Mat D

Most of us round here became acquainted with Mat D (Matthew deRiso) through his recordings with his band The Profane Saints. The Sioux City Iowa native’s most recent CD, however, is a bare bones acoustic CD entitled Gasoline Rattle. He is joined by Kurt Mullins on fretless bass. This isn’t sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows acoustic; It’s music more suited for roasting, better yet burning, hotdogs in the parking lot at a tractor pull. This is turbocharged acoustic. Several songs have appeared on previous CDs with the band and have been re-worked for this acoustic set. These include “Bound For Glory,” which was released initially on the Brand New Faith EP and two from the bands now out of print 2006 CD Small Town Burning. These are “Sweet Louise” and one of my favorites (not just for the name) “Bikini Bull Riding.”

The backbone of the CD is the voice of Mat D. He’s been described accurately as a “young Steve Earle with a more powerful set of pipes.” This is Americana music broken down to its simplest form, guitar chords and voice, which makes for a refreshing listen. The number of tunes on the disc may actually be greater than the number of different chords in the music, yet despite their simplicity the tunes grab you. Although much folk music started simply like this, not many singers today could pull this off as effectively as Mat D.

Another of my favorites is “Damnation Line,” an intriguing tune about accidents. I figured there had to be a story behind the tune so I asked Mat, who confirmed this. His father-in-law was killed in a motorcycle accident and he says this is what initially inspired the song. It is a fictional account of those who have died on the roads, railroad tracks or highways. Mat says the line “They can still hear the sound of that wreck going down when you sleep on the Damnation Line” are the dead and the living reliving the past in the story… I imagined all of these spirits waking up at night and visiting the places where they met their end; sort of a highway ghost story.” There is not a lot of uplifting stuff here. Other song titles include “Dead in New Orleans,” “Guilty Man’s Gun” and “Dirt Road Eulogy.”

On the CD’s last track he does put the guitar down and pick up the mandolin for “Midway Babylon,” a tune with a bit of country feel that starts with, what else, love at the carnival:
I met a circuit preachers daughter on a midway strip, she wore a white silk dress that hugged her truckstop hips
well the years they hadn’t been too kind but a ramblin boy like me don’t mind
We made love that night out on the tilt-a-whirl, and I swore I’d love that curvy midway girl…

Good news: Mat has another CD is planned for late summer release.  I definitely plan on checking that one out as well!

Author: Don Zelazny