Mathew Stevens, Grammy-Winning Jazz Guitarist, on His New Album

Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris

Darrell Craig Harris

Music Interviews, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 107 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Long recognized as one of the most thrilling and thoughtful guitarists of his generation, Matthew Stevens has built an elite reputation in music, touring, and recording with a "who's who" of modern icons, including Esperanza Spalding, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Harvey Mason, and Walter Smith Ill. He has also made a splash outside of jazz, having produced the tribute album I Am A Pilgrim - Doc Watson at 100, featuring artists such as Valerie June, Steve Earle, Nora Brown, and Dolly Parton (Stevens produced Parton's version of "The Last Thing on My Mind," which earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Solo Performance in 2024). A culmination of 20 years of craft, the eponymous album serves as a mid-career mission statement with Stevens stepping into the spotlight. Co-produced by Stevens, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and percussionist Eric Doob, the record seamlessly melds acoustic and electric sonics through a mix of genre-blurring originals and deeply personal covers. It features a multigenerational cast of musicians who have had a profound impact on Stevens' journey, including rising visionaries like vibraphonist Joel Ross and vocalists Anna B Savage and Corey King, in addition to his mentor Terri Lyne Carrington and personal guitar hero Jeff Parker. At the album's core is a band of his most trusted collaborators, which also includes keyboardist Chris Fishman and bassist Kyle Miles, with additional contributions from percussionist Paulo Stagnaro and guitarists Dylan Day and Rich Hinman on slide and pedal steel. Matthew Stevens reflects a period of profound personal and artistic change, ultimately bringing him to "a place of optimism, excitement, and confidence" that signals a bold new chapter for one of jazz's most essential voices and respected players. website www.mattstevens.com www.instagram.com/matthewthomaswyatt Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7z1PSpsIyAeniOOtaQ1iYa?si=cS9P53EIR46Qs9X4YvAd-g About Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris The Music Matters Podcast is hosted by Darrell Craig Harris, a globally published music journalist, professional musician, and Getty Images photographer. Music Matters is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Podbean, and more. Each week, Darrell interviews renowned artists, musicians, music journalists, and insiders from the music industry. Currently, 870,000 global downloads in over 40 countries. Visit us at: www.MusicMattersPodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/musicmattersdh For inquiries, contact: musicmatterspodcastshow@gmail.com Support our mission via PayPal: www.paypal.me/payDarrell voice over intro by Nigel J. Farmer

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Matthew Stevens, how you doing today?
0:02.0	Excellent. How are you doing?
0:03.4	I'm very good. So where are you coming to us from?
0:06.5	I'm in a tiny little town between Providence and Boston called Sharon, Massachusetts, that I've been here that I've been living in for the past four years now.
0:16.3	Okay. And you attended Berkeley as well, right, way back when?
0:20.4	I did. Yep. I was there for three years, 2001 to 2004. Okay. And you attended Berkeley as well, right, way back when? I did. Yeah. I was there for three years, 2001 to 2004.
0:25.1	Oh, okay. Awesome. Yeah. That's such a great area. And I love that whole area around there is really lovely.
0:30.2	Boston, of course, is great. A little chilly in the wintertime, but...
0:33.3	Indeed, this one especially.
0:35.1	Yeah, exactly. So you're a very busy guy. You have a new single out. Who Does She Hope to Be, which came out February 13th. You have a new album coming out on May 8th, which is self-titled, Matthew Stevens. Your Grammy Award-winning guitarist, also a great producer, very well-known producer, and session guitarist. So tell me about the new single and the new album. I know also too you have a
0:56.3	lot of guests artists on this album too. Yeah. Well, the new single, Who Does She Hope to Be,
1:03.1	is off of a fantastic record by Sonny Chirac called Ask the Ages that I believe it's from 1991 or 92, and was produced by Bill Laswell.
1:14.2	And it's a great lineup.
1:15.8	It's Sunny with Farrow Sanders, Charlotte Moffitt, and Elvin Jones.
1:20.4	And it was a record that was brought to my attention by an incredible drummer from Houston, Texas, named Jemeyer Williams.
1:33.3	And he had a band called Ehrimage that was busy 15 years ago. We toured a lot, and we used to play that song.
1:36.3	And it was just like something that I connected to immediately and looked forward to playing every night.
1:43.3	And it's a really musically transcendent record.
1:48.0	And it felt like it was the perfect song that was a cover in terms of how it fit into the rest of the stuff that I was writing.
1:58.0	You know, it felt like it kind of just seamlessly fit into this stuff that I was, that I was finding
2:06.6	myself arriving at for this record.
2:09.0	And yeah, it features Jeff Parker, sunny layers, a bunch of guitars on this record, and so
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Darrell Craig Harris, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Darrell Craig Harris and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.