Matt Angus - Matt Angus

It's rare to find an Americana singer who is willing to wear his blue-state heart on his sleeve like Matt Angus. But he's not here to put anyone down. Just give his tunes a listen, and you might find you like him just fine, and "maybe" we'll all somehow realize we're not all that different from each other.

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to catch a real treat, a live performance by an Americana singer down my way from New Jersey. I've come to the conclusion that the folks in New England actually know a thing or two about roots music, proving conclusively that you don't have to be from the South to know and perform good country music. Anyway, this lovable fellow was Matt Angus, and I was so impressed by him I had to have his disc as soon as I knew it was available.

Angus sings with a pleasing low tenor, a nice liquid sound, and he plays a pretty mean acoustic guitar. But what really caught me and held me was his songwriting skills and, in a number of cases, his daring political stance. Not a lot of country/Americana singers are willing to put it on the line like Angus does, as he did with his previous group, Matt Angus Thing, and their release, "Political Pop." With his song "Red or Blue" he reminds us all we belong to the same country; with "Maybe" he asks the hard questions about war and peace. He's a folk singer in the mold of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, a quiet voice in the wilderness asking for some positive change.

I'm really glad I got a chance to hear Matt sing. I hope he comes back again. We need more voices like this, trying to be heard over all the noise and the chest-thumping. When he sings the "Ballad of the American Worker," you can feel it, the same way others before him have spoken up for the working class. It's about time.