After 30 years of playing shows, making records and writing songs, it’s fair to call Matthew Carlson a veteran. From his current work in the Stick Arounds and Harborcoat, to his previous stints in The Pantones and Third Uncle, Carlson has spent a lifetime writing songs filled with vivid characters, detailed worlds, and personal touches.

Carlson is a born storyteller in person, and in his songs. His solo acoustic shows are comprised of emotional, funny, and moving stories about the songs and his own life that support his songs and the hidden lives and places behind them. To see Matty C (as his friends call him) play solo is to see, feel, and hear these songs in a new, and perhaps more profound way.

Harmony, bombast, and distortion are removed from even the most boisterous of numbers, and a bare, more vulnerable version of the songs appear. The tunes take on new life as they are stripped to only the most essential of ingredients.

During the early summer of 2023, Carlson embarked on his first ever full scale solo tour. Over the course of the seventeen day run, Matty played 14 shows across the eastern United States in a variety of small and private spaces. These shows took place in unconventional spaces for performing, such as homes, galleries, breweries, studios, historic buildings, and even the former site of a World’s Fair. This first major solo tour was only a step towards a full time life as a touring singer-songwriter. 

In the summer and fall of 2024 Matty expanded his touring plans and hit the road for a total of ten weeks on the road, spread over two legs. Matty self-booked, promoted, drove and played 44 shows in 28 states days across the entirety of the continentalUnited States. These shows were also a hybrid of house concerts, breweries, and alternative/intimate spaces.

In addition to his touring and recording efforts, Matty also works tirelessly at his Substack and podcast, What Am I Making. WAIM is a space for Matty to share his experiences as an independent touring artist, and it affords him the opportunity to explore the corners of our current culture and how it is shaping the ways in which we live and create. You can learn more at whatamimaking.substack.com.