Buddy Martell, a familiar face for local fans of country music performs regularly at both the Chandler and North Valley locations of, The Stillery.

Last week, Northeast Valley News caught up with Martell’s solo set performed in front of a small but invested audience that requested songs from the floor. The fans closest to the stage were the most accustomed to Martell’s brand of country.

Martell, born in South Carolina, began his music career at just four years old when he sang “Away in a Manger” at his church.

Many years later, when he was about 11 years old, his father gave him a guitar and Martell learned his first songs, but according to Martell, his true passion for music came when he began playing the drums in ninth grade.

“That’s when I knew,” Martell said after being asked when he got “into” music.

His music experience has gone through a bit of an evolution. From listening to country music growing up, joining the marching and jazz band in high school and finally joining a rock band after graduating high school.

After Martell moved to Nashville, he and his band, A Thousand Horses, became part of the country crowd and were ultimately nominated best New Country Artist in 2015.

Martell told Northeast Valley News, that’s when he decided to stop “messing around” with other genres and stick with country music.

Becoming a big-name artist is not Martell’s main goal, “My focus is just…making the best music that I can make, whether it’s solo or my band,” Martell said.

He does want a long-term career playing music and told Northeast Valley News, he’s now affiliated with the country themed restaurant, The Stillery, best known for two locations, one in the north and another in the east Valley— now has a third site in the final stages on the west side.

Martell says the owners found him shortly after he moved to Arizona in 2020 while playing elsewhere at one of his shows. After discovering him, they began booking him to perform regular gigs at their restaurant.

Martell has two singles out on Spotify, “Just Dance” and “Rambling Too.”