Hi everyone, it’s your host Faithfulness, and today I have with me Martin Lloyd Howard from Reigate, England. Martin Lloyd Howard is here to share more light about his musical career while diving into his latest original single, “Hidden Andalucia,” a solo classical guitar composition released on May 1, 2026. In Martin’s own words, “This is a new original piece for solo classical guitar. It is a fusion of two musical traditions.” The opening and closing sections are loosely based on the work of the renowned Elizabethan lutenist and composer John Dowland, while the central section weaves together a series of captivating flamenco themes. “Hidden Andalucia” is a meeting point between two contrasting musical worlds, carefully brought together to create something both timeless and musically coherent. What inspired Martin Lloyd Howard to blend these rich traditions, and what story does this remarkable instrumental piece have to tell? Let’s find out.
Welcome, Martin Lloyd Howard. Before we begin our interview, here is what you need to know about this talented artist. Martin Lloyd Howard is an English guitarist, originally trained in the classical tradition, who has expanded his artistry into folk, blues, and rock across both electric and acoustic styles. His main instrument is a fifty-year-old handmade classical guitar, though he is equally proficient on electric, steel-string acoustic, and slide guitar. Martin specializes in original instrumental music featuring both solo and ensemble electric and acoustic guitars, creating compositions that showcase both technical mastery and emotional depth. He has also collaborated with a number of other artists, most notably Mark Johnson, leader of the Kent-based band The Midnight River Crew.
Martin Lloyd Howard wrote “Hidden Andalucia” as a celebration of two musical traditions that have long inspired him. According to Martin, the piece begins and ends with echoes of the elegant Elizabethan style of John Dowland, while its heart is filled with the passionate spirit of flamenco. Through this unique fusion, he has sought to ensure that these contrasting influences come together in a way that feels natural and artistically unified. Martin Lloyd Howard continues to use the guitar as a vehicle for storytelling, crafting instrumental works that invite listeners to discover emotion, history, and imagination without the need for words.
Having this brief Introduction, I’m sure new and current fans must be excited about our Interview today.
INTERVIEW
Faithfulness: Before your musical journey expanded into folk, blues, and rock, what early experience first made classical guitar feel deeply personal to you?
Martin Lloyd Howard: It was at school. My parents had just brought me a nylon guitar, but I knew nothing about how to learn it other than a vague notion that I wanted to play like Jimmy Page. A teacher offered to give a group of us folk guitar lessons and at the end of the lesson a fellow pupil gave us a rendition of Romanza, one of the most famous classical guitar pieces. I was completely blown away, put Jimmy on the back burner so to speak and decided I wanted to learn to play like that.
Faithfulness: Your music reflects a rare balance between technical discipline and emotional storytelling. At what point did you realize instrumental music could communicate just as powerfully as lyrics?
Martin Lloyd Howard: Well I suppose the flippant answer was when I realised I was a rotten singer! More seriously, it was only when I got into composing my own material from about ten years ago that I realised that by getting the balance right between technique and expression you could get a single guitar to tell a story or generate a set of moods.
Faithfulness: You’ve spent years moving across electric, acoustic, slide, and classical guitar styles. How has exploring so many musical identities shaped the way you now approach composition?
Martin Lloyd Howard: That’s quite hard to specify. When I compose, I nearly always start by doodling on my classical guitar – sometimes (maybe mostly) that leads to something played on it, but sometimes it points me in the direction of doing something different – a recent example being to take a kind of folk/Indian raga set of themes and play them on a DADGAD tuned steel string acoustic guitar to generate a new piece which will have that cross over feel. I’m working on that at the moment. In general having played across several styles over many years (with varying degrees of competence), that experience and knowledge allows you to jump between genres more easily.
Faithfulness: Your fifty year old handmade classical guitar seems almost like a creative companion rather than simply an instrument. What is it about that guitar that continues to inspire your sound after all these years?
Martin Lloyd Howard: Well it’s just beautiful to play and has always had a wonderful tone which has got better over the years. And I just know how it will sound if I play it in a particular way or in a particular position on the fretboard. By the way, it’s not just me who thinks this: other musicians who are more professionally qualified than me also love the sound it makes.
Faithfulness: Collaboration has also played an important role in your career, especially with artists like Mark Johnson and The Midnight River Crew. What have those creative partnerships taught you about musical chemistry and trust?
Martin Lloyd Howard: I think it’s about drawing out the best of what each partner can bring to the party. Mark and I have very different playing styles and musical influences, but there is enough overlap, combined with lots of mutual respect, to allow us to bounce ideas off each other and in the end produce something that to coin a phrase is more than the sum of its parts. As it happens we have just finished a new project which is a slow electric blues, with nods to BB King and Peter Green called “One Way Ticket into Paradise” currently out on SoundCloud. Neither of us have recorded anything like it before, but the joint effort has produced something which sounds pretty good.
Faithfulness: “Hidden Andalucia” brings together Elizabethan influences and flamenco traditions in a remarkably fluid way. What first sparked the idea of merging those two musical worlds into one composition?
Martin Lloyd Howard: I’ve always loved both styles. Over the years I have learnt a few Dowland pieces and have even composed one, “The Lady Dowager of Duxhurst”, which was deliberately put together in his style even to the extent of giving it a title which reflects Dowland’s tendency to personalise some of his music – check out “My Lord Willoughby: His Welcome Home” for example. At the same time I have always enjoyed improvising on flamenco riffs, scales, chords and techniques (though I am far from expert in any of them) and I wanted to capture that in a recording. The idea of combining the two flowed from starting with some Dowland style motifs in E minor and finding that they could segue dramatically, but naturally into an E Phrygian dominant scale that is one of the characteristics of flamenco playing. And it all came together quite well.
