The allure of the highway and the comfort of staying home form the core of singer/songwriter Matthew Szlachetka’s lyrics. With titles like “Ready To Run Again,” “Wildflowers On The Highway,” and “Heart Of My Hometown,”’ Szlachetka (pronounced Sla-het-ka) addresses the internal and eternal conflict all artists face at some point in their career – balancing home life and the road.
Heart Of My Hometown, Szlachetka’s sophomore release, showcases his solid guitar skills, sweet emotive vocals and concise writing. The New England native, who now calls Nashville home, creates muscular, melodic and joyous roots-rock that holds its own in your music playlist, nestled comfortably between Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Jason Isbell and Bob Seger, never approaching the level of cover band mimicry.
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]On Episode 51, we’re joined by singer-songwriter Matthew Szlachetka. He was in the Lubbock area for a handful of days a couple weeks back and joined me one evening at Blue Light for this podcast. He recently released an excellent new album, Heart of My Hometown, which we speak about extensively. He had performed the night before and was just phenomenal (which he’ll be back in Lubbock on May 02 at The Blue Light). In our conversation, we discuss moving out to Los Angeles–where he spent over a decade, his recent move to Nashville, growing up in Massachusetts, writing to capture both his and everyone’s small-town hometown, Tom Petty, and life out on the road.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]Listen to the entire interview here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Szlachetka has a new release produced by David Bianco (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen): Heart of My Hometown. In case you haven’t given his music a spin, Szlachetka creates moving songs and has one of those voices that sends a chill down your spine. On his tour, Americana Highways caught up with him in time to talk about his perspectives on songwriting and hometowns across America.
By Songwriter U, published in American Songwriter
For singer/songwriters Jamie Kent, Matthew Szlachetka, Jeff Campbell and Megan Slankard, networking with each other and working their business relationships became the key to furthering their touring career. The performers all met several years ago through their relationship using the Bose L1 system and have been collaborating on shows, songs, and recordings ever since. Eventually, a tour and collaboration was the natural next step. Each show is set up in a "writers round" style, with each artist taking turns sharing a song/story, and the others all supporting with their respective instruments and voices. The tour kicked off in Boston last week and is working its way through New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin before winding up in Nashville. How did each of you meet?
Read the full interview here.
