Matt Skinner(Guitar/Vocals) Amanda Brown(Vocals, sex & mystery) Adam Odor (Bass) Corby Shaub (Mandolin/Slide Guitar) John Silva (Drums) Jeff Baily (Vocals)
Matt Skinner, the housewife's companion and the working girl's favorite, was born in Dallas, Texas in 1978 and grew up near the Mexican border in Alpine. Not much more than an outpost in the high desert mountains of West Texas, Alpine served as the perfect foundry to produce this magnificent singer/songwriter/storyteller/artist. Winner of the 1999 Tom T. Hall Music Scholarship in Commercial Music from South Plains College and a 2002 graduate of Texas State University, Matt now dedicates himself to the pursuit of the arts.
Matt has long followed the traditional path of the ‘poet and a one-man band’ mentality where he holds fast to artistic integrity and truth with each earned note. Graced with a keen eye for detail and imagery, coupled with a cultivated tenor voice, Skinner commands any stage with a tender ferocity and presence that is spellbinding in its organic honesty. As a solo performer or with his dynamite band, he captures the spirit of the music and serves as space-captain on the emotional carnival ride of an evening’s performance.
A boom in the popularity of the desolate vastness of West Texas to artists and musicians alike since the 1970s allowed for Matt’s early exposure to fine art and music different than that of mainstream America. He began performing at age14 in restaurants and hotels then naturally moved on to bars, nightclubs, and beyond. From a campfire in the desert to the largest of arenas, Skinner’s performances showcase a leaden foundation with stoic elegance and infectious passion seldom seen in the modern entertainment climate.
His most recent album release, “The Nighthawk Affair,” has garnered much acclaim from the international musical community and is a testament to his skill as a producer and studio musician. Built around one guitar and one voice, “The Nighthawk Affair” is an acoustic rollercoaster chasing through the shades and shadows of life’s ups and downs.
“I wanted the record to feel like I came into your kitchen and brought a few of my closest friends to play songs just for you.” said Skinner. “It’s a definitive war-bag of stories wrought from hard years on the road tempered with romance and a reckless use of the past.”
Matt currently keeps a closet of clothes in Austin, Texas where he continues to write music when not on the road. Certainly, he’s one of the mad one’s, definitely one of the searchers, and coming soon to a theater near you!
Influences
All the border music you can imagine.
Sounds Like
For Booking Information contact Tapadero Productions:
Mario Milagro
(512) 393-9297 email: mattskinnermusic@hotmail.com
Ladies and Gentlemen, the “The Nighthawk Affair” has landed! It’s been seven long years since Matt Skinner released a new album, and as we’ve found, the wait has been quite worthwhile. Sharpened to a fine edge by night after night of playing for keeps, Skinner has brought forth a body of work that is a voyage through the treacherous shades and shadows of life, love, pleasure and pain. Like the flash of a knife in a dark alley or a sudden crack of thunder, “The Nighthawk Affair” makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end as you beg and plead for mercy cowering in the void. Armed with a cultivated tenor voice, smooth and powerful like good tequila, and guitars worn through from way too much ride, Skinner paints mind-filling word pictures with spellbinding detail, written as if the ink were his own lifeblood and his instrument his ethos.
“The Nighthawk Affair” begins with a heart-wrenching ballad, “Ashes to Ashes,” a song about a young man’s journey of torment and rebuilding after the fall. Later, the artist takes the listener to the world where the things you wish you’d said and didn’t, the things you did say but shouldn’t have, and the uncomfortable silence between a man and a woman too alike to walk the same path in “Lost in Translation.”
Showing also his candid sense of humor, “Love and 3 Chord Blues” is a spirited finger-style blues number about a young man who has grown wary and even a little cynical after having been raked over the coals by a beautiful girl and getting mugged in a dark alley behind a back-street bar in Mexico. “Never Gonna Go Back Home” is a Western Swing influenced tune about a Fandango-styled road-trip in the wilds of West Texas. According to Skinner the song was begun on a picnic table in Marfa near the Mystery Lights viewing area and finished on an airplane ride from New Orleans to Jacksonville.
“The Nighthawk Affair” also has influence from Skinner’s travels in Central America where upon what he thought was a safe return, a colleague informed him that he thought Skinner needed to go see a currandera to get rid of a curse someone had put on him. Born from this experience is the fearfully haunting song, “Somebody Get the Witch!” It’s as if you yourself are on the streets of Panama City and can feel the heavy, humid air and taste the sweet fruit of original sin.
Finally, the album finishes with a beginning. “Leaving Town” is an echo of the life of the artist and is written as a conversation between two people, one in search of wild and unsettled new horizons and the other content with the stability afforded her in the small town of her youth. She sings faintly along with him until the end where he embarks on his path of uncertainty and fulfillment while she’s left to rebuild from the ashes.
Also included on “The Nighthawk Affair” are two songs covered regularly by Matt in his live shows. One such tune is the ever-powerful “If I Needed You,” which is sung as a brilliant duet with his traveling friend and singing partner, Amanda Brown, in which they pay tribute to the late great Townes Van Zandt.
“The Nighthawk Affair” is a magnificent collection of stories and songs wrought from a coyote-like existence living by blood and guts by one’s wits and artistic integrity. One man’s inexperience is another man’s past, and Skinner has captured his stories in song and presented them with an all-star cast of musicians from his neighborhood in Austin, Texas, and put you the listener into the driver’s seat with a front row view of the world as only seen through his keen eyes.
Find out more at www.myspace.com/mattskinnermusic and purchase “The Nighthawk Affair” and other Matt Skinner merchandise at www.lonestarmusic.com or download singles or the entire album at OurTracks.com.
Thanks for the add Really enjoyed the show and hanging out with you and all the other Austin cats In Crapponne!! Hope everything is going good for you, Best wishes No Worries Safe Travels!!!
Hey Stranger!!! How have you been??? Its been awhile since I have seen you! I think it was when you came in a played for Rachel's deal in Lubbock! So when are you going to be back around my town???
HEyy stranger!! I'm soo glad uR doin well for yourself...everytime uR here in Midland i seem 2 just miss uR show...next time puh-leeze let me kno in advance when&&where uR playin...i'd soo love 2c ya!! Take care&&much love!!-Clarissa-
Thanks for the add and for your great show in Craponne / France. You did a great job closing the festival. Hope to see you again in Europe some day. :-)
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