Faithfulness: John Dowland’s influence can be felt in the opening and closing movements of the piece. What emotions or atmospheres from his work were you hoping to channel into this release?
Martin Lloyd Howard: Dowland’s music to me has always had courtly, rather serious ambience and that is what I was trying to capture in the opening and closing sections of the piece. Some have called this melancholy and that’s absolutely fine, though it’s not actually a word I would use to describe it.
Faithfulness: The flamenco inspired central section introduces a completely different energy and intensity. What drew you specifically toward flamenco themes as the heart of the composition?
Martin Lloyd Howard: As I said before, I was keen to capture some of the energy of the flamenco improvisations that I enjoy playing, but within the confines of a short piece to hint at the potential fire and excitement without overwhelming the overall composition. For me the flamenco part is a bit like a coiled spring which is then gently allowed to relax rather than exploding.
Faithfulness: Fusion projects can sometimes feel fragmented if the transitions are not emotionally natural. What was the most challenging part of making these contrasting traditions feel musically coherent?
Martin Lloyd Howard: The linking passages. In both cases, I tried to use quite fast moving cadenzas to move from an E minor feel into the Phrygian dominant scale and vice versa. That seemed to work quite well. The use of triplets in moving from flamenco to Dowland was particularly useful musically.
Faithfulness: Because “Hidden Andalucia” is entirely instrumental, listeners are invited to create their own emotional interpretations. When you were composing it, what imagery or inner landscape were you personally experiencing?
Martin Lloyd Howard: I guess the Dowland sections make me feel quite relaxed, while the middle flamenco section builds tension and I think that comes out in the playing. But people will out their own emotional stamp on the piece.
Faithfulness: There is something cinematic about the movement of this piece, almost as though it travels through centuries and cultures within a few minutes. Did you imagine a narrative or journey while writing it?
Martin Lloyd Howard: Not really. As I have said, the whole thing started as a musical experiment which seems to have worked in terms of producing something that despite a few surprises within it has come out as something whole and coherent. I am delighted that people feel that it is something that bridges the centuries in a cinematic way, but I can’t claim that was the original intent.
Faithfulness: Your performance style carries both restraint and passion, particularly in the dynamic shifts between the calmer passages and the more fiery flamenco moments. How important was emotional pacing in shaping the final recording?
Martin Lloyd Howard: Very important. In particular I was keen to exercise some restraint in the flamenco section to avoid it bursting into excess which would have completely unbalanced the piece – see my coiled spring analogy in answer to an earlier question.
Faithfulness: As someone deeply rooted in multiple genres, do you feel “Hidden Andalucia” represents a new creative chapter for you, or does it feel more like a culmination of everything you’ve explored over the years?
Martin Lloyd Howard: I’m very happy with “Hidden Andalucia” and glad that people seem to like it. But it’s part of a continuing process of development rather than a major inflection point in my compositional journey. I am however delighted that the fusion of two styles has generated so much interest in those who listen to it.
Faithfulness: Looking back on the creative process behind this release, what did “Hidden Andalucia” reveal to you about yourself as both a guitarist and composer?
Martin Lloyd Howard: I’m not sure it revealed anything in particular. As with other compositions, there is an underlying idea – in this case a particularly powerful one about fusing two styles – and the process that follows is one of taking that idea and turning it into something which hangs together musically. An example would be “Thinking Time” another new piece which has a central idea of thinking aloud about a musical motif and gradually elaborating upon it. Obviously a different idea from “Hidden Andalucia”, but the compositional process is similar.
Faithfulness: When listeners discover “Hidden Andalucia” years from now, what feeling or lasting impression do you hope remains with them after the final note fades?
Martin Lloyd Howard: A sense of completeness and satisfaction that the piece has straddled two musical worlds without too many rough edges. That was and is the musical intent and I’ll be very happy if people think that has been achieved in an enjoyable and memorable way.
CHECK OUT THE RELEASE OF ‘Hidden Andalucia’
HAVING LISTENED TO ‘Hidden Andalucia’, HERE ARE MY HONEST THOUGHTS
“Hidden Andalucia” is a beautifully restrained solo classical guitar composition that thrives on subtlety and emotional nuance. Built around delicate fingerstyle performance, the piece creates an intimate atmosphere where every note feels purposeful, allowing silence and natural resonance to become part of the storytelling. Drawing inspiration from Renaissance traditions, particularly the harmonic language associated with John Dowland, the composition balances historical influence with a contemporary acoustic sensibility. Its gentle shifts between major and minor colours evoke nostalgia, reflection, and quiet melancholy without ever becoming overly dramatic. The flamenco-inspired central passages add rhythmic vitality and Iberian character, expanding the emotional palette while remaining seamlessly integrated into the overall structure. Howard’s precise articulation and warm tonal control elevate the work beyond technical display, resulting in an immersive and meditative listening experience that lingers gracefully long after the final note fades.
~ Faithfulness (Dulaxi Team)
Finally to our audience, I urge to listen to “Hidden Andalucia”, add it to your playlist and be Inspired by it and on behalf of Dulaxi I like to appreciate you all by saying thank you everyone, See you on our next interview.
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