This track is from the album Northern Lights and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mattstone1

The Simple Things

Inspired by a 100 year old dance card that belonged to my great grandfather.  He went to Panama at age 19 to work on the canal for seven years.  This performance is live from a house concert in Fallbrook, featuring Dave Blackburn on acoustic guitar, Robin Adler on uke bass, myself on baritone guitar and John Quint, Robin and Dave on harmony vocals.  Enjoy! 

Hard Times Social and Dance LIVE

A metaphorical tune, this song asks the question - what are we afraid of?  Like children who fear a walk past the graveyard, we adults have our own inhibiting fears and doubts.  But we all end up in that graveyard.  Best get on with life!   This demo was recorded live in Keith Greeninger's studios in the mountains above Santa Cruz California.  

Past The Graveyard

This song was selected as Alternate Finalist in the 2015 Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase Competition.  My thanks to Planet Bluegrass and Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. 

This is a demo version, recorded in Keith Greeninger's studio in Santa Cruz, CA earlier this year.  It will be recorded on the next album. 

REDWOOD
 
They were standing at a barn dance
When their eyes met on the evening wind
In a moment they were waltzing
And she never let go of him

They were married at an altar
That he fashioned out of redwood limbs
And they stumbled and the faltered
But she never let go of him

They built a life there in a farm house
Worked the top soil by the river bend
There were sweet years, there were hard years
But they never let go again

It was springtime when the rains came
And the water rose and rose again
They made high ground, it went higher
And she never, let go of him

And they say now in the spring time
On that hilltop, there's a singing wren
In a redwood, that grows taller
No, she never let go of him

© 2015, Matt Stone / Folkmuse Songs


Redwood

Inspired by a late night encounter with two stray dogs in a storm on a busy two lane highway, this song poses questions about when we stop to help in life and when we look away. 

Demo track from a session at Wind River Studios with Keith Greeninger in spring 2015.  This song will be recorded on the upcoming second album.  

Drive On By

From Matt's 2013 Album "Northern Lights", China Clipper is based on his Dad's experiences in depression-era Arkansas, with dreams of flight to far off lands.

China Clipper

Little did I know that my new office came with a "history" in the form of two office plants with distinctive personalities.  Jack, a tall ficus, kept himself in the corner.  Minerva, a houseplant of unknown variety, preferred the sunny window.  But Jack had a secret crush on Minerva, and one day he got up the nerve to tell her.  

Jack And Minerva (an Office Plant Romance)

A random encounter with an abandoned velvet high healed shoe under the monorail in Las Vegas led to this song.  This is a mostly true story. 

Lonely In Las Vegas

Rivers can rage with fury and destruction or heal with calming, bubbling, soothing water.

This one's about the healing.  Let the river carry you.  

Sweet River

Somewhere on a desolate stretch of highway in Nevada, this early morning image was imprinted on my soul.  The sun rising in the east, illuminating the peaks to the west, and the vast expanse of the empty basin valley heading north off to infinity along with the highway.

The Great Highway

An award winning California Folk and Americana performing songwriter, Matt’s songs come together like roadside folk art sculptures made from found objects. He takes the familiar and the forgotten and casts them forth with his unique perspective. His live performances are laced with humor and stories as he befriends his audience and takes them on a visual and emotional journey over the course of an evening. 

Matt's debut album, Northern Lights, was released in May 2013 and has garnered airplay on folk, country and Americana radio across the USA and as far away as Australia.

He was named an Alternate Finalist for the 2015 Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase for his song "Redwood".  

His song "Ghosts in this Town" was selected as Best Americana Song in the 2015 West Coast Songwriters International Song Contest.  


Matt Folkmuse Stone