M. Ward

M. Ward

I have been a huge M. Ward (Matthew Stephen Ward) fan since I first heard him on NPR in 2005, and have been reading about his sold-out shows from Europe to the U.S. ever since. He’s been featured in Rolling Stone magazine and is a very sought after collaborator. I have wondered what seeing him live would be like; I had even tentatively planned on going to a West Coast show (12 hours away), but it never panned out. Then I read he was going to be in the tiny town of Lyons, Colorado for a folk festival (6 hours away)–a folk festival? Are you kidding me? M. Ward, a folk singer? Well, I guess some might consider that title appropriate that but it’s definitely a bit of an understatement for sure.

I bought M. Ward’s albums in reverse order of release date…why? Not sure why, never done that before. I started with his 2006 album Post War, then his 2005 Transistor Radio, and then the next four albums; going deeper and deeper into his discography, and hoping after each song for a little clearer look inside Mr. Ward’s head.

The last album I bought was the first he created, and it wasn’t even an album, it was a single song, and I didn’t even buy it, a friend gave it to me as a gift. No matter, the song is Duet for Guitars #2, originally released in 1999, a purely acoustic guitar track, picked beautifully and passionately played with an interesting deep bass beat rising and falling, coming and going throughout the verses, somewhat random, maybe even out of place, it seemed on first listen. But it wasn’t out of place, nor an accident–it was perfectly arranged music the only way M. would want this song to be played.

Some might call Duet for Guitars #2 “old timey” or “down home” style. Whatever you call it, this bass beat was created precisely by Matthew’s right hand thumping on the side of his old Gibson guitar. You can listen to this one song, nearly 10 years old now, and know Matthew Stephen Ward about as well as you ever will as a fan. See what the website GrooveMine has to say about Mr. Ward here http://www.groovemine.com/audiofile_mward

M. Ward is an incredibly talented musician and an extremely complex being who weaves songs together with all his available resources; his mind, his words, his inner and outer voice, his hands and the instruments in his hands, creating a tapestry so rich and pure that you are sure that there is no one that could not love his sound–the same way there is no one that couldn’t love a beautifully woven quilt. No matter if the blanket was 100 years old, or 10 minutes old, as long as the weave was tight, the aesthetic beauty so undeniable and the skill of the craftsman so amazing that you had no choice but to love the piece of work, regardless of color or pattern.

M. Ward’s music is authentic, pure, precise, random, intelligent, playful, stern, dynamic, deep, funny and thought-provoking. His performance at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, CO, contained nearly all these same attributes. He said almost nothing for the first few minutes of his performance–the tension between an adoring crowd and the nearly speechless artist (and one who admits to disliking performing for the most part)–was so thick, only the music could cut through.

He stood silent, strumming and stoic on the Colorado mountain stage, but the music flowed from his guitar heavily into the evening air, laying down a thick blanket of soothing sound on the hungry ears of this “folk” crowd. You could just feel the mood of the entire 2,800+ crowd ease into the groove like an old arm chair. One reviewer/writer sitting behind me could literally be heard sighing heavily out loud with satisfaction and intermittent audible gasps of amazement in response to the amazing performance. I, on the other hand, felt so proud that he was laying waste to all the nay-sayers who bad-mouthed his ability to perform live! Here in these mountains of Colorado, he performed flawlessly and with the power and passion that is the sign of a true professional and lover of music.

And then he let his humor shine though at about 10 minutes into the set, when he started a looping guitar ditty on top of another looping guitar pattern he had played, thus creating a simple but beautiful repeating fragment of music. Then, with the timing of a stand-up comic, he walked slowly over to his water bottle, looked at the crowd, and drank deeply, as if to say “see how cool I am, I am entertaining you and drinking water at the same time.” He paused after his drink, then glanced again to the crowd and took another deep drink. The crowd erupted–a moment of comic relief after the somber tension set up at the beginning of the set. After that, the crowd now understood this M. Ward dude…he was not aloof, or distant, or anything else–he was just amazing and we were more than happy to be amazed.

When he invited two special guests on stage, Gillian Welch and David Rawlins, the show switched into high gear and Matt seemed so much more at ease, not being the sole center of attention anymore. He led his guests through what may have been the best version of the Stones song Prodigal Son that I have ever heard (I am a die-hard Stones fan and generally dislike covers). My God, these three played it as if it was their own and indeed it was, taking this hoe-down blues/folk song deeper and dirtier than the Stones in their hey day.

