that inspired his latest Martin signature models, his fascination with pre-war instruments, memorable guitars and performances from throughout his career, and what decades of recording, touring, and collecting have taught him about finding the right instrument.
More Martin Stories to Come
New episodes of Martin Stories will arrive every two weeks, with upcoming guests including Don Felder, Brooke Ligertwood, Eric Johnson, and many more artists from across the musical landscape.
The podcast is hosted by Jimmy Leslie, Frets Acoustic Editor at Guitar Player and a Bay Area-based writer, guitarist, and vocalist who records and performs original music as Spirit Hustler and under his own name.
Martin Stories is produced by Elizabeth Evans Media.
Martin Stories is available to stream now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and other major podcast platforms.
For more information about Martin Guitar, visit martinguitar.com. Press contact: Kate Richardson – [email protected]
ABOUT C. F. MARTIN & CO.
C.F. Martin & Co. has been making the finest handcrafted acoustic guitars for nearly two hundred years. For some of the biggest names and the most revered musical legends across every genre and every decade. And we’ve been doing it with pure artistic passion, a deep love for all things music, and an unwavering commitment to our community and the environment.
But most importantly, we’re still doing it… for you. For current and future generations of pioneers, rebels, and dreamers. For the beginners, the pros, and everyone in between. We believe music is an unstoppable force. It raises us up. Tells our truths. Gets us on our feet. Expresses our deepest heartaches. And our greatest joys.
So, we’ll continue to make the very best acoustic instruments and strings for as long as there are people like you who love music and love making it. We want to be there to help you tell your story. To help you share your music with the world. To help unleash the artist within.
We’re ready for the next two hundred years. Want to come with us? Visit martinguitar.com.
Facts Only
* C. F. Martin & Co. announced the launch of Martin Stories.
* The podcast is hosted by Jimmy Leslie.
* The podcast explores music, creativity, instruments, and personal journeys behind artists who own Martin guitars.
* The first episode featured Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids.
* Pattengale discussed his 1954 Martin 0-15 and its role in creating his signature model.
* The second episode featured blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.
* Bonamassa discussed his connection to a mid-1970s D-35 inherited from his father.
* New episodes are scheduled every two weeks.
* The podcast is hosted by Jimmy Leslie, who is also a guitarist and writer.
* Martin Stories is produced by Elizabeth Evans Media.
Executive Summary
C. F. Martin & Co. announced the launch of Martin Stories, an official podcast hosted by Jimmy Leslie, to explore the music, creativity, instruments, and personal journeys of artists who own a Martin guitar. The podcast seeks to delve into the careers, formative moments, instrument connections, and insights derived from playing and creating.
The inaugural episodes focus on specific artists; the first episode features Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids, discussing his journey with a 1954 Martin 0-15 and his philosophy on authenticity in music creation. The second episode features blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, detailing his connection to Martin guitars, including his childhood experience with a D-35 and his exploration of vintage instruments.
The podcast will release new episodes every two weeks, featuring other artists such as Don Felder, Brooke Ligertwood, and Eric Johnson. It is hosted by Jimmy Leslie, who is also a guitarist and writer. The content covers topics including creativity, influences, collecting, songwriting, and career milestones related to owning a Martin guitar.
Full Take
The narrative frames the relationship with a Martin guitar not merely as an instrument-owner status but as a profound biographical narrative, positioning the instrument as a conduit for deep personal and artistic truth. The focus on "connection over perfection," as seen in Pattengale’s discussion, suggests an underlying tension between the pursuit of idealized sonic purity and the reality of lived experience. This structure implicitly validates the idea that authentic creative expression is inseparable from the physical tools used, suggesting that value resides less in the artifact's monetary worth and more in the embodied history it carries.
The pattern involves leveraging a legacy brand (Martin) to generate intimacy, transforming a commercial product into a platform for shared vulnerability. The approach seeks to bridge the gap between high-end manufacturing and personal storytelling, which carries an inherent persuasive weight by invoking nostalgia, craftsmanship, and generational continuity. This is a mechanism that leverages perceived authority—the history of Martin guitars—to grant credibility to the subjective experiences being shared. The implication is that true artistic insight is derived not from isolated technical mastery but from navigating the complex accumulation of personal experience alongside material objects.
What assumptions underpin the premise that an artifact can facilitate such deep psychological exploration? If the process requires translating lived experience into an accessible format, what happens when the inherent tension between the desire for objective truth and the subjective nature of memory is mediated through a commercial lens? How does this focus on shared journeys mitigate the risk of essentializing the 'Martin story' to the brand itself?