I can't remember if I first saw Matthew Stephen Ward on Letterman or the Craig Ferguson Show .. I think it was Letterman. It was 2006 and he played 'Chinese Translation' from his latest album at the time - 'Post-War'. The song and performance were different enough to grab my attention, so I dug deeper. This was his 5th solo album but all his earlier work had passed me by.
His stuff is variously described as folk, folk rock, World, country, alternative and probably all points in-between but to me it can be summed up in one word. Indie. Not necessarily in the true context of independence of record companies, more in the way of independent of any nailed-down style or approach.
I'm sure there'll be those who disagree with me, but look at the range, from his version of Bowie's 'Let's Dance' on the 'Transfiguration of Vincent' album to 'Here Comes the Sun Again' and 'Deep Dark Well' on 'Transistor Radio'. Sprinkle with some of the other tracks from 'Post-War' like 'Eyes on the Prize' and 'Magic Trick' and you have an artist who makes his own rules.
Then there are his other projects.
One of the regular Christmas movie essentials is "Elf" starring Will Ferrell and Zoey Deschanel. In one scene Zoey is taking a shower and starts singing 'Baby It's Cold Outside' with Will joining in. On the soundtrack of the film she duets the same song with the amazing Leon Redbone. She'd been singing for a while after forming a jazz cabaret act in 2001 and in 2006 Zoey and M. Wards paths crossed. Zoey was making a movie called 'The Go-Getter' and the director wanted her and Matt to sing a duet for the end credits.
After learning that Zoey had been writing songs for years but not really performing them, and hearing some of her home demos, Matt wanted to record with her and so they formed the band 'She & Him'.
Their first album in 2008, called, oddly enough 'Volume One' had 9 of Zoeys compositions on there, as well as a few covers such as 'You Really Got a Hold on me' and the Beatles 'I Should Have Known Better'. That trend continued for Volume 2 and 3, with a couple of Christmas albums along the way. Their 2014 album 'Classics' was just that, 13 good old standards including 'Stay Awhile' made famous by the incredible Dusty Springfield (Vinyl Vault June 17 2020).
Meanwhile Matt was also putting out his solo albums, sometimes dueting on them with Zoey and others such as k.d.Lang and Lucinda Williams and as if that wasn't enough he was also part of an Indie rock band by the name of 'Masters of Folk'. They were together for 6 years from 2004 to 2010 and put out one well-received self titled album.
With such a varied catalogue both before and after my first hearing in 2006, M. Ward deserves some attention. He may not be everyone's cup of tea, his singing voice is a tick in only one box - yes or no - there's no real middle ground, but his guitar work is worth the price of the ticket. When he's backed by equally talented musicians (look out for Rachel Blumberg playing drums on the 'Chinese Translation' video clip) then the end result is great music by an interesting artist.
Have a listen.
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