Matty T Band - 5/22/08

Matty T Band at Vacaville Creekwalk

As a fan of excellent blues bands, excellent guitar work and local talent, it was great to see the Matty T Band hit the stage for the kick-off of Vacaville's Fiesta Days and the summer concert series on May 22. I first witnessed Matty's guitar work when he sat in with the Used Blues Band opening for Tommy Castro earlier this year and was very impressed with his axe skills. In one of life's nice coincidence's I went to buy a guitar at my local guitar store and lo and behold Matty owns the place. He told me about his band and I promised to come take a peek. All I can say is I am glad I did.

Matty's band, appropriately named the Matty T Band, (for Matty Taynton), is a talented bunch and they put on a great show. This is a hot band with a deep blues influence and the blues are soaked deep into Matty's guitar work. His guitar skills are phenomenal, better than a lot of bigger name acts and I've seen a lot of them. Beyond his incredible guitar work, Matty's vocals have a gravely, gutsy sound that are perfectly suited for blues work. He has great stage presence and puts a lot of energy into his performance.

The band behind Matty are a talented bunch as well, with Keith Vaughn on drums providing the beat and Jim Papesh working the low tracks on bass. Kent Harvey put his all into the keyboard work and completes the sound. These guys fit together well, as musicians and as stage performers. They went through a long variety of blues standards on all three sets, mixed in with some not so common favorites. They played a great cover of Joe Cocker's "The Letter", as well as one of my favorite blues tunes, "Old Love", the Clapton classic, (actually a collaboration between Eric and Robert Cray). Matty poured his soul into this tune and it was a pleasure to see and hear. They also played a great, upbeat, rockin' version of the Nat King Cole hit of "Route 66", written by Bobby Troup and pulled it off with excellence. There were so many great cuts as they just kept pouring them on, like Sonny Boy Williamson's "Early in The Morning" and B.B King's "Help the Poor". I was impressed time and time again with the talent of these characters as they provided an excellent backdrop for Matty's vocals and axe work.

Throughout the entire show Matty kept his Stratocaster smoking. At one point he came down into the dance floor then climbed up and walked across all the tables, all the while jamming up and down the fret board. Everybody enjoys that kind of showmanship as it adds a bit of a personal touch, you know what I mean? There's nothing like a wild guitar slinger invading your personal space! Loved it! I expect you'll be hearing about this troupe if you're not already on the bandwagon. It was a fun, energetic outing and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. It doesn't get much better than that.

Keep your eyes and ears open, the Blues are alive in northern California!

http://norcalbluesreviews.com/mattytband5220

For booking and band info, call Matty T Phone-707-447-5515 Fax-707-447-5525