Martin Shore, an award-winning filmmaker and Grammy-winning musician/producer, began his career as a musician. He has toured with notable artists such as Bo Diddley, Albert Collins, Clarence Clemons, Bluesman Willie, and many others.
As a musician, Shore has produced soundtracks and acted as music supervisor and contributed music for a number of feature films, including Saw, Saw II, Rize, and Rock School, among others. He has also worked as a music producer for various artists, including Snoop Dogg, G-Eazy, Yo Gotti, Mavis Staples, Booker T. Jones, North Mississippi Allstars, and many others.
As a producer, Shore has been involved in the creation of Grammy-winning recordings. He has toured recently with Cody Dickinson and his band Hill Country Revue, and has participated in five National Take Me to the River Live! tours featuring William Bell, Bobby Rush, and Charlie Musselwhite, among others. Shore is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Sciences (Grammy Awards) and the Producers Guild of America.
Shore's directorial debut, Take Me to the River (2014),won the Audience Award at SXSW, Best Film at Raindance London, and numerous other awards at 8 festivals around the world. His follow-up film, Take Me to the River New Orleans, premiered in April 2022.
In addition to his work in film and music, Shore is the founder of the Take Me to the River Education Initiative, a non-profit 501c3 organization that provides common core curriculum in both history and social studies. The initiative is part of the permanent curriculum in schools across the country, including 700 New York City public schools, with a mission to bring art, culture, and music back into public schools. The education partner is the Berklee College of Music.
Shore has been a guest lecturer at colleges across the country and has done a residency at the Berklee College of Music campus in Valencia, Spain. He has also been a professor at the New School in NYC. His second directorial effort, Mad Hannans (2018),won Best Documentary at the Manchester Film Festival and other awards.
