Jethro Tull mainstay Martin Barre explains to Jackie Butler how he's back in peak condition after a boating accident

A FEW months ago Jethro Tull's Martin Barre experienced what could be described as every guitarist's nightmare – he broke one of his fingers. It was a stormy autumn night and Martin was out in the thrashing rain and howling wind trying to secure his boat to its moorings in Plymouth's Queen Anne's Battery when the third digit on his left hand got jammed between the craft and its rope.

"It was a most bizarre thing," explains Martin, now match-fit and eagerly anticipating the band's show at Torquay next week – part of their 23-date UK tour.

"At the hospital I was told I had a broken finger and I'd need to give it six weeks to heal. I said I'm a guitarist and I've got a gig in six weeks."

Luckily there was a specialist passing by who heard the magic word "guitarist" and, having come across this sticky situation before, advised Martin to keep his finger taped up for just a couple of weeks then gradually start using it again.

"It was a horrible time, but six weeks later I was actually back on the road on tour," says Martin, who tends to dip those valuable guitar fingers in a range of different musical pies, including solo recordings and gigs – not to mention collaborations with young rising Westcountry artist Dan Crisp (see below).

"I'm passionate about the arts in the South West; I think they are quite well represented," confirms Martin, who lives with his wife, Julie at Yealmpton, after bringing up their now adult children near Colyton in east Devon.

"I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I love it in the South Hams. The coastline is beautiful, the countryside is beautiful and there's lots of great food too."

It also gives Martin and Julie the chance to fulfil a long-held ambition to take to the water – hence the aforementioned boating incident.

He made his recovery just in time to play 13 big arena performances in Germany with the Celtic rock opera Excalibur, which he describes as Riverdance meets the Cirque du Soleil.

"It was so much fun," says Martin, who had worked in the past at his old Devon studio with the show's writer and producer Alan Simon and also got involved through his connections with Fairport Convention.

"The whole show is spectacular and I'm hoping they will bring it over to England. There were acrobats and Irish dancers and a 40-piece orchestra. It's quite easy music, but there was freedom to play with it a little."

Martin is now happy to put the broken finger into his back catalogue of "stupid little things" – including the odd close shave with a sharp knife while constructing a cheese sandwich – that have temporarily stopped him doing what he does best. With the digit "a little podgy, but it works OK", he is now ready for the more disciplined guitar work demanded by a live show with Jethro Tull, the band he joined in 1969 at the age of 22 in time to record the classic second album Stand Up and perhaps their best-loved single, Living in the Past.

The albums Benefit, Aqualung, and Thick As A Brick followed and the band achieved international success. Martin and charismatic front man and composer, flautist and singer Ian Anderson are the mainstays of a group credited as frontrunners of the prog rock movements.

In their heyday Jethro Tull's live reputation and status was on a par with much more commercial acts like the Rolling Stones and Elton John, in spite of their distance from the pop and rock norms of the day. In recent years their fanbase has been boosted by a new generation fascinated by the sounds of the Sixties and Seventies.

"It's amazing how many young people I meet who are into artists like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, and they know so much about the bands from that time," says Martin.

Over the past 40 years they have grown and developed, defying labels and genres to present a grown-up melee that draws inspiration from the folk, jazz, rock and classical worlds.

Currently Doane Perry, veteran Tull drummer of some 24 years experience, together with John O'Hara on piano and accordion, and David Goodier on bass guitar complete the live line-up.

The setlist for the current tour features some of their "Best of Tull" repertoire, but with a sprinkling of rare gems thrown in – they do, after all, have around 30 albums of material to choose from.

"We do get people who love the band from the old days who reel off all the tracks they want to hear. Of course we will always play the most popular older songs, but we don't want to do only that," says Martin.

"On this tour there will actually be three or four pieces of music that nobody will ever have heard played live before, plus we'll put in a few from Ian's solo albums and maybe a couple of mine just to mix things up a bit."

Jethro Tull play the Princess Theatre, Torquay on Tuesday, March 9. For tickets, priced £24.50 and £27.50, call the box office on 08702 414120.