Joe and Martina: California Country

In a musical landscape filled with iconic legendary duos like Johnny and June, George and Tammy, and Waylon and Jessi, the country music duo Joe and Martina Costa would love to join their ranks. Their lyrics paint pictures of romance, victories, and hard times. After 15 years of partnership and creating music, their love for storytelling creates enthralling experiences felt in every song, album, and performance.

California Roots 

Raised in California’s Central Valley—the farming capital of the state—Joe and Martina each possess a special connection to the land and its community. Joe grew up on his family’s farm, helping cultivate cotton, corn, walnuts, and various trees.

Joe’s grandfather, Frank Costa Jr., was a farmer who bred and raised dairy cattle as well as champion halter Quarter Horses. His farm was known for its stallion, Poco Acres, an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) World Champion with talent for both performance events and halter classes. Throughout Joe’s childhood, he assisted his grandfather in his thriving horse business, halter-breaking and training yearlings, conditioning horses for halter classes, and marketing show prospects. When Frank couldn’t show anymore, Joe stepped into the ring, continuing Frank’s legacy. Soon after Frank’s unfortunate passing, Joe stopped showing horses and focused on his music career.

Martina’s passion for horses began at a young age when she was in her local Pony Club. She immersed herself in everything from three-day eventing to Western pleasure and vaulting. However, rodeo captured her heart. She became a rodeo queen and an ambassador for the sport, sharing her sentiment for the lifestyle as she represented her crown.

Their rural upbringing has prepared them well for the challenges and rigors of the entertainment world. When they aren’t busy working on their music and recording in their adopted home of Nashville, Tenn., the couple spends most of their time in California, back in the Central Valley on the family farm.

“California and the rodeo season here are home,” says Martina. “This is where it all started. We built a foundation and fan base here that we are so lucky to have.” Joe agrees.

Writing Their Chapter

From the moment they strummed their guitars and sang their first notes together, it was clear that Joe and Martina are something special. There’s something about the way their harmonies blend that draws in their audience. But before they became a team, they began separately on their paths as musicians.

Joe’s aunt was a band teacher, and his dad played guitar and sang around the house. In junior high, Joe began playing drums in the drum line and then picked up the bass in a jazz band. In high school, he played in a punk band, and after graduating, in a blues band at local clubs and bars.

He was the original bassist for Luke Combs, and rose to prominence as a songwriter, co-writing “Don’t Tempt Me” from Combs’s album, This One’s for You. He eventually formed his own band.

Martina was a long-time devoted country fan and had a college pal who rode cutting horses for Buck Owens. Her friend heard her sing along with the radio and suggested she should perform at the Owens’ venue, the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Calif. On Martina’s birthday, her friend surprised her with an opportunity to perform with the house band. Although she had never been in choir or taken any musical instrument seriously, she took a $20 guitar lesson to learn the key to her song before her Crystal Palace debut.

This experience inspired Martina to take music more seriously. She searched Myspace for local musicians and found Joe, a top-eight friend 0f somebody she knew. In 2008, she messaged him for advice about starting a band, which led to him giving her guitar lessons and the formation of the country duo Joe & Martina. While playing at the Squaw Valley Rodeo in 2010, Joe proposed to Martina on the same stage where she had been crowned rodeo queen years prior. 

Joe and Martina’s powerful vocal performances and energetic stage presence command attention. Over their years together, Joe & Martina have opened for country artists such as Jake Owen, Blake Shelton, Jon Pardi, Lee Brice, and Montgomery Gentry. Grammy-winning artist and popular 1990s country singer John Berry collaborated with Joe & Martina on their Top 30 hit, “Give Me Back the 90’s,” which reached No. 28 on Music Row’s Country Breakout Chart. For a few weeks, they were the only unsigned artists in the Top 30.

Outside of producing Joe & Martina’s material, Joe has also been credited as a producer for other up-and-coming artists, such as Garth Brook’s daughter, Allie Colleen, Dustin Huff, and Taylor Ray Holbrook.  

Rock Me Lucky Gig

In 2009, when they first began dating, Martina watched Joe perform at a larger music venue. After the show, they returned to the Costa farm to check on one of Frank’s world champion mares, I Feel Lucky, who was expected to foal soon. A surprise awaited, as there stood a lanky sorrel colt they named Rock Me Lucky Gig.

“We both agreed that his name had to be ‘Gig’ because it was the first bigger gig Martina watched me perform at,” says Joe. “We both knew how special this foal was because he was some of the last of my grandfather’s bloodlines.”

As Joe and Martina’s relationship developed, they started halter-breaking and ground-working Gig. Although Gig remained a treasured family pet, he was never started under saddle or ridden due to Frank’s passing and the couple’s part-time relocation to Nashville.

Through the years, Martina continued to work with Gig whenever possible. Their deep connection was evident, and eventually the Costas gifted Martina the 14-year-old gelding for Christmas last year.

Gig went to a cowboy trainer for his first few rides, and then he went home with Martina for further training.

“This isn’t the consistent 30 days of training you would normally put on a younger one,” Martina says. “This experience has been everything I had hoped and dreamed of and more, and this is the life that inspires the music.”

Martina has helped the gelding progress from never being saddled or worked out of the round pen to riding in a snaffle around the oaks on the farm. She aims to season Gig with as many experiences as possible, with the goal of competing in halter classes at local horse shows.

And Joe is cheering them on every step of the way.

“It’s incredible to have a front-row seat to watch their journey and my grandfather’s legacy,” Joe says.

Rural Values

Joe and Martina’s combination of authentic lyrics, spot-on harmonies, and genuine emotion offers much for folks to connect with, bringing an extra layer of depth and enrichment to their country music.

The independent artists credit their tenacity to lessons they’ve learned living the Western life.

“Farming and horses taught us never to give up when times get tough,” Martina says. “The rodeo and show trail can be long and disappointing, but these athletes continue to finish what they start. We strive to live with these values of hard work and faith in everything we do, especially our music. Quitting is never an option.”

This article about Joe and Martina appeared in the October 2023 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!