Radio host and bluesman Mick Martin dies at the age of 76

By Cecil Hannibal

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — Mick Martin is being remembered as a beloved radio host, a musician who performed around the world, while teaching the next generation what it means to be a true “bluesman.”

A member of the Mick Martin Big Blues Band tells KCRA 3 that Martin died Sunday at the age of 76.

“He had a big influence in Sacramento and not just performing and entertaining, but with programs such as Blues in the Schools,” said Andrew Little, a guitarist in Martin’s band.

Little remembers his father and grandmother going to the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee to watch Martin.

Years later, the young musician would perform with Mick during his afterschool program “Blues in the Schools” before being asked to join the musician’s new “big band” a few years ago.

Many people remember Martin for his “blues and rock” style on the harmonica, or his long-running radio show “Mick Martin’s Blues Party.”

Martin also wrote for a local Sacramento newspaper as a music critic and did film reviews, often for local television and radio stations.

“He was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge,” said Tony Cox, a longtime friend and radio jockey.

“He was amazing, he created theater of the mind. He could tell a story in 20 seconds that would take other people an hour to tell,” said Cox when asked about his radio show.

When you talk to people who knew Mick personally, they all say he wanted to pass his love of America’s music to the next generation.

That’s exactly what he did back in May 2004.

“We were at a concert once and his guitar player at the end of a song said, ‘Mick, did you hear that harp out in the audience? And Mick goes, ‘Who’s playing that Harp?” Cox said.

By “harp,” he’s referring to a harmonica, the instrument Martin was known for playing — a staple of blues music since its birth in the Mississippi Delta.

The person playing the harp was a 10-year-old named Kyle Rowland.

“I heard him start singing and playing harmonica, and I was in awe,” Rowland said.

Rowland said his father, a big blues fan, put a harmonica in his crib as an infant. After hearing him play, Martin invited a young Rowland on stage to perform.

He then spent the next six to seven years traveling with the band as a guest performer and honed his harp playing skills.

Today, Rowland is one of the most well-known harmonica players in the country, and in 2024 was inducted into the Sacramento Blues Hall of Fame.

“He called me his nephew, you know, I called him Uncle Mick. I never missed a moment to tell him how grateful I was,” Rowland said.

Martin’s final performance was in May for his yearly birthday bash, where he performed with his band. His friend Donna Delgadillo said this year’s show was really a culmination of all his work and relationships over the years.

Musicians from his past and present were all on stage to perform a big show in front of his friends and family.

“It was like a dream come true for Mick. I can just know in my heart that he was satisfied with what he achieved,” Delgadillo said.

A band member tells KCRA 3 that he’s survived by his wife, daughter, and grandchildren.

His exact cause of death is unknown.

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