After first picking up the guitar at 15 years of age Matt Henry finally found the courage to start performing live at 35 and hasn’t looked back since. Five years later Henry has toured with the likes of Kasey Chambers, released a successful EP and is now setting the scene to drop Love Without Co-Dependency, an album that’s been 20 years in the making.
“The Best That They Could Do” is the first release from the forthcoming album and was written whilst reflecting on a relationship that had initially ended with a question mark. “This song for me was about erasing that question mark and replacing it with a full stop” said Henry. It is, in essence a country song but expresses strong blues influences and showcases the amazing backing vocals of Jen Mize. The track is a great example of Henry’s collaboration with celebrated producer/songwriter Shane Nicholson (Catherine Britt, Alex Lloyd) as Henry explains “This song was the last one I sent to Shane. I had just written it and only really sent it because he said to send as much as possible. I thought it was the least finished and I had no real intention of recording it. When I arrived at the studio for pre-production sessions he said it was one of his favourites. The sessions for that song were among the easiest. Because it was new I had no real pre-conceived ideas as to how I wanted it to sound. So essentially Shane just spun his wheels and was left unencumbered”
After many years writing music by himself Matt Henry’s collaboration with a Shane Nicholson was a unique and refreshing experience that allowed his songs to evolve in a way he could never of imaged. “The process was really intense. I had so many expectations going in and I quickly learnt that the process of recording /collaborating is a process of letting go and finding mutual points of common ground. There were times when we both refused to yield on some points but I can see in hindsight the dynamic actually worked really well and I think brought the best out of both of us.” Explains Henry.
Matt Henry has been working hard playing shows across the contry since the September release of “The Best That They Could Do” and is annoucing more dates in October/November in prepration of his album launch at The Tamworth Country Music Festival on January 20th 2017.
UPCOMING SHOWS
22/10: St Martins Parish Hall w/Melody Pool, Mullumbimby
23/10: Black Bear Lodge w/Melody Pool, Brisbane
10/11: The Milk Factory w/Paddy McGugh, Brisbane
27/11: Leftys Old Time Music Call w/Jen Mize, Brisbane