April 14, 2012 - The first of a newly expanded Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival kicked off without a hitch yesterday (4/13) at the festival's longtime home base of Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA, near Palm Springs.
April 13, 2012 - Matthew Ward followed roughly the same trail hacked through the jungle by Elliott Smith before him: go to Portland, meet people, play guitar. Two paths: one leads to stabbing oneself in the chest, the other to Zooey Deschanel.
October 10, 2010 - Monsters of Folk delivered a strong set at ACL yesterday (10/9) despite less than ideal placement. As a result of the fact that their performance space at the Austin Ventures stage sat directly between the two main stages, AMD and Budweiser, the musicians had to contend with an impromptu battle of the bands in order to be heard over Gogol Bordello and LCD Soundsystem.
June 30, 2009 - Singer/songwriter M. Ward has lined up a run of summer headlining dates as he continues to support his most recent studio album, "Hold Time."
February 27, 2009 - Matt "M." Ward toiled for years in the Portland, OR, music scene before breaking through to prominence with 2006's "Post-War," which took its thematic cues from America's music post-WWII, and the music that will follow the war in Iraq. Last year his pairing with actress/singer Zooey Deschanel in She & Him bore fruit in the form of the duo's debut album, "Volume One." While constantly touring and also continuing to work with Deschanel on a second She & Him volume, Ward managed to find the time to record and release his sixth solo album. Featuring contributions from Jason Lytle, Lucinda Williams and Deschanel, among others, "Hold Time" hit stores in late February.
February 18, 2009 - I like M. Ward. What with his old-timey Victrola-crackle vocal stylings and acoustic campfire songwriting style, the guy's a charmer. And since releasing the crown jewel of his canon, 2006's "Post-War," he's been quite the man about town. Teaming up with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him, there was last year's winning "Volume One." There were the collaborations with Jenny Lewis and Bright Eyes. And, oh yeah, the matter of his own solo career--something of an afterthought at this point, maybe?
The first of a newly expanded Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival kicked off without a hitch yesterday (4/13) at the festival's longtime home base of Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA, near Palm Springs.
Matthew Ward followed roughly the same trail hacked through the jungle by Elliott Smith before him: go to Portland, meet people, play guitar. Two paths: one leads to stabbing oneself in the chest, the other to Zooey Deschanel.
Chris Isaak, Bob Mould, Thurston Moore and M. Ward are on the extensive list of acts listed on the official line-up of this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival at Speedway Meadow in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Monsters of Folk delivered a strong set at ACL yesterday (10/9) despite less than ideal placement. As a result of the fact that their performance space at the Austin Ventures stage sat directly between the two main stages, AMD and Budweiser, the musicians had to contend with an impromptu battle of the bands in order to be heard over Gogol Bordello and LCD Soundsystem. 
I like M. Ward. What with his old-timey Victrola-crackle vocal stylings and acoustic campfire songwriting style, the guy's a charmer. And since releasing the crown jewel of his canon, 2006's "Post-War," he's been quite the man about town. Teaming up with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him, there was last year's winning "Volume One." There were the collaborations with Jenny Lewis and Bright Eyes. And, oh yeah, the matter of his own solo career--something of an afterthought at this point, maybe?
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