“I was truly terrified. In the first few months, I was on the same stage as every one of my heroes: Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix”: Martin Barre explains why his early days with Jethro Tull were a trial by fire

Musician Martin Barre, guitarist of Jethro Tull from 1968-2012, performs onstage during his solo 'Roads Less Travelled' tour at Bogie's on March 10, 2019 in Westlake Village, California.

Martin Barre played his first-ever gig with Jethro Tull on the penultimate day of 1968 in the small town of Penzance, Cornwall, fresh off replacing Mick Abrahams as the band's lead guitarist.

Following a series of auditions and try-outs with formidable electric guitar names like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers' Mick Taylor and (what would later become Black Sabbath's) Tony Iommi, the band settled on Barre.