For another blow-by-blow breakdown of this performance, please see Nichole Wagner’s review on her fantastic web site, uncommonmusic.org. Here is the link to her review:

http://www.uncommonmusic.org/2009/concert/m-ward-rocky-mountain-folks-festival-co/

Matthew Stephen Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. In the summer of 2006, Ward relocated to New Hampshire and in the fall of 2007 subsequently returned to Portland. Regarding the types of music he grew up listening to, Ward said: “My dad turned me onto Johnny Cash. He was always into gospel and country. My mom listened to classical music.”

Career

His solo debut Duet for Guitars #2 was released by Howe Gelb on his Ow Om record label. Ward’s 2001 album, End of Amnesia, was put out by Future Farmer Records. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & The Voice of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows in 2001. His subsequent albums have been released on Merge Records.

He has guested on recordings by Cat Power, Beth Orton (with whom he co-wrote the title track to her album Comfort of Strangers), The Court & Spark, Bright Eyes (with whom he toured on the 2004 Vote for Change tour with R.E.M. and Bruce Springsteen), Jenny Lewis (whose debut solo album Rabbit Fur Coat he co-produced), and My Morning Jacket.

In 2006, he contributed a song to, and helped produce the John Fahey tribute album I Am the Resurrection. He also appears on Norah Jones‘ album Not Too Late, performing backing vocals and guitar on “Sinkin’ Soon“, and toured as the opener and a member of her “Handsome Band” for the album in the spring of 2007. Also his cover of David Bowie‘s song “Let’s Dance” is featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 New Zealand film Eagle vs Shark. Ward was previously a member of the band Rodriguez with Kyle Field of Little Wings. Their album Swing Like a Metronome was released in 2000 and produced by Jason Lytle of Grandaddy.

In 2004, Ward played guitar for Bright Eyes on a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. During the performance, Bright Eyes’ singer Conor Oberst yelled out “M. Ward for President!” This prompted Newsweek to run an article on Ward and his next album Transistor Radio.

In 2006, he released Post-War, which was described by Vanity Fair in its August 2006 issue as thematic on the question “How will America heal once this craziness in Iraq is over?” Ward said in that article that he looked to the post-war music of the late 1940s and 1950s. “I had the naive, simplistic idea that producers and writers and artists of the time helped in a minuscule way to change the mind-set of America.” The album was released on Merge Records and features cameo performances by Howe Gelb, Jim James and Neko Case.

M. Ward performing live at the Glastonbury Festival, 27th June 2009.

From the music blog It’s Hard To Find A Friend: “According to the Omaha City Weekly: …Also with recording plans for the winter is Conor Oberst. Beginning in the new year, Oberst is slated to begin recording two new albums — one a solo record in Mexico (the album is self titled “Conor Oberst”) with Jake Bellows playing a role and another with a new band being formed with M Ward”.

In 2006, Ward recorded a duet with actress Zooey Deschanel, a collaboration which resulted in the formation of the band She & Him.^[2] The duo’s album Volume One — which Ward produced — was released on Merge Records on March 18, 2008. Ward and Deschanel performed (along with Yo La Tengo) on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on April 22, 2008. Returning from She & Him duties, M. Ward has released his sixth solo studio album, Hold Time, on February 17 2009. Ward has said that he doesn’t enjoy playing shows very much: “In general I like it. I don’t like being away from home that much. So it’s O.K. It’s a part of the job.”^[3] He has also taken steps recently to restrict fans’ use of cameras—even point-and-shoots—during his live shows.

Both Ward and Deschanel also agreed to be judges for the 9th annual Independent Music Awards. In doing so, She & Him are using their growing influence to assist upcoming independent musicians’ careers.^[

Influences

Ward says that "Amazing Grace" is probably his favorite song. His favorite piece of musical equipment is the TASCAM 4-Track Recorder, which he uses to start every song he writes.^[8]

Discography

Albums

• Duet for Guitars #2 (1999)
• End of Amnesia (2001)
• Live Music & The Voice of Strangers (2001)
• Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)
• Transistor Radio (2005)
• Post-War (2006)
• Hold Time (2009)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm. It is filed under Rocky Mountain Folks Festival 2009 and tagged with M. Ward, Rocky Mountain Folks Festival 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.