Toby Martin

{{Infobox musical artist

| image = Youthgroup by kk.jpg

| name = Toby Martin

| caption = Martin in 2007

| image_size =

| birth_name = William Toby Martin{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/313384095 |title=ALL THIS WILL PASS |website=ASCAP |publisher=American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers |access-date=November 10, 2023}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|8|5|df=y}}

| birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

| instrument = Guitar, vocals

| genre = Alternative rock, indie rock

| occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, academic, lecturer

| years_active = 1996–present

| label =

| associated_acts = Youth Group

| website =

}}

William Toby Martin (born 5 August 1975), is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, academic, and lecturer at University of Huddersfield UK.{{cite web|title=Toby Martin — University of Huddersfield Research Portal|url=https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/persons/toby-martin#_ga=2.246753409.446033566.1542121888-856174611.1532784426&_gac=1.250284660.1539869982.CjwKCAjw3qDeBRBkEiwAsqeO7qTblbehbSkn8_aXQ2ZEc8_CB8A7pT-x3je54uyUSQNAoh1Xd6cqmRoCEcEQAvD_BwE|accessdate=15 November 2018|archive-date=4 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404213255/https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/persons/toby-martin#_ga=2.246753409.446033566.1542121888-856174611.1532784426&_gac=1.250284660.1539869982.CjwKCAjw3qDeBRBkEiwAsqeO7qTblbehbSkn8_aXQ2ZEc8_CB8A7pT-x3je54uyUSQNAoh1Xd6cqmRoCEcEQAvD_BwE|url-status=dead}} Martin is the grandson of Hungarian-born Australian poet David Martin and has a PhD in the history of Australian music from the University of Sydney.{{cite web|last=Buck|first=Robbie|title=The Inside Sleeve: Youth Group's Toby Martin talking early Australian country. |date=29 August 2012 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/insidesleeve/ise-29-08-2012/4230780|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Commission|accessdate=5 September 2012}} After fronting Sydney-based band Youth Group from 1996 to 2009, Martin developed his solo career, releasing his first album, Love's Shadow in 2012.

Martin's PhD thesis, published in 2012, is titled "Yodelling boundary riders : country music in Australia, 1936–2010".{{cite web|title=Sydney eScholarship Repository|date=January 2011 |url=http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8573|publisher=University of Sydney|accessdate=5 September 2012 |last1=Martin |first1=Toby }}

In 2017, Martin released his second solo album, entitled Songs from Northam Avenue. The album was written in Bankstown, and features musical accompaniment by several locals to the area.

Early life and career

Martin was born in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Hawthorn. He attended Preshil School. At 15, he moved to Canberra attending school at Narrabundah College with Cameron Emerson-Elliott, (a future co-member of the band Youth Group), where they wrote songs together as The Morris Brothers.{{cite web|last=Martin|first=Toby|title=About|url=http://tobymartin.com.au/about/|accessdate=5 September 2012}} Martin moved to Sydney some years later. (Not to be confused with a different Toby Martin, from Adelaide, who was in the band Poxsii Barccs, with Andy Strachan, Gary Hopper and Paul Inglis, which played around Melbourne.) In 1996 he formed Youth Group and the band later achieved success with their cover version of "Forever Young" by Alphaville which made no 1 on Australian record charts.{{cite web|last=Murfett|first=Andrew|title=Young Love|url=http://newsstore.smh.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=%22Toby+Martin%22&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=50&rm=200&sp=adv&clsPage=1&docID=AGE0508051260R7SIHR8|publisher=Fairfax|accessdate=5 September 2012|date=5 Aug 2008}}

Academic career

Martin was formerly a lecturer at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, where he taught songwriting, performance, musicology and world music to music students. Martin currently is a lecturer in Contemporary Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (University of Sydney). As a songwriter and performer, his research includes practice-based approaches, including the paper Making Music in Bankstown: Responding to Place Through Song,{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Toby |title=Making Music in Bankstown: Responding to Place Through Song |journal=IASPM Journal |date=2017 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=22–31 |doi=10.5429/2079-3871(2017)v7i2.5en |url=http://www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/view/825 |accessdate=15 November 2018|doi-access=free }} in an IASPM Journal special issue focused on practice-based popular music research. Martin's thesis on the history of Australian country music, Yodelling Boundary Riders, was published in 2015.{{cite web |last1=Wallen |first1=Doug |title=Yodelling Boundary Riders: Country Music in Australia since the 1920s by Toby Martin |url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2016/172-march-2016-no-379/3009-doug-wallen-reviews-yodelling-boundary-riders-by-toby-martin |website=Australian Book Review |date=25 February 2016 |accessdate=22 September 2020}} His extensive research and knowledge of Australian country music lead him to feature as a part of the 2020 Joy McKean documentary, Slim & I.

Touring

With Youth Group, Martin has toured extensively in Australia, as well as the US, Canada and UK. In 2012, he toured solo down Australia's East Coast supporting Seeker Lover Keeper. Following the release of Songs from Northam Avenue, he has performed solo in the UK and Australia since 2017.