Who is Lee Martin?

Leroy “Lee” Martin stressed that his newest album wasn’t compiled in a pursuit of money; whatever he profits will instead go to charity.

No, he admits, his latest collection is a mechanism for the legendary regional musician and former politician to stimulate his ego one last time.

“This is my last hoo-rah, you might say, in the music business,” Martin, 82, said.

The first “hoo-rah” came when Martin received a $12.95 guitar from his mother. Then, 13 years after he was born in Galliano to a fisherman’s family, Martin discovered and began mimicking Jimmy Rodgers, who was one of three inaugural inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961.

Rodgers died in 1933, when Martin was only 4 years old. But the Lafourche native still credits as his chief influence the short-lived but prolific musician who garnered “The Father of Country Music” moniker.

“I used to pick those Jimmy Rodgers songs, and then I’d go sing with local bands,” he said.

If the country music legend was Martin’s inspiration, a star at which to take aim, the guitar was the rocket that propelled him through a wealth of experiences.

The $13 gift shaped the life of a man who became a local music legend, met and rejected a pre-fame Elvis Presley (“To me, he didn’t leave much of an impression.”), and spent 16 years as the tax assessor of Lafourche Parish.

“That was the reason I got in a band, writing political songs was the reason I got the political job (first as deputy tax assessor), I met my wife in a dance hall when I was playing a dance and my three kids, I sent them through college with the extra money I made playing music,” said Martin, who still speaks with a deep and steady voice 69 years later.

He never reached stardom outside of the local arena, but his music reverberated throughout the region.

Prior to being elected tax assessor in 1983, Martin spent 30 years as a disc jockey with KTIB in Thibodaux and made a name in writing political campaign songs (“Let’s all vote for Eddie Ste. Marie. Let’s give him another victory. As our sheriff, he won’t ever fail. Law and order will prevail.”).

Martin reveals in detail anecdotes of his musical travels in the 20-page album booklet.

He shared a band with Lafourche’s Vin Bruce, known for inking a recording contract with Columbia Records, and prior to landing a job of full-time politics, Martin was performing eight times a week in Lafourche and Terrebonne.

He’s a historian of a passed time, but his classics still have life, as shown through the 60 songs spread over two discs in “My Old Swamp Pops, My Old Friends, and Some New Stuff,” which was released last month.

Martin opened up the “so-called vault,” with songs recorded from 1967 through 2011 on the first disc, 32 tracks of his work.

Although he shied away from addressing it directly, there was a hint of disdain in Martin’s voice when he said he’s remembered more as a politician than a musician. The album goes a long way to re-establishing his pedigree. Even if the “swamp pop,” Cajun genre lurks beneath the modern music surface, the two-disc set conjures nostalgia and highlights of a storied career.

The first disc features four never-before-heard holiday songs (two in English and two in Cajun-French), a medley of campaign songs, “Anyone Can Write A Love Song” (Martin’s favorite), “I Lost Again,” and a re-writing of Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice,” where Martin sings of Louisiana sporting triumphs and events in the state’s history.

The first disc could stand alone as an anthology of Martin’s work, but the second props it up as something special for those who enjoy swamp pop.

Martin enlisted the help and musical productions of Bruce, Johnnie Allan, Debbie Folse, and current Lafourche Clerk of Court Vernon Rodrigue, among others. The 28-track “My Old Friends,” disc complements Martin’s work with other local hits, such as Bruce’s “Gift of Love” and Folse’s “I Found a Man.”

In total, the Jin Records-produced mega-release contains more than two and a half hours of music, an epic finale to the wide-ranging musical career of Lee Martin.

“I used to be a rock star in my neck of the woods, and now it’s ‘Who is Leroy Martin?’” he said. “That’s why I wanted to put this thing together, kind of my last hoo-rah, something to remember me by. We all have egos in this business, and I guess I still have a little bit left.”