Matt Prater - 'Meet Muscle Shoals' Live Session
It’s great to see the return of the 'Meet Muscle Shoals' sessions this week.
These online shows feature the best current talent from the musical heartland of North Alabama. The region first gained recognition in the 60s for the quality of its musicians and for the hits produced by FAME (Florence Alabama Musical Enterprises) and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, from artists as diverse as Percy Sledge, Aretha and the Stones.
The Shoals is the collective name of four city districts bordered to the north by the Tennessee river, whose shallows, deep with abundant shellfish, gave the most famous city its name. Equidistant between Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Tuscaloosa, the Shoals sound is an equally exotic Alabaman amalgam of hillbilly, gospel, blues, soul and country. Its studio session players gained acclaim and an esteemed nickname of 'The Swampers', as immortalized in Lynyrd Skynyrd's home state love letter ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.
This week's featured Shoals artist was Matt Prater, a journeyman storyteller with a ready smile and an impressive songbook, informed by a life fearlessly-embraced and a road more-travelled.
Blessed with a rich and evocative voice, Matt captivated his rapt on-line audience from the get-go with the road-weary, affecting 'Same Ole Highways Blues' and the uplifting gospel of 'Hallelujah Alabama' from his 2010 debut 'Small Town Son'.
He previewed his latest release 'The Waltz Called Life', a reflective ballad that reveals how this former construction worker, cowboy, rodeo rider and itinerant musician has finally got used to the idea of staying put.
The yin and yang of 'Back On The Wagon' and 'Always Stick To Beer' combined light humour and strong melody with a thirst-quenching cocktail of performance and pathos.
Matt revealed Merle Haggard to be his most revered influence and played a resonant version of 'Working Man Blues' followed by his own touching tribute 'God Bless You Merle' that he wrote on the day the learnt of the country icon's passing, five years ago on the 6th April 2016.
The set ended on a high, ascending via the gorgeous folksome blues of Willie Nelson's 'Nightlife' to summit with 'The Mountain' Matt's stunning anthem to overcoming adversity.
Early in his career, he was often confused with his namesake, who happened to be the record-breaking placekicker for the NFL's Denver Broncos. However, following four studio albums and relentless live work, he's established a strong identity and reputation of his own. His roots-based music is pure, authentically soulful, and steeped in the tradition of the region that he still calls home.
Work on his fifth studio album has been temporarily suspended, due to the limitations of these current times. However, Matt did recently release the impressive, intended title track 'New highway' as a standalone single, proving that a wider audience surely beckons, once the live music scene returns. The road travelled by Matt so far may have been long, but the new highway that now beckons promises a enriching ongoing journey for the man and his songs to be cherished far beyond his current horizons.
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