When Martin Barre sat down one autumn night in his Birmingham home, guitar in hand but memories swirling in his mind, he didn’t set out to write a history of a band—he wanted to tell his story. “Joining that band changed everything,” Barre admits in a rare preview of his new book. Now, nearly six decades after first plugging in, the former guitarist of Jethro Tull invites readers behind the scenes of an extraordinary career with the forthcoming autobiography A Trick of Memory: The Autobiography of Jethro Tull’s Guitarist, released on November 6, 2025.
Barre’s journey begins in the late 1960s in the industrial heart of Birmingham, where he initially picked up flute and saxophone before discovering his voice on the guitar. A fateful audition in 1968 saw him replace Mick Abrahams in Jethro Tull, launching a partnership that would span more than four decades and produce landmark albums like Stand Up and Aqualung. According to his publisher, the autobiography doesn’t shy away from the highs and the valleys—touring on four continents, creative tension in the studio, the sudden disbanding of Tull in 2011, and his reinvention as a solo artist.
Peers have long recognized Barre’s impact. Steve Harris of Iron Maiden said, “I always loved Martin Barre’s playing… he was a massive influence.” Barre’s signature riffs—especially on songs such as “Aqualung”—have earned him a place among rock guitar legends. In the book, he candidly reflects on the moment Ian Anderson pulled the rug out: “Essentially the floor was pulled from underneath me… I wasn’t looking for freedom, I already had it.”
To mark the release, Barre will embark on a UK acoustic tour beginning November, followed by a full European leg in 2026 titled A Brief History of Tull. Fans will also get a chance to hear his version of the Tull catalog filtered through his personal lens—tributes, rearrangements, and rarely-played gems from across the decades.
“A Trick of Memory” promises 16 pages of colour photographs, backstage stories, and a straightforward recounting of what it is to be part of a band that refused to behave like everyone else. For fans of Tull and guitar aficionados alike, it’s more than a memoir—it’s a first-person portrait of a musician who helped define an era and then carried that spirit forward on his own terms.
