Biography
Matthew Perryman Jones, a Nashville-based performer recognized for his adaptable tenor and reflective acoustic rock approach, first drew widespread notice in the late 2000s after his track “Save You,” featured on the third album Swallow the Sea, earned placements on network series such as Kyle XY and One Tree Hill. Later releases, including the expansive 2012 set Land of the Living and the 2018 album The Waking Hours, further highlighted the artist’s lyrical depth, reflective subject matter, and narrative skill.
Jones began sharpening his craft in 1997 within Atlanta’s singer/songwriter community, refining material through appearances at folk spots like Eddie's Attic in nearby Decatur. After moving to Nashville in 2000, he issued his first independent collection, Nowhere Else But Here, then followed it in 2003 with the EP For the Road. Collaboration with producer Neilson Hubbard steered the 2006 sophomore effort Throwing Punches in the Dark toward a more current rock emphasis, signaling a notable evolution in direction.
Reuniting with Hubbard for Swallow the Sea in 2008 extended Jones’s lean toward accessible pop, securing a Thirty Tigers agreement and prominent television exposure for “Save You” on the ABC science-fiction series Kyle XY and the WB drama One Tree Hill, markedly broadening his audience. Amid this period of growing recognition, he delivered two additional EPs in 2010—the digital-only Crash, Boom, Bang and the subsequent The Distance in Between—while also placing “Out of Reach” on the Pretty Little Liars soundtrack.
The 2011 project Until the Dawn Appears offered acoustic reinterpretations of earlier material without reducing its textural scope. Around the same time Jones joined the Nashville songwriting collective Ten Out of Tenn and contributed to its compilation Ten Out of Tenn, Vol. 4. A Kickstarter campaign supported the 2012 album Land of the Living, an ambitious rock recording steeped in philosophical concerns and partly shaped by the correspondence between Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo as well as Federico García Lorca’s notion of duende. The 2015 EP Cold Answer preceded the fifth studio album, The Waking Hours, produced by Josh Kaler and released in 2018.
Jones began sharpening his craft in 1997 within Atlanta’s singer/songwriter community, refining material through appearances at folk spots like Eddie's Attic in nearby Decatur. After moving to Nashville in 2000, he issued his first independent collection, Nowhere Else But Here, then followed it in 2003 with the EP For the Road. Collaboration with producer Neilson Hubbard steered the 2006 sophomore effort Throwing Punches in the Dark toward a more current rock emphasis, signaling a notable evolution in direction.
Reuniting with Hubbard for Swallow the Sea in 2008 extended Jones’s lean toward accessible pop, securing a Thirty Tigers agreement and prominent television exposure for “Save You” on the ABC science-fiction series Kyle XY and the WB drama One Tree Hill, markedly broadening his audience. Amid this period of growing recognition, he delivered two additional EPs in 2010—the digital-only Crash, Boom, Bang and the subsequent The Distance in Between—while also placing “Out of Reach” on the Pretty Little Liars soundtrack.
The 2011 project Until the Dawn Appears offered acoustic reinterpretations of earlier material without reducing its textural scope. Around the same time Jones joined the Nashville songwriting collective Ten Out of Tenn and contributed to its compilation Ten Out of Tenn, Vol. 4. A Kickstarter campaign supported the 2012 album Land of the Living, an ambitious rock recording steeped in philosophical concerns and partly shaped by the correspondence between Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo as well as Federico García Lorca’s notion of duende. The 2015 EP Cold Answer preceded the fifth studio album, The Waking Hours, produced by Josh Kaler and released in 2018.
Singles
