Matt Sweeney downplays his success as a guitarist and producer to the fact that he simply says “yes” to a lot of projects. Whatever the case; it’s working. After playing in Chavez, he performed as Superwolves with Will Oldham and served as a guitarist-for-hire on numerous acclaimed albums, including Cat Power’s ‘Covers’ record and the Rick Rubin-produced Johnny Cash ‘American Recordings V’ and ‘VI.’ He’s also an in-demand producer.
Matt also happens to be one of the greatest guitar interviewers around. His Guitar Moves series, originally produced for Vice’s Noisey channel in 2013, set a high bar for how to interview artists. Matt is like a musician’s Anthony Bourdain: He’s total rock & roll, but also approachable, funny and curious. Most importantly, he gets his subjects – including Keith Richards, Blake Mills, and Billy Gibbons – talking.
After a long hiatus, Matt has decided to take ownership of Guitar Moves, share old installments, and record new episodes. On this week’s episode, we talk about how it’s all about fingerpicking (thanks to his friend Sam Dylan of Supreme Dicks), his plans for Guitar Moves going forward, the old Richard Thompson instruction video (YouTube link) that served as the show’s inspiration (and that Richard himself hated), and so much more.
Be on the lookout for a feature on Matt in early 2024 in the pages of the Fretboard Journal.
Watch Guitar Moves: https://www.youtube.com/@guitar-moves
Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal and get our new 53rd issue with Ben Harper, Joanna Sternberg and much more: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription
Registration is now open to attend our 2024 Fretboard Summit: https://fretboardsummit.org/
If you enjoy this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and consider joining the Fretboard Journal’s new Patreon page.
Thank you to our sponsors: Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar, Peghead Nation (use the promo code FRETBOARD and get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription); and Stringjoy Strings(get 10% off your order with the FRETBOARD discount code). This episode is also sponsored by iZotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off of your Izotope order.
