Iain Matthews

Iain Matthews has been such a prolific creator for so long that he’s unsure if How Much Is Enough? is his 53rd or 54th solo album. What’s clear is that after a 60-year career including fronting seminal folk rock band Fairport Convention and hits on both sides of the Atlantic, he’s a man with little to prove but much still to say (even if he does threaten that each new record will be his last!)

“I just felt that I needed to make one more solo album as a farewell gift,” he offered from his longtime home in the Netherlands. “But how does a songwriter retire? I honestly don’t know how to stop being a songwriter and don’t know if I ever will.”

Released by Sunset Blvd. Records in October, How Much Is Enough? finds Matthews marrying his signature, eloquent folk rock to the sepia-tinted songcraft of Neil Finn, the wide-eyed, wistful wonder of a young David Bowie, and more recent influences including Elliot Smith and Hiss Golden Messenger. Fusing acoustic and electric instrumentation, it’s a record made by a man who didn’t need to make a record, and that purity and authenticity permeates its cultured songcraft and heartfelt lyricism.

Raised in eastern England, Matthews moved to London during the British pop explosion of the mid 1960s, where he was recruited as an original member of Fairport Convention, singing on their first three albums. Soon after leaving Fairport, his band Matthews Southern Comfort had a UK number one with Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” which was also a hit in the US and Canada. After an album with semi-folk outfit Plainsong and a move to L.A., Matthews scored another North American hit with Terence Boylan’s “Shake It,” which peaked at number 13 stateside.

Subsequently, Matthews worked as an A&R exec, was involved in Fairport Convention reunions and spin-offs and, after spells in Texas and Seattle, relocated to the Netherlands. From there, he’s continued to record and tour both solo and with a revived Matthews Southern Comfort. In 2018, he released his autobiography Thro’ My Eyes: A Memoir, co-written with author/broadcaster Ian Clayton.

The songs that would become How Much Is Enough? began during pandemic lockdown, comprising both solo Matthew’s compositions and co-writes with longtime Dutch collaborator/producer BJ Baartmans (on “It’s Complicated”), frequent tourmate Steve Postell of The Immediate Family(“Santa Fe Line”), former Plainsong bandmate Andy Roberts (“I Walk”), and Freddy Holm of Norwegian band The Salmon Smokers (“Rhythm and Blues”).

Recorded at Baartmans’ studio, the 13-track How Much Is Enough? is more band-oriented than much of Matthews’ recent output, including backing vocals from his daughter. It infuses his lifelong, nuanced lingering at the intersection of folk and rock with nods to American roots music and timeless themes of love and unity (“Bird and the Fish,” “Where is Love”) alongside timely explorations of Internet-era challenges (“Digital Girl,” “New Dark Ages”) and societal/global injustices (“Turn and Run”).

I tend not to make things up – I try to write from fact, as much as I can,” he explained. “Sometimes, I’ll be watching TV, and someone will say something, and I’ll just write a line down and that will become a song title or the theme for a chorus.”

 Album opener “Ripples” is a characteristically modest Matthews’ memoir (“I see myself as a ripple in a stream, because there have been so many songwriters who’ve put out huge bodies of work”), its no-regrets nostalgia streaked with tasteful banjo and lurking organ, while the title track offers a serene career sitrep. Meanwhile, the breezy “Bird and The Fish” was inspired by Richard Powers novel The Time of Our Singing and its central theme of music as unifier that transcends prejudice and societal constructs.

The urgent, twang-flecked “Turn and Run” channels the spirit of a ‘60s protest anthem into the very here-and-now plight of locals who worked with American and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan but were abandoned to face persecution and revenge when the occupiers fled. Deeply moved by news footage of Afghans’ desperate clamoring to board the last flights escaping Kabul, Matthews wrote from their perspective.

“So many songwriters get in this little bubble and only write about themselves,” he said. “I try to do more than that. I write about Hank Williams; I write about Christopher Columbus. If it makes sense to me and it feels right, I’ll write a song about it.”

Furthering the sense of musical heritage that’s a How Much Is Enough? throughline, “Rhythm and Blues” pays tribute to the roots of that genre and traces its profound influence on so much music since, from James Brown to Biggie Smalls. This subtle standout underlines its point with sublime instrumental performances that gracefully pay homage to R&B pioneers.

As he prepares to tour in Europe and the US behind How Much Is Enough?, Matthews is a man who oozes contentment with his place in music’s pantheon yet remains curious to create more.

“I think everything I’ve ever done, there’s been a certain level of quality to it – and truth,” he mulled. “I’m primarily a lyricist and my hope is that people will connect with the How Much Is Enough? lyrics – feel that maybe it could’ve been them; it could’ve been part of their life, too.”

Food & Bar: Our full food and drink menu will be available before and during the show.