Mathew Stevens, Grammy-Winning Jazz Guitarist, on His New Album
3/12/202628 min
Long recognized as one of the most thrilling and thoughtful guitarists of his generation, Matthew Stevens has built an elite reputation in music, touring, and recording with a "who's who" of modern icons, including Esperanza Spalding, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Harvey Mason, and Walter Smith Ill. He has also made a splash outside of jazz, having produced the tribute album I Am A Pilgrim - Doc Watson at 100, featuring artists such as Valerie June, Steve Earle, Nora Brown, and Dolly Parton (Stevens produced Parton's version of
"The Last Thing on My Mind," which earned a GRAMMY nomination...
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First 90 secondsDarrell Craig Harris· Host0:00
Matthew Stevens, how you doing today?
Matthew Stevens· Guest0:01
Excellent. How are you, Jill?
Darrell Craig Harris· Host0:03
I'm very good. So where are you coming to us from?
Matthew Stevens· Guest0:05
Uh, I'm in a tiny little town, uh, between Providence and Boston called Sharon, Massachusetts, that I've, uh, been here, uh, that I've been living in for the past four years now.
Darrell Craig Harris· Host0:16
Okay. And you, did you, you attended Berklee as well, right, way back when?
Matthew Stevens· Guest0:20
I did, yep. I was there for three years, uh, 2001 to 2004.
Darrell Craig Harris· Host0:24
Oh, okay. Awesome. Yeah, that, that's such a great area, and I love that whole area around there is, is really lovely. Boston, of course, is great. A little chilly in the wintertime, but [laughs] In- indeed, this one especially.
Matthew Stevens· Guest0:35
Yep.
Darrell Craig Harris· Host0:35
Yeah, exactly. Um, so you're a very busy guy. You have a new single out, Who Does She Hope to Be?, which came out February 13th. You have a new album coming out on May 8th, which is self-titled, Matthew Stevens. You're a Grammy Award-winning guitarist, also a great producer, very well-known producer, and session guitarist. So tell me, tell me about the new single and the new album. Um, I, I know also too you have a lot of guest artists on this album too.
Matthew Stevens· Guest0:58
Yeah. Um, well, the new single, um, Who Does She Hope to Be?, is off of a, a, a fantastic record by, uh, Sonny Sharrock called Ask the Ages that, uh, I believe it's from 1991 or '92, and it was produced by Bill Laswell, and it's a great lineup. It's Sonny, uh, with Pharoah Sanders, Sharnett Moffitt, and, and Elvin Jones. And, um, it was a record that was brought to my attention by an incredible drummer from, from Houston, Texas, named Jhamyre Williams, and he had a band called Erimaj that, uh,