Matt Williams was born and raised in Georgetown, SC, a small town on the coast between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. While this isn't exactly a place known for music, Matt says, "I was saved by my parents record collection." Some of his earliest musical memories are hearing and seeing his parents dance to Motown and Beach music records. Another early memory was hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever" and being freaked out and then comforted by the strange sound of John Lennon's voice.
After graduating from high school, Matt and his older brother formed a band called Irene's Kitchen. It was a successful group in the area, playing for four years all over the state. "It was a wonderful learning experience for me. We played for 1,000 cheering people and we played for four or five who just stared at us, and then left."
After Irene's Kitchen disbanded, Matt moved to Austin, TX in late 2001 to start his music career. Since arriving, Matt has been slowly breaking into the Austin music scene. He has been honing his performing skills at Saxon Pub, Flipnotics, Café Mundi, Ruta Maya, Flamingo Cantina, Spider House, Cheatam St. Warehouse, Ginger Man, local house concerts and recently has enjoyed a residency at the New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music. This Spring he'll be hitting the road to do some shows in other parts of Texas.
Matt has appeared on KLBJ's Bob and Dudley show and has also been interviewed by Deborah Lynne for her talk show on 1370 AM after she saw him perform at the Cactus Café. On seeing him perform for the first time, Lynne remarked, "I used to go see Norah Jones when she first started performing around town. I knew she was going to be something special then and I think the same thing about Matt Williams."
Ed Moore, from the New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music, first saw Matt perform at Cheatam Street Warehouse's Songwriters' Night. "The audience is made up mostly of regular music buffs, songwriters, professional musicians and some of the biggest names in the Texas music industry. These people don't impress easily. His first time out Matt was asked to do an extra number, a very rare honor, and he was asked to please come back."
Matt will be releasing his first full-length record this spring. A collection of Austin's finest musicians joined Matt in the studio. It features musicians who have played with the likes of Aretha Franklin, James Brown, the Allman Brothers and Burning Spear. The record was co-produced by Matt and Scott Olivier. The CD release party is slated for April 10th at the Flamingo Cantina. It will be a double release party with Maneja Beto.
"I've been extremely lucky to have met people I want to play and record with. I was afraid I wouldn't. It's extremely hard to find musicians who understand what you're trying to do, especially if it's something different."
Some of Matt's influences include the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Stax soul and Al Green. "I really love songwriters who write quirky, interesting, yet catchy songs. I love the combination of a strong melody, a great beat and weird, but engaging lyrics."
For booking contact Matt:
www.mattwwilliams.com
512-626-6736