Playing Nick Drake’s Martin 000-28 at FolkEast 2025: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience
A Lifelong Connection
Over the weekend at FolkEast Festival 2025, I was given the chance of a lifetime: to play Nick Drake’s Martin 000-28, the guitar he used on his final recordings, including Black Eyed Dog.
I’ve been listening to Nick Drake since I was 17. I’m 48 now, and his music has soundtracked so much of my life. To suddenly find myself holding that guitar — the one I’d heard on record for decades — was very nearly overwhelming.
A Guitar with a Story
According to Richard Morton Jack’s biography Nick Drake: The Life, Nick bought the Martin 000-28 from Ivor Mairants Musicentre in London on 13 August 1973, paying £235. With rosewood back and sides and a spruce top, it became his final guitar, the one he took into his last studio session in July 1974.
That session produced four songs: Rider on the Wheel, Black Eyed Dog, Hanging on a Star, and Voice from a Mountain. The guitar is also heard on Tow the Line. Some, including Nick’s engineer John Wood, believe it may also have been the guitar used on Pink Moon, though that remains uncertain.
After Nick’s death, his father gave the instrument to family friend Brian Wells, who later returned it to Nick’s sister, Gabrielle. Today, it remains in her possession — making the chance to play it all the more remarkable.
On Stage at FolkEast
I wasn’t prepared at all. Sitting outside in the sunshine, I looked up the tuning Nick used for Black Eyed Dog and tried to piece something together. I had about twenty minutes, no more. Then the moment came: at the Second Cousins Exhibition, in front of 200 people, I walked on stage with the Martin 000-28 in my hands.
At first, I couldn’t quite feel the song. Something was missing. Then I realised Nick must have played it higher up the neck, around the 12th fret. Suddenly the guitar revealed its secrets, and that unmistakable Nick Drake sound filled the room. The audience went quiet instantly.
Never Felt Magic Crazy As This
It wasn’t note-perfect, but that hardly mattered. The experience was surreal, electrifying — something I’ll never forget. Given the circumstances, I think I did all right, and the stillness of the audience suggested they felt the weight of it too.
I owe huge thanks to Cally Callomon, who looks after the Nick Drake Estate. Not only did he bring the Martin 000-28, but also the multicoloured shawl fans will remember from those iconic woodland photographs. To stand before both, and to play, was humbling beyond words.
Closing Thoughts
Nick Drake’s music has been part of my life for more than three decades. To touch the very instrument he used for his final songs was more than just a musical experience — it was a connection across time, between listener and artist, memory and sound. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, indeed.
