Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Oral History of Marty Balin |
Collection |
Oral History |
Scope & Content |
In this oral history, musician and songwriter Marty Balin shares stories from his life at the center of the rock music scene and hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Born in 1942, Marty grew up in both San Francisco and Richmond. He describes himself as having been a very musical child, born with "a song in [his] heart." Marty began his musical career in the San Francisco folk scene. When the clubs he was playing at in the early 1960s did not support his transition to amplified rock music, he opened his own nightclub called The Matrix, where all the new bands began performing. Marty recounts his formation of the legendary band Jefferson Airplane in 1965, sharing the genesis of some of Jefferson Airplane's - and later Jefferson Starship's - most memorable songs. Throughout this oral history he discusses his friendships and working relationships with many of the period's biggest names in music. In 1968, Marty moved over to Mill Valley, where he began taking daily hikes on Mt. Tam with his dog. He was living in Mill Valley when he received the news of Janis Joplin's untimely death, an event he describes movingly here. At the time this oral history was recorded, Marty was living in Florida with his family, recording a new album and still performing. As he reflects on the course his life has taken and the wisdom he has gleaned from it, he expresses his continuing love for Mill Valley and Mt. Tam, and his heartfelt intention to keep coming back to visit - and to keep on rockin'. |
Audio and Transcript |
Click here to hear recording. Click here to read the transcript. |
Dates of Creation |
2017-07-13 |
Interviewee |
Balin, Marty |
Interviewer |
Schwartz, Debra |
Extent and Medium |
Transcript: 26pp Recording: 01:17:32 |
Search Terms |
1970s Balin, Susan "Sue" (wife) Bands Bennett, Tony Blues music Blues singers Casady, Jack Champlin, Bill Childhood & youth Counterculture Daughter Drugs Garcia, Jerry Graham, Bill Hiking House - Mill Valley Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Starship Joplin, Janis Kantner, Paul Kaukonen, Jorma Mathis, Johnny Mathis, Ralph Mt. Tamalpais Music Musicians Oral history - Music Parenting Rock & roll bands Rowan, Lorin Sathya Sai Baba Slick, Grace Songs Songwriters Sound recordings Sweetwater Music Hall Throckmorton Theatre |
Object ID |
2017.110.001 |
Object Name |
Recording |
Copyrights |
Transcript and recording copyright Mill Valley Public Library, 2017. Materials are made available for research purposes only; all rights are reserved to the Mill Valley Public Library. Requests for permission to quote for publication or for any other usage must be obtained from the Library. |