Young Heart, Old Soul, the third album from roots-rock singer/songwriter Matthew Szlachetka, unfolds like the soundtrack to a cross-country road trip. Filled with heartland hooks, folk melo-dies, and searing electric guitar, these songs draw a line between Los Angeles — where Szlachetka lived for years, soaking up the warm harmonies and jangling riffs of the city's folk-rock icons — and his new home in Nashville, TN, the epicenter of modern-day Americana. It was listed as a
Top 10 Album of 2022 by Magnet Magazine.
For the past half-decade, he's been building his audience show-by-show, touring for more than 200 days a year while earning praise from outlets like
Rolling Stone Country, who hailed him as one of the “
10 New Artists You Need to Know” based on his catalog of "road-dog roots-rockers and Americana ballads." Young Heart, Old Soul finds him in transit once again, writing songs about a country torn apart by politics yet united by a common spirit. Produced by
Scott Underwood, the Grammy-winning co-founder of
TRAIN, and largely recorded at Nashville's legendary Blackbird Studios, Young Heart, Old Soul offers its own version of ampli-fied Americana music. Unlike the two albums that came before it, though, Young Heart, Old Soul is also a record about home — the homes we leave behind, the homes we temporarily visit, and the homes we build with others. Maybe that's why these 11 songs feel so grounded. After all, Szlachetka — whose self-made success includes high-profile shows alongside
Brandi Carlile,
Mike Campbell,
Chris Isaak and Blackberry Smoke's
Charlie Starr and
Benji Shanks,
Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow),
Audley Freed (Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes, Cry Of Love),
Kevin Kinney (Drivin’ & Cryin’); regular appearances on SiriusXM's Tom Petty Radio; and his own
DittyTV program, Vinyl Recipes, which combines his love for music, cooking, and cocktails — isn't running anymore. Instead, he's finally arrived.
Singles from Young Heart, Old Soul have generated airplay and buzz from
Rolling Stone,
American Songwriter,
Magnet Magazine (Top 10 Albums Of 2022),
CMT,
Ditty TV,
Guitar World,
The Alternate Root,
Wide Open Country,
Americana Highways,
Lightning 100 (Nashville),
WMOT FM (Nashville),
WFMU FM (New Jersey),
KPUR 95.7 The Armadil-lo (Texas),
WRSI 93.9 The River (Massachusetts),
WLFM 91.1 The Avenue (Wisconsin), 105.7 FM
Red Dirt Rebel (Texas), 102.3
WHIV FM NOLA County (Louisiana), 99.3 FM
The Peach (Louisiana),
WVTF FM Roots Down Radio (Virginia)
When not on the road, Szlachetka has become an in-demand producer, session guitarist and writer in Nashville and has worked with and co-produced projects with
David Bianco (Tom Petty, GRAMMY WINNER),
Scott Underwood (TRAIN, GRAMMY WINNER),
Matt Malley (Counting Crows, GRAMMY WINNER),
Casey Wasner (Keb Mo', GRAMMY WINNER) and
Radney Foster (Texas Songwriter Hall Of Fame).
He recently produced projects for
Jeff Silbar (Grammy/ Oscar winning Songwriter "The Wind Beneath My Wings"),
Sarah Aili,
Preston Gunderson (from NBC's The Voice),
Nikki Morgan (from Black Opry).
You can also find him gigging around Nashville with his side project,
Greasy Chicken Review- a rotating cast of top session and touring musicians that play nothing but “Deep Cuts & B-Sides” from everyone’s favorite Rock & Roll, Soul and Americana bands and artists.
SZLACHETKA is a prolific songwriter who relishes the creative interplay of collaborative writing and the serendipitous connections that materialize on the road. In the last year alone, he has collaborated with Kevin Savigar (Rod Stewart, Kelsea Ballerini), Adam Wright (Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack), Mando Saenz (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Whiskey Myers, Kim Richey, Wade Bowen), Jeff Silbar (Wind Beneath My Wings), Wyatt Durrette (Zac Brown Band), Scott Underwood (TRAIN), Jamie Kent, Jamie Wyatt, Austin Hanks (Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top), Katelyn Clampett, Matt Brown, Andrew Leahey and Paul Freeman.
Throughout his travels, SZLACHETKA has shared the stage with the likes of Mike Campbell (from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Chris Isaac, Brandi Carlisle, Huey Lewis & The News, John Waite, Pat Green, Brandy Clark, Deana Carter, Tommy Emmanuel, Albert Lee, Doyle Dykes, Chris Hillman, Laurence Juber, John Jorgensen, Lee Roy Parnell, Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven, Matthew Sweet, Greg Laswell, Johnette Napolitano, Hanson, Fishbone, The English Beat, Madi Diaz, The California Honeydrops.