Hearing Nirvana for the first time set singer-songwriter Matt Moody, who grew up in a suburb outside of Cleveland, on course to explore singing and songwriting.
Over the course of his career, Moody, who got his start with the Cleveland-based hard rock act Shred Rot in the 2010s, has had some significant success. He’s worked with established artists like Steve Cropper (Booker T. & the MG’s), John Corabi (Motley Crue), Johnny Garcia (Garth Brooks) and Jim Wirt (Incubus, Fiona Apple). He’s toured with California indie folk group Wax Owls, playing stages at Bonnaroo (2022) and Peachfest (2023), and has also collaborated with local musicians such as Ray Flanagan and Mimi Arden.
After living in in Los Angeles and Nashville for the past five years, Moody just returned to Cleveland about three months ago. But he didn’t arrive empty-handed. At 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, he’ll play a release party at the Happy Dog to celebrate the release of his new album, The Misery County Line, which he recorded in California before leaving the Golden State.
His approach on his previous album, Still a Kid in a Painted Sky, helped dictate his approach on The Misery County Line.
“With my last album, Still a Kid in a Painted Sky, I went over-the-top with production,” he says over beers at Beer Engine, the Lakewood restaurant and bar that’s near his home. “I wanted the next record to be dialed-back and rawer and grittier and more in your face. As far as production and sonic quality, the direction I took was ‘let’s make sure it’s as true to a live sound as I can get in a studio.’”
He recorded mostly Joel Jacks’s studio in Santa Ynez, a town just north of Los Angeles.
“I found Joel through playing winery gigs,” says Moody, who plays all the guitars, vocals and bass on the record.”
Moody says the album title just “popped” into his head one day on the drive home to Los Angeles after a tour up the California coast.
“I asked my girlfriend, ‘What do you think of the name, The Misery County Line?” he says. “She had a good, positive reaction. I didn’t know if it was something to call the band, like Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, or a name for a record. Through traveling and being on the road, my gears got turning. It’s not even a title of a song on the album or a lyric. It just rang true to the feeling of the record itself. A lot of the songs are lyrically themed around finding your place and trying to escape the madness of a big city.”
A song like “The Edge of It All” features twangy guitars as Moody sings about hitting the road.
“I just wrote it on a day I was off from work,” he says when asked about the track. “I didn’t know what I was writing about at the time. It’s sort of this song about manifest destiny and finding yourself along the way. I think the California landscape inspired me to write this character song in third person.”
Throughout the album, Moody alternates between alt-country and Elliott Smith-like indie rock.
“That’s how it goes with me,” says Moody. “My M. Moody album from 2018 was funky and soulful and proggy almost and Painted Sky was pop Americana. This is Elliott Smith-meets-Neil Young-meets-Tom Petty. I tend to blend genres.”
“Broken” is a good rocker that allows Moody to flex his guitar skills.
“I’ve actually never been one to sit down and learn a solo,” he says. “I like Neil Young as a guitar player. His stuff is stupid simple when he plays lead. It’s his tone and how he shakes the strings. I’m a rhythm player first and leads are something I filled in over the years because I am so used to playing in trios. I get a lead guitar player when I can. Here in town, it’s usually [Cleveland-based] Ray Flanagan. I just play what I feel.”
Moody, who’s played at CODA and West End Tavern since moving back to the area, says he’s particularly excited to perform at the Happy Dog for the first time since he’s been back.
“We’ll do a mix of older stuff and stuff from the new album but not all the songs from the new album,” he says, adding that he hasn’t played the club in five years. “I love the Happy Dog and am really excited to get back there.”
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