MP3 Matthew Alexander - American Boy

Powerful contemporary folk music with stripped down acoustic guitar and vocal sound

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Fingerstyle, FOLK: Modern Folk

Show all album songs: American Boy Songs


Details:
MATTHEW ALEXANDER

MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY




Matthew Alexander has been playing guitar since he was eight years old and writing songs since he was fifteen. His unique finger picking acoustic guitar style was modeled after Dave Van Ronk and Mississippi John Hurt. His award winning songwriting style has been influenced by such greats as Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. His songs have been published by Warner Brothers Music, Beechwood-Capital and Four Star Music among others.

Matthew was part of the dynamic folk music scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late â60s and was a regular performer at Bostonâs coffeehouses. As a solo artist and as founding member of the folk-trio Moonshine, Matthew opened in the early seventies for Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and Billy Joel. Since then he has performed at venues around the country including the New Music Showcase in Atlanta, Georgia; the Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Troubador and the Songwriters Showcase in Los Angeles, California; and the Double Door and the Latta Plantation Folk Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has won awards for his music from the Northeastern Music Festival and Songwriters Guild of Nashville, Tennessee.

Matthew has released four discs on Caravan Records: Wishing I Had Wings (1987), April Heart (1992), American Boy (1999) and Daredevil Angel (2008). His recordings have received critical acclaim. Mark Price of the Charlotte Observer said that his disc American Boy was, âa breath of fresh air that should have a place in everyoneâs record collectionâ.

Matthew Alexander continues to perform and record in the Southeastern United States. He lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife and two children.


American Boy
Released in: 1999
Recorded at: The White Room
Produced by: Mike Tate and Matthew Alexander


Synopsis
Showcasing a stripped-down acoustic sound, American Boy features Alexanderâs warm
vocals, unique guitar styling and distinctive songwriting. The disc contains several stand-out selections, including âAnother Name in the Stoneâ, a powerful ballad about loss and redemption; the melancholy âOld Love of Mineâ; the crystalline finger picking of the traditional song, âMy Creole Belleâ; the riveting âWhite Crystals of Snowâ and the title track, co-written with Elaine Wilson-Alexander, âAmerican Boyâ, an ode to the loss of identity in contemporary America>

Critical Acclaim

âAlexander was part of the explosive folk-music scene in Cambridge, Mass at the end of the â60s and later became a staple of Bostonâs coffeehouses. His CD âAmerican Boyâ offers the breath of fresh air we often search for in our album collections but rarely findâ
Mark Price, music critic, Charlotte Observer