Matt Combs

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Matt Combs is an American studio musician, record producer, composer, arranger, and author in Nashville, Tennessee.

Contents

Early life

Growing up in  Wichita, Kansas, his musical life began after seeing a performance by violinist Itzhak Perlman. [1] He studied the  Suzuki method  of violin playing and also began playing old- time  jazz  and  pop  tunes with his father and brothers in the Combs Family Band. This two-pronged approach to the instrument continued throughout his youth, as he continued classical study while also playing improvised music in bands throughout Wichita. He was accepted into the School of Music at the  University of Michigan  to study with pedagogue  Paul Kantor  to embark on a degree in classical violin performance. Matt spent the summer prior to his freshman year at the  Aspen Music Festival, and there he met a group of musicians who introduced him to an array of music that broadened his approach to the violin. [2] He completed a degree in classical performance at the University of Michigan, but during his time there his love for fiddle music became a driver for his post-college plans. [3]

Career

After winning the 1996 Rockygrass Fiddle Championship in Lyons, Colorado, Combs graduated from college, rented a U-Haul and drove straight to Nashville and the bluegrass club The Station Inn. [4] There he met and became part of a large network of fiddlers. Combs soon met and became close friends and colleagues with John Hartford. [5] He began playing mandolin occasionally in the John Hartford String Band, and when Hartford lost the use of his hands due to cancer treatment, Combs joined the band full-time playing fiddle. [6] Combs participated in the reunited John Hartford Band's Grammy-nominated “Memories of John” record that commemorated Hartford and his music on the 10th anniversary of his death. [7] After Hartford's death, Combs worked Katie Hartford Hogue and Greg Reish to author John Hartford's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes. [8] [9] This anthology contains 176 of John's original fiddle tunes, most of which were previously unpublished and unrecorded that were taken from Hartford's personal music journals. [10] [11] Along with tunes, the book also features Hartford's reflections on the fiddle, his creative process, and interviews with musicians who worked with Hartford. [12] [13] Combs has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry house band, Mike Snider’s String Band and the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble, and has performed with Reba McEntire, Jerry Douglas, Patty Loveless,  Marty Stuart,  Alison Brown, and  Ray Price. [14] He also helped produce “Pa's Fiddle”, a recording of the music said to have been played by Pa Ingalls from the books of  Laura Ingalls Wilder. [15]

Combs works regularly with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys as a member of his Easy Eye Studio house band, and arranged and recorded strings for Social Cues , the 2019 Cage the Elephant release on RCA Records. [16] Combs appeared in three seasons of  ABC’s hit show “Nashville”, both on-screen as a musician in the band of Hayden Panettiere's “Juliette Barnes,” and behind-the-scenes on the show's soundtrack, produced by Buddy Miller. [17] His original music has been heard in Kevin Costner's Hatfields and McCoys miniseries, and he recorded fiddle parts for the 2016 remake of Roots. [18] His collaboration with David “Fergie” Ferguson and Matt Sweeney appeared in Red Dead Redemption 2 , the video game from Rockstar Games. [19]

Composer

Combs is also a composer of new classical music. Appalachian Rhapsody was written in 2015, and is an orchestral work featuring the fiddle and piano. Co-written with Nate Strasser, Appalachian Rhapsody has been performed by the  Wheeling Symphony  and The Nashville Concerto Orchestra. [20] This piece is a cinematic look at the history of the fiddle in the United States though the original music presented by Combs and Strasser. [21]

Educator

As an educator, Combs directs the fiddle program at  Vanderbilt University’s  Blair School of Music  and lectures regularly on the history of country music and  Music City including multiple lectures as keynote speaker for the  Fulbright Scholars  in Nashville. [22] In addition to his work at the Blair School of Music, Combs partners with  Nashville Symphony  and the  Country Music Hall of Fame  to develop an outreach program called “Is it a Fiddle or Violin?” [23] [24]

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References

  1. ↑ Neil, Denise. "Wichita Collegiate grad lands steady work in Nashville". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "Matt Combs Interview", "Melbay"
  3. ↑ Jeremy D. Bonfiglio, "Matt Combs follows call of late mentor", "The Herald Palladium", July 8, 2018
  4. ↑ "Past Lineups", "Planet Bluegrass"
  5. ↑ Havighurst, Craig (7 April 2020). "John Hartford's Fiddle Tunes Leap Off The Page And Onto A New Album With Nashville's Finest". WMOT Roots Radio. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Craig Havighurst "John Hartford's 'Mammoth' Influence And Passion For Fiddle Captured In New Anthology" "WMOT Roots Radio" June 4, 2018
  7. ↑ "Review: Memories of John", "Bluegrass Unlimited"
  8. ↑ Richard Thompson "John Hartford catalogue still active", "Bluegrass Today" February 1, 2018
  9. ↑ Schenk, David. "New John Hartford fiddle tunes book has Western North Carolina connections". Mountain Times. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  10. ↑ Logue, Gina (18 May 2018). "MTSU musicologist helps bring John Hartford's hidden fiddle tunes to life in new book". MTSU News. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  11. ↑ Thanki, Juli. "'John Hartford's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes' is a look inside the mind of a legend". Tennessean. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  12. ↑ Lawless, J., "John Hartford's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes", "Bluegrass Today", May 14, 2018
  13. ↑ Carrigan, Harry. "Two Projects Celebrate John Hartford's Enduring Legacy". No Depression. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Matt Combs Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  15. ↑ Cockrell, Dave. "The Music Pa Ingalls Played". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  16. ↑ Hal Horowitz, "Cage the Elephant: Social Cues", American Songwriter, April 16, 2019
  17. ↑ "Fiddle Demonstration: Matt Combs", "Do 615"
  18. ↑ " Matt Combs with Scott Simontacchi at Johnny's Speakeasy", "Brown Paper Tickets"
  19. ↑ Dom Nero, "How Red Dead Redemption 2 Found Its Sound—and That One Perfect D'Angelo Song", "Esquire", July 12, 2019
  20. ↑ "APPALACHIAN RHAPSODY". Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.
  21. ↑ "Combs/Strasser Appalachian Rhapsody", "Mozart In Nashville", April 19, 2018
  22. ↑ "Bio". Blair School of Music.
  23. ↑ "Nashville Symphony".
  24. ↑ "Is It A Fiddle Or Violin Teacher's Guide" (PDF). Nashville Symphony. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
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