Mario Matteoli BIO
June 19th, 2008
Mario Matteoli is an Austin-based singer-songwriter of dynamic proportions. He has been writing songs since the age of five when he would spontaneously write and perform them for his family. His songs are all over the map of American roots. Rock & roll, folk, country, if he loves it, he writes and plays it. To develop these roots and hone his skills Mario has served his time in the trenches.
Moving to Austin from his hometown of Eureka, CA at the age of nineteen, Mario Matteoli had one goal in mind – to become a professional musician. He formed a group called The Weary Boys with some hometown buddies in which he played the lead guitar, sang, and wrote a majority of the songs. After one whirl-wind year of street performing, Texas Honky Tonks, and as much cheap beer as they could drink, The Weary Boys had made a name for themselves. They had gone from street performers to headliners at the Continental Club, a feat rarely seen in that short of a time.
In 2001, The Weary Boys recorded their first self-released album and began touring nationally. They went on to meet their hero Ralph Stanley at his house in Virginia, open for Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Leon Russell, also heroes, play numerous festivals and record four more records. The Wearies had become a premier touring act but had to keep a grueling pace to maintain the very minor level of comfort they had earned. In January of 2007 Mario Matteoli called it quits to salvage the frayed friendships of the Weary Boys and pursue his solo career.
In the year and a half since, Mario has been working to make a name for his self all over again. He has toured, recorded/produced several various projects, played the Austin City Limits Festival, and found the woman he is going to marry. That brings us to the present. Mario has just finished his second self-produced, self-released solo album, golden state. With the official CD release show not until July 12th, 2008 at the Continental Club, golden state has already received praise from early critics and fans. He maintains a band in Austin with whom he recorded his newest effort, but is currently touring as a duo with fiancée, Cayce Marsh.
MARIO MATTEOLI
Golden State
self released
(Release Date: 7.12.08)
Mario Matteoli, known for a rollicking six-year run fronting twanggrassers The Weary Boys, has quickly shown the frenzied pony ride was just a jumping point. Where Weary Boys relied on blazing fast solos and backwoods mayhem, Golden State—Matteoli’s second solo release—is a compositional masterpiece: warm melodies, absorbing refrains, and mighty fine playing while visiting an array of Americana genres with one cohesive sound.
Opener “Baby Cayce” carries a bright, poppy Jayhawks-meets-Warren Zevon piano and acoustic guitar accentuated by claps. Matteoli’s yearning, Dust Bowl delivery is the anchor to the Van Zandt-Dylan-Hank Sr. triumvirate that remains an underlying influence throughout. “Bleeding My Heart” is achingly perfect. An almost-oldies melody leads to an organ-drenched chorus with Matteoli coming close to falsetto atop an ever so subtle background chorus. The short solos here, as throughout, build and reload the drama, being part of a whole rather than a skills showoff. Matt Hubbard quietly provides much of the albums beauty on piano, organ, mellotron, and trombone.
Perhaps most surprising, almost the entire album—from front cover to back cover and the music in between—is a love project to girlfriend Cayce Marsh. Surprising because music history is rife with brilliant artists watering things down to inject their lover into the music. Matteoli, however, harnessed the power to create his best start-to-finish listen to date. Marsh is used just enough to be a fresh attribute here and there, usually as harmony vocals. “Best Friend” and “You Follow Yours” could have fallen into sap, but the pair’s chemistry is rich and they gel into standouts. “You Follow Yours” in particular, with Matteoli’s Young-Petty harmonica molding perfectly with Hubbard’s organ, inspires a few turns on repeat. Marsh’s most prominent role is on the call and response “Got You Baby,” where she exudes a charming, lack-of-polish quality that sneaks in a fleeting thought of a Meg and Jack White duet.
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