Download my new EP "Christmas On Lane Street" and all the money goes to charity!!!

playing with Josh Ritter on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

"Kathleen"

playing with Josh Ritter on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

"Rattling Locks"

The Small Ponds: From Raleigh to Austin: A Story of Success...and so far one really great video...

Currently in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas after another amazing night at the White Water Tavern. We shared a great show with our travel companions My Cousin, The Emperor and an awesome band from Murfreesboro, TN called Glossary. The previous night we had been in Knoxville at Patrick Sullivan's, a favored Old City whore house to the locals. In the performance space you can still see the plaster remains of where many walls divided the place into little sex dens. Culture!

But most importantly on our trip so far, we have made a quite enjoyable music video to one of our 2011 Love Hangover selections, "Something Stupid". Please enjoy it, and please pass it on!

The Small Ponds on Sessions at Studio B! (Brought to you by our dear local NBC-17 news channel)

Recorded on March 3rd, The Small Ponds show up for the Sessions at Studio B...

Back from San Francisco -- LIVE at The Fillmore!!

The Fillmore is probably the coolest, most alive venue that I've played. Not necessarily the prettiest, or most comfortable, or even the largest, but it is alive with all the musicians that have performed there in the past. I couldn't believe that I got to be on stage there with Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band. We filled out the horn section with Jeff Bordes on trumpet and Danny Sandoval on tenor sax. Both fantastic players with charisma for miles.

Shows with Josh Ritter...

What could be wrong about playing shows with an amazing songwriter and some of my best friends? Nothing. It was amazing. The Trocadero in Philly, the House of Blues in Boston, Terminal 5 in New York, and the 9:30 Club in D.C. An amazing trip. I'm posting a video from the Terminal 5 show of Kathleen. I wrote the horn arrangement for this tune, and took a rediculous little bari sax solo in the middle of it (not my own suggestion). The sound quality is not great, but you get the idea...

...and just when I thought things couldn't get any better, I'm off to San Francisco (along with my beautiful wife) to wrangle a horn section for Josh's sold out show at the Fillmore on Feb. 25th.

NHL All-Star Raleigh Wide Open Celebration yeah!!

The event with the longest name!! Caitlin and I rocked a duo set on the Fayetteville St. stage to a full street! It was really special for us because we're such huge baseball fans. Thanks so much, sports!

Live solo show at Pete's Candy Store available for download!!

Thanks so much to Jonas Blank and nyctaper.com for the recording and the kind words!!

Click here to check it out... You can stream a couple of songs, or download the whole show in hi-res mp3's. ENJOY!

NC to PA to NYC solo tour...

The ups and downs of the diversifying songwriter. I could be playing a packed house with Caitlin Cary and The Small Ponds, listening to a Proclivities song on a vomit inducing Oxygen Network reality show, or I could be the featured performer at an open mic night at the Burlap & Bean. I'm getting a thrill out of all of these. Right now, I'm sitting on a sofa at this coffee shop across from a bouncing baby and her doting mother and grandmother, talking about the hardships of stay-at-home motherdom. I am absolutely convinced that it must be really fucking hard to raise a child. But the Grand Meridian of differences between what's on their mind and what's on mine is so incredibly vast that it's putting me into some weird suburban fairytail mind-fuckery.

I ate a tangelo while talking on the phone to my wife and listening to loud music while weaving through D.C. traffic on my way to be a featured artist for an open mic night.

**Matt plays his 30-minute set in the middle of a circus of tastelessness (with exceptions) and walks out of there with a belly full of minestrone soup and $10.**

I don't think all of my mini lives are in accord right now. My music is being used in television shows. I'll be playing saxophone in the Josh Ritter band for sold out shows in a month. I don't have any money. My wife and I are going to Puerto Rico for a week and we just bought the tickets. I teach 8-year-olds how to play the clarinet...terribly. One of my best friends' dad just said I could have some free shoes and I got excited. And it snowed this morning.

Tomorrow I'll go to New York City.

The Small Ponds w/Filthybird on January 22nd!

F@#k You From Santa...

The Proclivities take on my version of F@#k You From Santa, a rewrite of Cee Lo's 2010 hit single. This was taken at Jeanne Jolly's Holiday show with special guest Matt Douglas & The Proclivities. Berkeley Cafe on Dec. 19th in Raleigh, NC. Enjoy!

Jesus may resent you if you don't come to this...

I mean, it is his birthday. And what better way to celebrate the holidays than with me, a beautiful singer with the last name Jolly that will make your heart cry, two awesome bands, one of which includes the great Zack Hickman of the Josh Ritter band, and some great rock & roll mixed with some holiday favorites? Come on now.

Berkeley Cafe

217 W. Martin St.

Raleigh, NC 27601

Sunday Dec. 19th

8pm

$10

Erin McKeown's "3 Song EP" has been released...

The XM Loft Session that we did a year ago has been released as an EP! You can download a hi-res version of it here. The 3 songs are from her LP Hundreds of Lions on Righteous Babe records, for which I contributed woodwinds to quite a bit of the record. The live EP features myself and the great Marc Dalio on drums/percussion.

Solo show at The Cave - Nov. 17th

It's always fun for me to play at The Cave, though often times you're
playing to a bartender and one lazy-eyed Chapel Hill homeless guy. A
good place to try and stretch out some new tunes, which hopefully I did.

Morning Songs

Tim from The Morning Times and I are starting a songwriter night. The first one will be on December 14th from 8-10pm in the upstairs lounge of The Morning Times! Hopefully this will be something that can turn into a regular event. But don't worry, I don't think I will always be on the bill.

Downtown Raleigh has added some fantastic new venues to the scene, but none that would really support songwriters in an acoustic listening environment. The upstairs of the Morning Times coffee shop has an awesome, intimate lounge that I think will sound pretty great. I'll have a small PA there to help with the sound and to make the performances feel a little more like a concert.

Jeanne Jolly is a total badass folk/country singer that everyone needs to hear. Check her out at...

www.jeannejolly.com

Can't wait to see everyone there!

Original poem I wrote that turned into the song Bleeding Hearts...

The glass you broke into a million pieces...shattered,

Traces of red, traces of red in your hair.

Hands on hearts I hope that you're still sleeping...soundly,

Holding your tears, holding your tears in my hand.

Take these simple signs and plead forgiveness...carefully,

Love the worst part, love the worst part of me.

Advice...

"She won't replace you, left you in a bottle by the shore,

I'll be your message baby, call it out then smash it to the floor.

Wake from a dream, all you see is through a crack in the door...

Chance stands there laughing,

Self-defense try and rip it from the core...

...but hearts don't move.

"I've got a stack of red greeting cards with your name on 'em, and the date and the time..."

Pics from the car of Western NC...

Photos taken by my lovely wife Ellen. Thank god she didn't drop her phone out the window.