Wall Matthews Complete Discography
Wall’s Latest Release on Vinyl
Spine River: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (1967-1981)
Tompkins Square
Rare and unreleased tracks from 1967-1981 by the master guitarist behind 70’s US folk collective Entourage.
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Blind James Matthews: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (2016-2019)
Tompkins Square Digital
It all started for me with the sound of the country blues guitar. Blind Boy Fuller, Leadbelly, Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Rush, Jim Kweskin, Dave “Snaker” Ray. They all came back to visit for a few years.
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Spirit Box: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (2015)
Tompkins Square Digital
One of my personal favorites, this collection of pieces is inspired by the sound of the guitar I heard in Bert Jansch and Donovan records early on. A special thanks to master engineer Victor Giordano for so skillfully capturing it.
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When The Heather Calls: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (1998)
Tompkins Square Digital
A collection of my arrangements of melodies, mainly from the British Isles. Whether traditional or written by others they have haunted me ever since I first heard them.
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The Plum Women’s Blues: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (1994-1996)
Tompkins Square Digital
Dolores Kendrick’s book “The Women Of Plums, Poems In The Voices Of Slave Women” inspired my recording “The Color Of Dusk”. These solo guitar tracks were the foundation for that record.
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The Storm Lantern: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews (1988-1993)
Tompkins Square Digital
So many of my compositions come from intuitively going where the music seems to want to go. These imagistic pieces come straight from the heart and the fingers.
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The Dreaming Light
ZGM 003
JOHN DILIBERTO, ECHOES “Beautiful, ambient chamber works”
ZONE REPORTER:
“One of the top 100 recordings of the year”
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Christmas Guitar
Clean Cuts
Originally released as “The Heart Of Winter.” This re-mastered version was nominated in 2014 for Zone Reporter’s Holiday Album Of The Year.
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Air Over Water
ZGM 002
JOHN SCHAEFER, “NEW SOUNDS” WNYC RADIO, NEW YORK:
”… like an unexpected postcard from a long-lost friend…surprises dot the aural landscape throughout: “Snails” sounds like a Bach Partita with passing Eastern-inflected slurs…”Sleazy Sue” offers echoes of folk and blues, with unusual note bending…”The Blue Heart evokes Ravel without ever sounding like French Impressionism.”….
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Zen Gardens
ZGM 001
KYOTO JOURNAL
“…gives the listener breathing room, allowing the mind to let go as it drifts with the gentle melodies…He is familiar with the actual gardens so you can hear birdsong give way to dripping rain off the roof of Enryaku-ji; the percussive clack and clink of metal meeting stone at Ryoan-ji; insects crawling along moss as Saiho-ji awakes; the ringing of the great bell at Myoshin-ji evokes the black clad monks shuffling barefoot along wooden floors on a winter’s night..listeners will find themselves returning often seeking the quiet the music instills.”
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The Color Of Dusk
Vibe Magazine :
“…a stirring tribute to the emotions of any female slave who has ever walked the earth….THE COLOR OF DUSK is a tragic history set to appropriate, moving music…”
VH 1 :
“Truly riveting… an amazing album..imagine Ry Cooder meets Aretha Franklin…”
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Gathering The World
Clean Cuts 712
CMJ New Music Report
“His original songs dance and sparkle. The covers have soul, wit, and guts. ‘Pastures Of Plenty” is eerie and gorgeous. He is a tight, yet expressive guitarist, a tornado of rhythms and simple melodies that carries his pieces from country to musical country.
Maryland Live :
“That Matthews is a masterful guitarist ought to be obvious after a single hearing of ‘The Night Waterman’ – he fingerpicks with such finesse that his performance takes on the sort of shading and dynamic range you’d expect from a piano solo… an exciting, eclectic song selection…surely worth gathering into your world.”
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Riding Horses
Clean Cuts 709
Musician Magazine :
“On guitar, Matthews is a six string wonder…on piano, he’s a gifted miniaturist, matching classical structure with a folkish sense of line.”
Baltimore Sun :
“Beautiful and unusual music.”
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Solo Piano And Guitar
Clean Cuts 708
Musician Magazine ( J.D. Considine) :
“… a phenomenally capable musician…but, in the end, his talents as a composer and a melodist make this an album worth listening to, not simply hearing.”
Playboy Magazine :
“defies catagorization… we’ve listened a dozen times and haven’t begun to tire of it…wonderfully lyrical and moody.”
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The Dance In Your Eye
Fretless 158
Option Magazine :
” A fine guitarist, pianist, composer whose style includes fusion jazz, solo finger-style guitar, simple ensemble pieces, and works of nearly symphonic proportions.”
Downbeat Magazine :
“…exciting, exotic jazz fusion.”
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The Neptune Collection
FTS 33879
(Description of The Neptune Collection)
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Hamburger Blues
SJL 1273
(Description of Hamburger Blues)
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