Scott Matthews: Quiet spoken but the proud holder of an Ivor Novello award!

Blazing a trail for the Black Country's music scene, Wolverhampton wonder-boy Scott Matthews provided us with a truly spell-binding session.

Scott Matthews is a music fan. Raised on a stout diet of classics: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, he tried his hand at the punk-funk route (for a while he says he thought he was Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante), as well as soul and indie. A few years ago he turned to solo singer/songwriting and found his groove.

His creative incarnation may have changed, but Matthews still looks to the inventive, classic songwriters for his inspiration, namechecking Ryan Adams, Badly Drawn Boy, Beck and Tom Waits as his current favourites.

All these artists point to the kind of things to expect from Scott, although it's probably Jeff Buckley to whom he's been most compared, in part because of his fragile yet powerful falsetto vocals, but also for his musicality and rich, atmospheric songs.

Matthews is fond of experimenting with soundscapes and instrumentation, and for his debut record, Passing Stranger, used legendary tabla player Sukvinder Singh Namdhari, (who has played with Ry Cooder and Ravi Shankar) along with guitars and strings to add texture.

In front of about 100 reverent fans, Scott and his band played his famous haunting single Elusive, along with Dream Song and Passing Stranger to a hushed, captive audience. Proving he's not let stardom go to his head, Scott spent some time after the session was over, chatting to the fans and signing autographs outside. You can also watch an exclusive behind the scenes feature filmed on the day.

Scott Matthews: Passing Stranger

- Download Scott Matthews with iTunes
- Buy Scott Matthews on CD from Amazon
- Visit his official website
- Search: Scott Matthews

More

- Air Traffic
- Andrea Corr
- Ash
- Bright Eyes
- CSS
- Editors
- Interpol
- James Blunt
- Kelly Clarkson
- Linkin Park
- Maroon 5
- Natasha Bedingfield
- Robyn
- Scarlett Johansson
- Unklejam
- Wilco

great

- Avril Lavigne
- Ghosts
- Hard-Fi
- Joss Stone
- Kings Of Leon
- Lady Sovereign
- Lupe Fiasco
- Daughtry
- Scott Matthews
- Snoop Dogg
- The Enemy
- The Feeling
- The Fratellis
- The Kooks
- The Fray

music

- Adele
- Cat Power
- Fergie
- Foals
- Gwen Stefani
- Lil Chris
- Jojo
- Josh Pyke
- KT Tunstall
- Manic Street Preachers
- Muse
- Nas
- Nicole Scherzinger
- Paul Weller
- Rihanna
- The Killers