Matt Minglewood

Born Roy Batherson in Moncton in 1947 and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Matt Minglewood absorbed music early through his fiddler grandfather and soon took up the instrument himself, well before school age. Piano, guitar, and organ lessons followed, as did hockey, a pursuit he has never relinquished. In his early twenties he adopted the name Matt Minglewood while playing with Sam Moon and the New Moon, later known as Moon, Minglewood and the Universal Power. He next assembled the Minglewood Band and cut his independent debut, the self-titled Red Album, in 1976. RCA Records signed him three years later for the second album. Roughly a dozen further releases appeared with the band or under his own name through the eighties, showcasing a blend of blues, rock, and country that sometimes registered simply as blues-rock and at other times as unmistakably Minglewood. Three gold records and an East Coast Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award stand among the honors earned during those years. After moving to Epic Records for the 1982 album Minglewood 5, he dissolved the band in 1984 and continued solo, issuing Me and the Boys in 1985, the Promise in 1988, and Drivin’ Wheel in 1999.