Biography
Striking Matches emerged as a Nashville-based duo when two versatile performers, Justin Davis and Sarah Zimmermann, joined forces in 2007 to blend country, blues, rock, and pop into a sound that honored traditional roots while incorporating fresh ideas. Their debut full-length effort, Nothing But the Silence from 2015, emphasized a spare yet energetic style built around acoustic instruments, whereas later projects such as the 2017 EP Shameless and the 2018 release Retrograde shifted toward modern textures by incorporating pop and R&B production elements alongside subtle electronic touches.
Davis and Zimmermann first connected as incoming students at Belmont University in Nashville during a guitar course in which the instructor assigned random partners; Davis, who had grown up near Atlanta, Georgia, under the influence of his parents’ preference for classic rhythm & blues artists including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding, quickly recognized Zimmermann’s skill as a blues soloist. Zimmermann, raised just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had begun studying clarinet and violin in elementary school after her father, who repaired musical instruments, supported her interests; she took up guitar in fourth grade and drew strong inspiration from the Dixie Chicks, whose achievements demonstrated that women could thrive in a field long dominated by men.
The pair continued collaborating after that initial pairing, began co-writing material, and made their first public appearance at the Bluebird Cafe. In 2012 they issued a self-released five-song EP that highlighted their abilities as songwriters, singers, and players. The same year, producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett, tasked with overseeing music for the television series Nashville, selected eight Striking Matches compositions for the program, generating considerable attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo also built a steady local audience through repeated performances on the Grand Ole Opry. When I.R.S. Records revived its operations and established a Nashville branch, Striking Matches became an early signing, and T-Bone Burnett produced their March 2015 album Nothing But the Silence.
Although that release earned favorable notices, the label shuttered its Nashville office in December, leaving the artists without a home. They moved to Capitol Records for the 2017 EP Shameless, which introduced stronger R&B and pop accents while retaining their signature harmonies and blues-tinged guitar work; a subsequent single added three dance-oriented remixes of the title track. Retrograde arrived in February 2018, with its title song accumulating more than three million streams. Fans nostalgic for the duo’s earlier acoustic emphasis welcomed the unplugged collection Acoustic, featuring stripped-down versions of “Shameless,” “Ghost,” and “Medicine.” December 2018 brought the holiday single “Melted” on the Lightning Glasses label, followed in May 2019 by the blues-leaning five-song EP Morning. A broader survey of their stylistic range appeared across three EPs issued between 2019 and 2020—Morning and Noon in the former year, Night in the latter.
Davis and Zimmermann first connected as incoming students at Belmont University in Nashville during a guitar course in which the instructor assigned random partners; Davis, who had grown up near Atlanta, Georgia, under the influence of his parents’ preference for classic rhythm & blues artists including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding, quickly recognized Zimmermann’s skill as a blues soloist. Zimmermann, raised just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had begun studying clarinet and violin in elementary school after her father, who repaired musical instruments, supported her interests; she took up guitar in fourth grade and drew strong inspiration from the Dixie Chicks, whose achievements demonstrated that women could thrive in a field long dominated by men.
The pair continued collaborating after that initial pairing, began co-writing material, and made their first public appearance at the Bluebird Cafe. In 2012 they issued a self-released five-song EP that highlighted their abilities as songwriters, singers, and players. The same year, producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett, tasked with overseeing music for the television series Nashville, selected eight Striking Matches compositions for the program, generating considerable attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo also built a steady local audience through repeated performances on the Grand Ole Opry. When I.R.S. Records revived its operations and established a Nashville branch, Striking Matches became an early signing, and T-Bone Burnett produced their March 2015 album Nothing But the Silence.
Although that release earned favorable notices, the label shuttered its Nashville office in December, leaving the artists without a home. They moved to Capitol Records for the 2017 EP Shameless, which introduced stronger R&B and pop accents while retaining their signature harmonies and blues-tinged guitar work; a subsequent single added three dance-oriented remixes of the title track. Retrograde arrived in February 2018, with its title song accumulating more than three million streams. Fans nostalgic for the duo’s earlier acoustic emphasis welcomed the unplugged collection Acoustic, featuring stripped-down versions of “Shameless,” “Ghost,” and “Medicine.” December 2018 brought the holiday single “Melted” on the Lightning Glasses label, followed in May 2019 by the blues-leaning five-song EP Morning. A broader survey of their stylistic range appeared across three EPs issued between 2019 and 2020—Morning and Noon in the former year, Night in the latter.
Albums
Singles
