Country Weekly Magazine (In a Better World)

Album Review: Matt Woods - With Love From Brushy Mountain

The first thing you'll notice is the voice. Matt Woods has a robust, vibrato-heavy baritone that is unmistakably country. His drawl is neither muted nor faked, and it's twangy as hell. He sounds good singing smooth and steady or letting it rip, his timbre becoming ragged and strained. His is an unforgettable set of pipes.

The next thing that sticks out is the songwriting. Or maybe that's the first thing. They are both more than notable, so you're right either way.

Matt's writing is truth. Period. Exclamation point. "It ain't no living, it's my life" he sings on With Love from Brushy Mountain's opener, a treatise on the road life of a singer. "I'll trade you a song for a beer" and there's no doubt some nights that's all he got paid and in the grand scheme of things, he didn't mind too much.

"Tiny Anchors" is a showcase of Woods' songwriting abilities. It's a subtle, insightful look into what are possibly last days of a relationship. But there's still some hope. "Hang on with me" he pleads.

Then there's "Deadman's Blues," which was FTM's 2013 song of the year. It's still as striking and raw as ever and it's the apologetic heart of this record.

"Lucero Song" speaks to all of us fans of the little band from Tennessee. Woods gets meta, describing his own drunken loneliness inside the frame of this being  something Ben Nichols and the boys might sing to some rowdy crowd. Now, if Lucero ever covers this song, the universe might implode. 

Matt Woods has released his strongest album to date with With Love from Brushy Mountain. He's shaken off some of the "spot the influence" unsureness I heard in his earlier works and found his own voice and sound. This is country music filtered through rock, folk, punk, red-dirt and bar room soul and it doesn't sound like anybody else. For me it falls into the realm of what mainstream country should have evolved into, rather than the Fords and fornication free-for-all that it is. Highly recommended for fans of Lucero, Fifth on the Floor, Shooter Jennings, John Moreland, etc.

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With Love From Brushy Mountain is available at Matt's site and Bandcamp.

Matt Woods - Deadman's Blues (Live from Moonrunners II)

Wow.

FTM's Favorite Songs of 2013

1. Matt Woods - Deadman's Blues
From earlier review:
...almost painful to hear, in the best of ways. It's like we're the accidental witnesses to a late night confessional and I can't help feeling a little guilty finding so much beauty in such a raw disclosure. And those vocals… it's a masculine delivery with a tear deeply embedded; then he rips your heart out when he lets it all go in the final seconds.

2. Jason Isbell - Elephant

3. Arliss Nancy - Vonnegut

4. John Moreland - 3:59

5. Shooter Jennings - The Gunslinger

6. Brandy Clark - What'll Keep Me Out of Heaven

7. Sturgill Simpson - You Can Have the Crown

8. Ashley Monroe - Morning After

9. Austin Lucas - Splinters

10. Todd Farrell Jr. and the Dirty Birds - Pawn Shops

Beyond the Top 10 (no specific order):

The National - I Should Live in Salt

Run the Jewels - Sea Legs

Queens of the Stone Age - If I Had a Tail

Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Some Depression

Drew Kennedy - Poet at 33 from Modern Trade on Vimeo.

Drew Kennedy - The Poet at 33

Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow

Wade Bowen - Songs About Trucks

Son Volt - Angel of the Blues

Two Cow Garage - Mantle in '56

J. Roddy Walston and the Business - Heavy Bells

Deer Tick - Dream's in the Ditch

Ha Ha Tonka  - Lessons

Chris Stapleton - What Are You Listening To?

Gary Allan - It Ain't the Whiskey

Valerie June - Tennessee Time

Buffalo Gospel - Mule

Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck - Inside Joke

The Mavericks - Come Unto Me

Chris King - Antler Inn Ballroom

JJ Grey and Mofro - 99 Shades of Crazy

Water Liars - Wyoming

Will Hoge - Home is Where the Heart Breaks

Lindi Ortega - This is Not Surreal

Phosphorescent - Song for Zula

Chance the Rapper - Cocoa Butter Kisses

Clutch - DC Sound Attack!

Here's a nifty Spotify playlist of these songs, plus and minus a few!

Single Review: Matt Woods - Deadman's Blues

Matt Woods' "Deadman's Blues" is the sound of an open wound, of the emotional variety. It lays bare a music man's deficiencies in the realm of love. I'm sure it's at least partly autobiographical - all the problems, unavoidable and not, that occur between a touring musician and a significant other left at home. Matt's expressive vocals go a long way towards making this the tour de force it is, but I can't say enough about the sincerity and power in the writing itself. It's almost painful to hear, in the best of ways. It's like we're the accidental witnesses to a late night confessional and I can't help feeling a little guilty finding so much beauty in such a raw disclosure. And those vocals… it's a masculine delivery with a tear deeply embedded; then he rips your heart out when he lets it all go in the final seconds. "Deadman's Blues" is a truly amazing song, that only whets my appetite for the full album to come. Woods is an artist with the talent and heart to someday possibly find himself among the Isbells and Morelands of the world.

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You can sample the song and purchase the mp3 here.

Little Known Facts: November '13

By Trailer and Jeremy Harris

Garth Brooks is reportedly killing it at a Tulsa Crossfit studio, getting in shape

to fit into his flying skinny jeans for his big come-back next year.

The only thing Colt Ford prefers to see butchered more than beef is the English language.

In 2011 Shooter Jennings nearly drown in a kiddy pool due to being

the person on bottom during a chicken fight.

Bucky Covington was not injured when Shooter dropped him into the pool.

"Gary Levox" loosely translates to vaginal mesh in Mandarin.

Zovirax dropped Brantley Gilbert as their spokesperson due

to potential customers thinking their product was douche.

The recipe to McDonald's secret Big Mac sauce is hidden deep in the beard of Matt Woods.

At a recent Chrysler Group meeting in Nashville, Ram CEO Reid Bigland jokingly (but not) asked, "Who do I have to blow to get a Ram truck mentioned in a country song?"

When Tim McGraw first met Faith Hill she knew it was love because

they always finished each other's sentences; now she only finishes his meals.

Johnny and June originally spelled their hit duet "Jackson" J-A-X-S-O-N

but were scared of a lawsuit from the writers of Sons of Anarchy.

If Blackjack Billy's fans could read this fact would make all three of them angry.

Dallas Davidson has a signature line of custom tailgates coming out with built-in moonshine jar holders, butt warmers, and a hidden camera to take up-skirt pics of your country girl.

George Strait's 2013 CMA Entertainer of the Year award will

proudly be displayed up Blake Shelton's ass.

Colt Ford is to music what Colt Ford is to golf.

A group of crows is called a murder; a group of kangaroos is a court;

a group of Nashville songwriters is called a "shart."

New Video: Matt Woods - Deadman's Blues