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STUART MATHIS

Stuart Mathis was born in Colorado and spent his young years on Lookout Mountain near the small town of Golden . He began playing guitar in 5th grade and has never stopped.  The Mathis family  moved to Anchorage, Alaska where Stuart grew up performing in local bars as part of various cover bands before migrating to Southern California.  He moved to Nashville many years ago which is where he calls home with his wife Holiday Mathis and daughter Levi.

Stuart’s career has taken him around the world playing with artists and bands like Lucinda Williams, The Wallflowers, LeAnn Rimes, Jewell, jazz great Charles Lloyd, Miguel Mateos, Draco Rosa, Megan Mullally, Lifehouse, Five For Fighting, Dave Koz, to name a few. He has taken the stage with Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello while playing with the Wallflowers, plus has appeared on countless TV shows, too many to list. His session and musical credits are listed below.

Mathis has a creative and highly dexterous playing style that comes through in spades during live performances making him a fan favorite and bringing him notoriety in print articles and reviews.

 

Irish Times

 

Guitarists Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz help set the mood. Still, it is Williams’s regular backing band, Buick6 – drummer Butch Norton, bassist David Sutton and particularly guitarist Stuart Mathis – who, as at her recent wonderful Dublin concert, render music that is richly textured, laced with guitar flourishes and tonal shades. Remarkable.

Rolling Stone Magazine

The lack of routine is treating Williams well. Her new album, Good Souls Better Angels, released last month, is her most electrifying record in years, and sprang up spontaneously during some downtime in Nashville. In between tours, she visited the studio of Ray Kennedy, who engineered her 1998 masterpiece, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, and found herself inspired to record some songs she had written. Surrounded by her longtime band of guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton, and drummer Butch Norton, and with Kennedy’s cache of vintage gear at her disposal, she reacquainted herself with unbridled rock & roll.

Fan Comments

Just saw Lucinda Williams for the first time last night in Denver. She was pretty good, the band was very tight, but Stuart is a monster. Incredible tone… bold, and unapologetic playing… Loud and right there as a feature, even when blending in. Every note seemed intentional and well thought out… and a contribution to the overall sound of the song. Very inspiring.

Octopus Media Ink

But life is a series of balances, and luckily for Williams, she had a secret weapon that pretty much nullified the distraction of the binder reliance: her band.
They were damned spectacular. In fact, if Williams continues touring with the same unit — Wallflowers guitarist Stuart Mathis and her long-time rhythm section David Sutton on bass and Butch Norton on drums — she should bill them as The Damned Spectacular, because they were nothing short of mesmerizing, elevating the Massey show to a level beyond reprieve.
Sutton and Norton are a tightly disciplined, in-the-pocket tandem that fill in so many holes with just the right notes that it makes Williams look like a certified genius for hiring them.
This was particularly noticeable on “Unsuffer Me,” where Norton slowed the song and maintained it at a restrained yet powerful enough pace — with Sutton adding intermittent notes that gave the arrangement room to breathe — to allow Mathis to cut through the air with laser-like riffs on his electric guitar.
And Mathis was no slouch either when it came to applying his own sonic paintbrush in terms of enlivening Williams’ tunes: he added great grit to “Essence,” strong pathos to “Changed the Locks” and shone with pretty much every note he played.

Daily Herald

That song’s hook isn’t especially clever, and the politics aren’t for everybody. The starring role, though, goes to Williams’ spectacular band. Guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton jam out as Williams repeatedly shouts, ‘œIt’s coming down.’ Comparisons are risky, but the playing evokes Neil Young of ‘œ Like a Hurricane’ vintage.

Rolling Stone Magazine

It turns out Lucinda Williams was just getting started when the veteran singer-songwriter rolled out “Man Without a Soul,” the first missive from her upcoming album Good Souls Better Angels.
That roiling, simmering track, the first new song she’d unveiled in four years, clearly took aim at the current White House occupant (“without dignity and grace,” among other failings), and with no apologies.
Williams has now unleashed a second track from the album, and it’s even more ornery than its predecessor. “You Can’t Rule Me” is a straight-up blues-bar stomp; Williams’ voice has rarely sounded so beautifully ravaged, and her guitarist, Stuart Mathis, lets rip with slide-guitar solos that match the spittle in her voice.

Music Credits

2020
Good Souls Better Angels
Lucinda Williams
Guitar, Violin
2017
This Sweet Old World
Lucinda Williams
Guitar
2014
Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
Lucinda Williams
Guitar (Electric)
2012
Glad All Over
The Wallflowers
Guitar, Vocals (Background), Pedal Steel, Composer
2011
Let Us In: Nashville

Guitar, Vocals (Background)
2011
Hell on Heels
Pistol Annies
Guitar
2011
Beauty Queen Sister
Indigo Girls
Guitar (Electric)
2010
Blister
Katie Kerkhover
Guitar
2009
Take Us to the Start
Matt Hires
Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
2009
Mr. Lucky
Chris Isaak
Musician

2007
Little Voice
Sara Bareilles
Main Personnel, Guitar
2007
Garden Party
Stuart Mathis
Primary Artist

2007
Frazier Park
Stuart Mathis
Primary Artist2007
Family
LeAnn Rimes
Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
2006
Life Lessons: The Best of Amy Sky
Amy Sky
Guitar
2006
Best of Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Musician
2005
Wreck of the Day
Anna Nalick
Main Personnel, Guitar, Guitars
2005
The Sound of White
Missy Higgins
Main Personnel, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
2005
Now What
Lisa Marie Presley
Main Personnel, Guitar
2004
Because I Can
Katy Rose
Guitar
2003
To Whom It May Concern
Lisa Marie Presley
Guitar

2003
Peter Reckell
Peter Reckell
Guitar, Banjo

2003
Brownskin
Brownskin
Guitar
2000
Key of a Minor
Jessica Riddle
Guitar

1996
In Harmony with the Homeless

Guitar
1993
Coctel
Miguel Mateos
Guitar, Vocals (Background)

1991
Kryptonita
Miguel Mateos
Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
1990
Life by Night
Life by Night
Vocals, Guitar
1990
C.O.W. (Conserve Our World)
Marc Jordan
Guitar

Turnin’
d Henry Fenton
Guitar, Pedal Steel

Life in the Slaw Lane
Kip Addotta
Guitar

Jazz After Hours [Mood Media]

Guitar

Breakline
Geoff Davin
Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm)

Blade of Grass
Stuart Mathis
Primary Artist

Above Ground Fools
Matt North
Guitar (12 String), Guitar (Electric)

VIDEO PERFORMANCES