About
2021 saw the re-emergence of British folk’s most enigmatic lost son. You may recognize Matt Deighton from his time fronting Acid Jazz heroes Mother Earth; you may remember him as Paul Weller’s guitarist in the late 90’s, or Noel Gallagher’s recommendation for who should replace him when he quit the European tour in 2000. Or maybe you don’t. For almost two decades, the man they keep calling the natural successor to Nick Drake, Davey Graham and John Martyn has been himself more of a rumour – a murmur among musicians, songwriters and diehard music lovers who proudly display his rare vinyl releases like trophies. The list of articles in the press and online has continued unabated, forever asking the same question: Where is Matt Deighton? As the Huffington Post discovered in their recent piece ‘The Resurrection of Matt Deighton’: He’s back. He’s been back a couple of times, and you missed him.
Tom Cox, who reviewed Wake Up The Moths for the Observer Music Monthly recently remarked in the sleeve notes for the vinyl reissue that his only regret when reviewing the album was that he felt his ‘measly four out of five-star rating did it a disservice’. Add to that the four stars from Q and Mojo for his collaboration with Chris Sheehan ‘The Bench Connection’ in 2007 and you start to get the picture. That’s to say nothing of collaborations with Chris Difford, Dr John and Mighty Baby, Matt is indeed a force of nature.
Support Act: Rowan Lawson
Rowan Lawson has, for the past two years, been singing and performing original material at venues across the country, his music has been described as ‘Indie-tinged with thoughtful lyrics’, and his style has been likened to Bob Dylan.
His music has received air play and praise from BBC Introducing Shropshire, BBC Introducing West Midlands, and his song ‘December Eyes’ earned the accolade of ‘Song of the Week’ on Rick Witter’s, lead singer of Shed 7, radio show. Rowan is passionate about his music "There is something magical about pulling a song out of the air, then performing it to an audience and seeing people dance and enjoy themselves, feel something.”