MATT PAXTON
"Back Home in the Village" (December 2009) was recorded at Vibewrangler Studio in Hamilton, Ontario.
Produced by Michael Keire and Glen Marshall (Apostle of Hustle, Feist, Josh Ritter)
The debut 10-track offering has a ‘New York Greenwich Village circa 1963’ meets ‘present-day working class steel town vibe,’ and includes fan favourites “My Love (Comes from the End of the Road)”, “Down the Mountain as a Train, and the cutting ballad about hometown Hamilton, “City of Smoke.”
“My music is more of a slide show of thoughts and memories," says Paxton. "Each recording changes song after song, but still manages to have a certain thread linking to one another. I enjoy writing songs to document time, stories and experiences, and taking a listener on a trip."
Paxton now lives in Toronto where he is working hard on his songwriting, his fine art and his poetry. He has played many shows across the Canadian landscape, sharing bills with Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Tom Wilson, Jason Collett, Peter Elkas, Elliott Brood, Jenn Grant, Apostle of Hustle, Chad VanGaalen and Cuff The Duke among others. Paxton has been described as a mix between Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst and Ryan Adams.
World-renowned session guitarist Bill Dillon (Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Daniel Lanois) is a big fan of Paxton's singing and songwriting, and commented that “City of Smoke, for example, is the kind of song you should hear on the radio today.” “Coming from someone who has recorded with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Robbie Robertson, it's quite an acknowledgement," says Paxton "We went into this project knowing we wanted to record a full album, but we didn't have all the content ready at the time. It's been a work in progress, evolving through the recording process."
Appearing on the album is Tim Gibbons (Sling Blade Soundtrack), Bill Dillon (Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson), Tone Valcic (Chantal Kreviazuk, Holly McNarland, Sinnead O'Connor) and Aaron Goldstein (Lee Harvey Osmond, Huron) and more.
During the 12 months at Vibewrangler, Paxton and his producers regularly uploaded videos, photos, different versions of rough mixes to online destinations. “We tried to keep things fresh, always updating the blogs, music posts and websites,” says Paxton. “We made sure listeners and fans could see and hear exactly what we were up to all along the way.”
The new music paradigm has allowed people around the world to access Paxton's songs – people who otherwise in the conventional corporate-dominated recording-distribution process, would not be able to find his music at all. “It has allowed listeners and fans to be indirectly part of the recording process,” says producer Michael Keire “At the same time; Matt has expanded his fan base and provided them with much more than a single CD of 10 songs. They've been able to watch and hear the evolution of his songs and his songwriting. It's an incredible experience for the artist, for the fans, and for all of us working with Matt.”
Matt's currently recording songs for his upcoming release "Until the Sky Begins to Change"
