It was the green apple on the record’s label that caught Martin Sexton’s eye. Before Sexton had written the ’90s gem “Diner,” the deeply underrated LP “The American,” or any of the aces in his catalog, the singer songwriter was a sixth grader raiding his older siblings’ album collections. One day he came across “Abbey Road” and that green apple label in the basement.
“Having heard of the Beatles, I thought I’d give this one a play on the old Sears turntable,” Sexton told the Herald. “Though it was badly damaged, scratched, skipping, popping, and dusty, there was no hiding the brilliance. The songs reached out and grabbed me.”
“‘Abbey Road’ is the album that lit my fire as a kid,” he added. “Today it remains the most influential album that informs my writing, performing and recording style.”
Sexton recently decided to celebrate his old favorite with a tour devoted to the album — the Martin Sexton Abbey Road Show comes to City Winery Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 (tickets still remain for Jan. 31). For many locals, it’s a welcome return for an artist who got his start busking in Boston and went on to headline the Orpheum.
“The Beatles in general have always been my favorite band,” he said. “From the early days to ‘Revolver’ to ‘Sgt. Pepper’ to the ‘White Album,’ their range is incomparable. I always wanted to put my own spin on ‘Abbey Road’ specifically. It’s basically what I was doing as a 16-year old sitting by the hi-fi with a guitar dreaming of the day I could perform to an audience.”
If you haven’t spun the record in a while, you might forget how deep and dynamic it is. “Abbey Road” is a masterpiece by three master songwriters spanning a dozen rock and pop styles over 17 tracks. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is an eight-minute epic that nods to acid rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion. “Her Majesty” clocks in at under half a minute (although Sexton points out it has “16 chords crammed into this 23-second gem”).
“I was surprised at the simplicity of some of the chord changes and also at how complex others were,” he said. “The arpeggiated E7 flat 9 in ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ is a chord I’d never heard of and the hardest one I’ve ever learned to play, and it’s just freakin’ brilliant. I spent the summer in the Adirondacks leading up to the tour wood-shedding these tunes. ‘Sun King’ was the easiest and ‘Because’ was probably the hardest.”
Oh, by the way, Sexton is doing the whole album solo. It will be just him and his acoustic guitar.
“I try to make the guitar be the band, using it as a drum kit, a bass, etc., and using my voice as other things as well,” he said. “For example, I focused on George’s guitar solo on ‘Something’ by whistling it note for note to pay it homage.”
Next up might be a covers album, which he’s never done. But he is writing fresh originals. In fact, working on this project pushed him to write more of his own stuff. Hopefully that means Sexton will be back in town — his hometown, if you talk to many of his fans — soon doing his own songs.
“Wherever I’m playing in the world I always hear from someone who first saw me in Harvard Square,” he said.
For tickets and details, visit martinsexton.com