Matt is the lead vocalist for Days After, and also backs up Will on acoustic and electric guitars. In addition to playing in the band, he also regularly plays acoustic solo and combo gigs. Matt’s primary musical influences include Petty, Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, The Drive-by Truckers (Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood), Trey Anestasio / Phish, Widespread Panic, and way too many more Athens musicians to list on one page.
Matt began playing the piano at age 8 and got his first guitar (a $99 Kay electric) at age 12. Playing at church and in various garage bands throughout his youth, he co-formed Broken Halo with fellow Dublin-natives Ben Lovett and brothers Brian and Justin Shirley at age 15. The group disbanded soon after as members moved off to pursue other interests and Matt joined singer-songwriter Tommy Thompson and fellow musicians Brian Owens and Taylor Thompson in local bar-band The Yard Dogs. Two years later he found himself in music-mecca Athens, Georgia as a freshman at UGA.
After five years in Athens and a short stint in Atlanta absorbing the local music scenes and playing solo acoustic gigs, Matt returned to Dublin with a deeply-rooted influence of southern rock and jambands. Several years (and many barstool gigs later), Matt and brother Luke met the remaining members of Days After and the rest is…well, here we are…