SINGLE REVIEW: JOE MARTIN - ALONE IN VALENTINE

A welcome return to action for Joe Martin with three singles due to land over the upcoming week, promoting his forthcoming album and tour - starting with the title track "Alone In Valentine". It goes without saying that any release from Joe will be lyrically rich, this one finding ever inventive ways to find words ending with the letter o, as it gradually reveals a stunning little story.

Right from the cover picture this song invites you in, the vision of a woman about to enter what looks to be a bar, there's tables outside or maybe a church, there's a cross above the door. She's seemingly alone and there is a grand vista in the background that could easily have featured in a Western at some point. How is Joe Martin going to pull all of these elements together?

Musically, things open to the sound of a pedal steel guitar and Joe's acoustic guitar playing a quickly yet gently picked intro, as Joe lyrically paints the early sketches as to who this woman might be.

"In a beat up Silverado - through Southern Colorado

She'll be on the Interstate, till some time late tomorrow.

And all she's left behind, is her life there in the pines

Took the pieces of a broken heart, to try and build a better life"

The opening verse closes with the appearance of a bolder stronger electric guitar sound

"And all the words are left unsaid, all the many miles ahead

On some highway far away, she'll find a place to pray

And ask the Lord for strength from up on high

She's headed for tomorrow ,in that beat up Silverado

She'll find a way to finally say goodbye"

The most subtle of percussion enters the fray as Joe gradually reveals more

"Standing there at night, lost in the Marfa lights

Tequila in the evening, alone in Valentine

A movie at the Starlight, A drive down River Road

The Eagles "Desperado" is playing on the radio"

The Marfa lights are mysterious, often colorful, dancing lights or orbs frequently observed at night in the desert, while Valentine ( of which there are a few in the US) is just one of their many strangely names towns.

The closing line of the chorus has perhaps been leading us in one direction however as the third verse opens they are given something of a twist and the final jigsaw pieces start to fall into place.

"Those ashes in her hand, on the bank of the Rio Grande

A warm Texas wind to take him home again

Across that great divide, she says her last goodbyes

Her hands on the wheel, tears in her eyes"

The closing lines being the great reveal, the whole journey has been about visiting places they'd planned to visit together

"In HIS beat up Silverado, through Southern Colorado"

There's a definite warm feeling to the playing and indeed the overall sound, that gives it a timeless feel, the need to add electronica atmospherics has wisely been avoided

Fun fact - The album artwork was shot at the Texas Valentine Bar in Valentine, population 73.

Alone In Valentine - the single is available now

Alone In Valentine - the album is die for release April 17 2026

UK Dates for the first half of the Alone In Valentine tour: