Tony Martinez took naps in his father's guitar case when he was a baby. He would cry and cry at his father's shows, and would only stop when he was put in the guitar case and fall asleep to the sound of the music playing.
The first time he recalls getting fired up about wanting to play music was at age 4, when he was watching his father play with his band, and he remembers thinking, "How do these five guys come together with various instruments and make different sounds to combine and make one sound?" This was an impressive feat to his young mind, and he told himself right then, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life."
So far, he has. This Sunday Valley Fever is hosting his farewell show at Yucca Tap Room starting at noon with the support of Mario Moreno & The Ramblers, Jimmy Pines & Washboard Jere, Barefoot and Pregnant, Matthew Reveles, The Far West (L.A.), The Podunk Poets (L.A.), and Jayke Orvis and The Broken Band (Pittsburgh).