“The haircut’s the most important thing to me. The vibe is important, the look is important—we all have uniforms—but, if the haircuts aren’t there, I don’t care about anything else.” Michael Martin didn’t set out to become one of Nashville’s most sought-after barbers. In fact, before opening his new East Nashville outpost, Hawkins Barber Shop, before he was killing the men’s hair game at Parlour & Juke (he was the first employee hired), and before the likes of singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and Husk chef Sean Brock started to sing his hairstyling praises on Instagram, Martin was a career musician. Being a bass player brought him to Nashville from his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2000. But, in 2008, he decided music wasn’t his meant-to-be, and, after some soul searching,…
