William Matheny

Celebrating WV Day by playing 6 to 8pm no breaks at the world famous The Empty Glass - no cover, just throw some folding money in the jar.

Winston-Salem, NC! I’m opening up for Steve Earle tonight at The Ramkat. Doors at 7, I’m on at 8.

Coves at Smith Mountain Lake tomorrow

The Empty Glass Saturday, WV Music Hall of Fame Sunday

📸: Buckeye Country Superfest

Feeling excited and nearly transcendental to open a couple shows for the great Steve Earle this week!

Thursday, 6/18
The Ramkat, Winston-Salem, NC

Friday, 6/19
Coves at Smith Mountain Lake, Union Hall, VA

I’m hitting the road hard for the rest of the summer. Hope to see you out there!

6/20: The Empty Glass, Charleston, WV
6/21: WV Music Hall of Fame, Charleston, WV
6/26: Ruby Amphitheater, Morgantown, WV w/ Tonic
7/9: Brown's Diner, Nashville, TN
7/11: Natalie's Grandview, Columbus, OH
7/12: First City Records, Marietta, OH
7/16: Green Lantern, Lexington, KY w/ charlie.overman
7/17: 9th Street Live, Huntington, WV w/ charlie.overman
7/18: 123 Pleasant Street, Morgantown, WV w/ John R Miller
7/24: Ploughman Cider, Gettysburg, PA w/ Nathan Xander
7/25: hucklebucks, Pottsville, PA w/ Nathan Xander
7/26: Mercury Lounge, New York, NY w/ Emily Frembgen, Latvian Radiok
7/29: Fountain Square, Cincinnati, OH w/ Travis Talbert
7/30: brillobox, Pittsburgh, PA w/ Justin Bennett, Nathan Xander
7/31: Big Rail Brewing & Concert Venue, Grove City, PA
8/1: Centennial Hall Erie, Erie, PA
9/3: The Catamount Lounge, Front Royal, VA w/ Sammy G
9/5: High Ground Brewing, Terra Alta, WV
10/10: Joshua Nicholls, Campbobello, SC

📸 at Laurel Cove Music Festival by Dalton Combs Photography

Talkin’ with my hands at Buckeye Country Superfest yesterday.

📸: Tyler Cooper

There’s no shortage of great songs about West Virginia, but for my money the two best are Utah Phillips’ “Green Rolling Hills” and Hazel Dickens’ “West Virginia, My Home” - two songs that function both as love letters to home as well as laments of being forced to leave the place you love and not always being able to return to it. In most ways, these songs describe West Virginia as an idealized potential afterlife for the singer. A version of heaven where you didn’t have to “move away into some crowded city” or “pay the price for the leaving.” If such a place exists for me, I know I’d be happy if it was nothing more than a pot of strong coffee brewing on a Saturday morning and “Hazel & Alice” on the turntable.

“I Wish I Was Back in West Virginia” is my best attempt at something like that. Another rock in the stream of WV songwriting that has flowed long before me and will continue to flow after I’m gone. I’ve been playing it live off and on for many years now and it seemed like the right time to get it down for posterity. It’s out now everywhere.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Justin Francis
Mastered by Raelynn Janicke at Infrasonic

WM - vocals, guitar
Adam Meisterhans - guitar
Bud Carroll - guitar
John R Miller - vocals, bass
Jeremy Batten - piano
Clint Sutton - drums

Art by jen