the matthew show

the matthew show revisited: week thirteen

I was only partially raised by my parents. Two other individuals played a major role in my development as a human, and those were Fred Rogers and Jim Henson. Alas, I do not possess the jazz chops to cover any Mister Rogers tunes (RIP Johnny Costa), but when I set up a fundraiser in 2015 for my sister's new school, one which my kiddo could attend, I offered to cover whatever songs anyone wanted in exchange for a donation. My recollection is that this request came in from an old high school theater compatriot, who also happened to be the only other person at my school who knew that Doctor Who existed (this was in the late '80s). Anyhow, I rounded up my fiddlist, Beth Brown, and we knocked this out in a few takes. I remain incredibly proud of how cinematic the track sounds, and credit that mostly to her. I'm hardly Gonzo the Great, but then, who is?

Also, it is a reminder that as good a songwriter as I am, there's always another level. Forever props to Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams for setting a high bar.

It's time to meet the cast of the Dark Forest radio play. 

The role of Senator Frank Church is played by Matt Hembree. 

After an Appalachian upbringing, long career in the software industry, and many an hour on local and regional stages as a musician, Matt Hembree now dedicates his life to his wife, children, dog (sigh), bills, garden beds, home recordings, and unrelenting belief that We The People are better than this, that all mankind is created equal, and that we are, all of us, blessed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!

Big thanks to everyone for participating. Production continues apace, with an aim towards a fall release. Stay tuned. 

the matthew show revisited: week ten

Some songs take a while to find their final form. I'd always loved this unfinished composition by my old Average Deep compatriots Jeffry Simms and Michael Montgomery, and looked forward to when they would finish it. Years went by, and I confess I got a bit impatient, so I wrote a second verse, in keeping with the reflective theme of the ongoing Band That Never Was podcast, and put it on an episode.

There are a lot of unique aspects to the tune that may not be apparent at first glance. One is the guitar tone I blundered into on the solos, which was a one-time happenstance twiddling with the gear I had at that time. Never could quite make it sound like that again. Another is that it marks the first time Ed Rogers makes an appearance on a matthew show tune, a presence that would certainly repeat as we entered the twenty teens. As always, I love Nancy Giammarco's backing vocals, and the subtlety of Jeffry's drums add a homey feel to the track that gives me the warm fuzzies. I hope it does for you, too.

the matthew show revisited: week nine

When I moved back to Texas, I found my old Civilians bandmate Ron Geida playing in an outfit called Barber Mack, named after the legendary Jamaican musician. Ron, John Shook, and Josh Clark were tight, and I had a song that I thought they'd sound good on, a slice of life from my old Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. The album was being put out by Wampus Multimedia, a label on which I had just been included for the mighty fine Hurry Home Early: The Songs of Warren Zevon. On that record, my favorite track was Mr. Bad Example, by one Robbie Rist (look him up, you know him even if you don't think you do). I was bold enough to ask if he would contribute to the track, and he gave me way more vocal goodness than I ever expected, setting the dang thing on fire. Add in backing vocals by usual suspect Jeffry Simms and a blazing solo by the inimitable James Dunn and you have, in my opinion, one of the best cuts from my catalog. Or at least the most fun.

the matthew show revisited: week eight

My friend and mentor, Little Jack Melody, once told me that you only get one chance to make your first album. No one knows what you're capable of yet, so if you take a chance and do something weird, you might be able to get away with it. I wrote the lyrics for this on the train home from a dotcom job I had in 1999, and the following year, with my freshly acquired home studio rig, started tinkering with some music for it. I think it took me two to three hours at the most to lay down 90% of it. I then took an additional half hour about a year later to go out to my van and play some percussion on the interior walls with my car keys just to see what would happen. I wasn't entirely sure the tune should go on an album that at the time was fairly ballad-heavy, but I liked it well enough to just throw caution to the wind, and it's a good thing I did.

To this day, it's my most downloaded song and the one I get the most traffic on. In 2005 it got half a million views as the soundtrack to a lonelygirl15 video after her coverage in Wired magazine, and it has been frequently licensed for podcasts and various projects over the years. Not bad for an odd little office rant and a few hours of messing around in a spare bedroom. 

the matthew show revisited: week seven

I liken my songwriting process to a rain gauge. It fills up very slowly over time, and then when the water reaches the top, it spills over. When this happens, it is often very sudden, and I have to stop whatever I'm doing to try and capture everything that's flowing down upon me. This one hit me almost fully formed while driving home from the doctor, and I had to pull over. Some eras fill the gauge faster than others, and the 2018-2019 period, full of major life changes, was definitely in that category. But in truth, I think this one was from a deeper reservoir that took more like forty five years to well up. I joke that it's like that ultimate summation tune in the movie Walk Hard, the one that everything's been building to, but it's sort of not a joke. If I have an ending montage for my span here, it's probably soundtracked by this song.

The tune was a good excuse to journey down to Taylor Tatsch's studio, in Dripping Springs at that time, and he put some of his own experienced flavor on it as well. I reconnected with my old NYC pal Arthur Winer for the mastering, which was nice. Add in the lovely cover art by Trista Morris, and it's a lovely package. I released it in the middle of the pandemic shutdown, and I think the sense of weary struggle hit a lot of people on a sympathetic frequency, particularly those in the Fort Worth area who recognize the references. If you haven't ever heard of the Goat Man of Greer Island, do yourself a favor. He and I have never been seen in the same room. Make of that what you will. 

the matthew show revisited: week six

Between texas and february, I started periodically posting the Acoustic Surprise, usually a cover. In the early days of digital music, this was a nice incentive to get people to visit the website and remember I existed. Some of my earliest musical memories are of Simon and Garfunkel on the turntable, pops and scratches and all, and the fact that this one also stoked my budding anglophilia made it stick permanently in my subconscious. I'm not sure where the extra intro and outro bits came from, but once I put them on there, now I can't really play it any other way. In 2021, I collected a bunch of Acoustic Surprises along with other covers that I've done for various projects and put them on the Variations album. Of course I couldn't leave Paul & Artie G out.

Enjoy.