Matthew was born in South Carolina and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. As a child he sat in the backseat of the car and sang along to the Beatles and Buddy Holly. He still does that. Later on he went to college in Charleston, SC, where he played with very loud bands in very loud bars and began to seriously explore songwriting, as well as the work of artists like Elliott Smith and Wilco. After graduating, he moved to New York City and found an artistic home in the downtown/Brooklyn scene as a member of the Majorleans and later founded Easy Tells with guitarist Ryan Mackstaller, bassist Matt Brandau, and drummer Keith Robinson. The group released an EP, "Got What You Paid For" in 2012. In the summer of 2013, he made a trip to Nashville to write with the Dutch singer Ilse DeLange for a project that would eventually be known as the Common Linnets. Following the group's breakout performance of their song "Calm After the Storm" at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen and the release of their self-titled debut album, he hit the road with the Linnets in late 2014 as a performer, touring Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and elsewhere in Europe. The band recently recorded their follow-up album, to be released in Fall 2015. Matthew's debut solo project, a five song EP recorded at Virtue and Vice studios in Brooklyn, will be released in the Summer of 2015.