Matthew Griswold Music

If you’re looking for a solo acoustic singer and musician, I feel that my style of musical performance would be an excellent fit for your event or venue, and I think you would be more than pleased with all that I can offer. I can perform up to four hours of well rehearsed music, as a multi-instrumental “One Man Band” (singer, guitarist, ukulele player, looper, percussionist, and harmonica player).

I have been a seasoned professional for over a decade, playing nearly 200 shows a year around the upper Midwest and beyond. I have original music featured in over 800 TV shows and films worldwide, which has earned both local and national press coverage, and certainly helps drive people out to live shows nearly anywhere I go. I’m a scholarship awardee and graduate of Berklee College of Music, and I am currently a signed songwriter with Universal Music Publishing.

[Note: I can provide a Bose L1 Pro PA system and all other sound equipment needed]

Thank you for your time and I hope for your consideration!

Matthew often chooses to reinvent the songs written by the great songwriters of the past, playing the works of The Beatles, CCR, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan, but he also plugs his originals during live sets and closely observes a crowd’s response.

He once stated in an interview with PBS, that “When a song can prove itself to a crowd of strangers, it makes it much easier to imagine it being used for TV or the silver screen. So, any given night is often a unique experience.”​

As a songwriter, performer and recording artist, Matthew continues to hold a unique sonic outlook, backed with a primitive form of passion, and driven forward with an endlessly active ambition…

HIGHLIGHTS:
Featured on PBS “Prairie Musicians”
Top 50 artist ranking on Apple Music “Alternative Folk” charts (U.S.)
Top 200 SHAZAM Chart (Norway)
Selected “Brand Ambassador” for KALA Brand Music Co.
Over 600 Playlist features on Spotify
Over 500 song placements in TV & Film productions
Awarded a “Professional” certificate from Berklee College of Music
Guest Lecturer at U of M Carlson School Of Business
Guest Speaker for the American Music Therapy Association
Pro Guest for the Minnesota Association of Songwriters
“Above and Beyond Person of the Year” MN Council for Veterans

Performing songwriter, Matthew Griswold, made the transition from US Army Soldier to Professional Songwriter/Musician in 2008, and has been going full force ever since. After a short stint in Nashville, and securing an elite publishing deal with Universal Music Group, Matthew headed back to his native land of Minnesota and began his career of writing and producing songs for Film and Television.

Though every songwriter dreams of a breakthrough chance to sign a major league publishing deal, and have millions of people hear their songs around ​the world, Matthew’s true passion has always been being the personal messenger. So, he’s taken his sound, ​which the MNPLS Star Tribune described as “The rough and howling edge that has helped him earn his stripes as a songwriter”, and began to dedicate time between writing sessions, to going out​ and performing live for people in a rapidly growing market of restaurants, vineyards, brewpubs and taprooms, all around the northern Midwest and now in NYC.

He finds a natural comfort in providing the more casual crowds with a well-crafted soundscape to pair with an evening muse. As an artist who never desired “Rock Star” like fame, this was a better fit for his career, rather than face the spotlight heat of nightclub touring.

9 Crimes – Damien Rice
Cannonball – Damien Rice
Please Forgive Me – David Gray
Babylon – David Gray
Gulf of Mexico – Shawn Mullins
6th Ave Heartache – The Wallflowers
Fix You – Cold Play
I, and Love, and You – The Avett Bros
Ho Hey – The Lumineers
Wicked Games – Chris Issac
Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
One of Us – Joan Osborne
Good Things – The Bo Deans
Rise – Eddie Vedder
Stay With Me – Sam Smith
Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard
Crash into me – Dave Matthews Band
The Maker – Dave Matthews Band
The River – Garth Brooks
Come Together – The Beatles
Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
Let It Be – The Beatles
Imagine – The Beatles
Yesterday – The Beatles
Hide Your Love Away – The Beatles
You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Rolling Stones
Baba O Riley (Teenage Wasteland) – The Who
The Night they Drove Ol Dixie Down – The Band
The Weight – The Band
For What it’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
Bad Moon Rising – CCR
Have You Ever Seen the Rain – CCR
Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash
Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
Fishing in the Dark – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Drift Away – Dobbie Grey
Crazy Love – Van Morrison
To Love Somebody – The Bee Gees
Leaving on Jet Plane – John Denver
Take Me Home, Country Road – John Denver
Sunday Morning Coming Down – Kris Kristofferson
No Women, No Cry – Bob Marley
Rhinestone Cowboy – Glen Campbell
Romeo and Juliette – Dire Straits
So Far Away – Dire Straits
Purple Rain – Prince
Turn the Page – Bob Seeger
Free Falling – Tom Petty
Hallelujah – Lenard Cohen
Everybody Knows – Lenard Cohen
Lawyers, Guns and Money – Warren Zevon
Keep Me In Your Heart – Warren Zevon
Jack & Diane – John Mellencamp
Small Town – John Mellencamp
Your Life is Now – John Mellencamp
Have a Little Faith in Me – John Hiatt
Fields of Gold – Sting
Hung My Head – Sting
Still Haven’t Found – U2
The Book of Love – Peter Gabriel
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
If I Had A Boat – Lyle Lovett
If I Needed You – Towns Van Zandt
Stand by Me – Ben E King
I Just Want To Dance With You – John Prine
Cats in the Cradle – Harry Chapin
Day After Tomorrow – Tom Waits
What About Me – Moving Pictures
Soul-shine – Almond Brothers
I’m on Fire – Bruce Springsteen
All Along the Watchtower- Bob Dylan
Peace Train – Cat Stevens
Crossroads – Robert Johnson
Hang Me, Oh Hang Me – Trad
House of the Rising Sun – Trad
Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down) – Trad
Soul of a man – Trad
Hard times (come again no more) – Stephen Foster/Trad
Way Over Yonder – Woody Guthrie/Trad
Long black Veil – Trad
Auld Lange Syne – Robert Burns/Trad
Galway Girl – Trad

Original songs that have been used in a film or tv … (Contemporary Folk, Alternative Folk, Folk-Rock, Folk-Pop)

Till It’s Gone
Grim Desires
Where Oh Where Can We Go?
‘Round We Go
The Mason
Let it Go (Leave it Alone)
Longer Way Back Home
My Last Song
Chicken Flippin’
Fading Away
Homemade Christmas Song
The Great Divide
She is the Rose
Shadows of the Sun
The Fall
A Boy, a Dream, and the Ghosts
Land of Our Last Chance
With Healing Hands (Upon your heart)
I Will Rise
This Life

Film/TV Credits:
Sweet Magnolias
New Amsterdam
Walking Dead
Expedition Unknown
Old Man and the Gun
Late Night with Stephen Col Bert
NFL
PGA
The Today Show
BBC’s Copper
Purina Dog Food
Sport Fishing Television
Canadian Global News
Home and Away
Healing Thistles (PSA)

Music Type:

Covers of well known songs

Original music

Live Music

Main Music Style:

Pop – Rock (before 2000)

All Music Styles:

Pop – Rock (before 2000), Pop – Rock (2000 to now), Country – Americana, Celtic – Ceilidh, Indie – Alternative, Vintage RocknRoll – Blues, Traditional – Historical

Performance language(s):

English

Size options:

1 musician(s)

Vocal options:

MaIe Singer

Instrument options:

Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Traditional – Historical Instruments, Ukulele