Award-winning singer-songwriter Crys Matthews is redefining what it means to be a Southern musician. With her new album Reclamation, Matthews fuses Country, Americana, Folk, and Blues with a powerful social justice message, reclaiming the spaces long denied to Black artists, LGBTQ+ voices, and women. Rooted in the traditions of the South that raised her, she unapologetically embraces her identity as a preacher’s kid, a Butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner, weaving hope and activism into every lyric. Hailed by NPR’s Ann Powers as “a rising folk music star” and celebrated for her soul-stirring storytelling, Matthews is proving that music can be both a call to action and a celebration of resilience.
Hi Crys Matthews, welcome to Blackbird News! can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to pursue a career in music?
I was born and raised in southeastern North Carolina. I’m the daughter of a retired AME preacher, so gospel music was my first love. When I was in middle school, I started playing clarinet in a band and fell in love with classical music, so much so that I went to college to pursue a career as a high school band director. While I was in college, my roommate at the time (who is an acclaimed drummer Shirazette Tinnin) needed a fill-in keyboard player one night for a gig her band had booked. Because I grew up in the church occasionally filling in for our pianist, my chops were decent enough that I could get them through the gig. I had so much fun that night that I went home and wrote my first song, which I later entered into the campus talent show. I won first place, fell in love with songwriting, and the rest is history.
What inspired the title of your new album, “Reclamation,” and what does it signify for you personally and artistically?
A daughter of the South by way of Nashville now and North Carolina forever, I often say that I’m basically the poster child of intersectionality — a preacher’s kid, a Black woman, a Butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner who sings social justice music right alongside ‘traditional’ Country and Americana music. This album is both sonically and ideologically the fullest representation of who I am as an artist and as a human. I’m reclaiming not just the space Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music, not just of the space LGBTQ people have been denied in communities of faith, not just of the autonomy women have been denied over their own bodies, I am reclaiming the South that raised me.
You’ve been recognized for blending various musical genres. How would you describe your unique sound and how has it evolved over time?
My sonic logo is a byproduct of the south that raised me. It includes Country, Folk, Americana, Blues and, because of my time spent in the mountains, a good bit of bluegrass as well. I think, as I have grown as an artist, I have become better at embracing all of those things and allowing them to coexist.
Your music often addresses social justice issues. Can you elaborate on the themes you explore in your songwriting and what message you hope to convey?
Hope is the message I strive to convey with each and every one of my songs. My mission statement is: to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice. I believe that with my entire being. When we hope for better, we fight for better. With each song, whether it’s about justice and equity for the BIPoC community, LGBTQ+ liberation, feminism and gender equity, climate justice, gun reform, the opioid crisis, voting rights, any and all of it only gets better if we keep fighting for it to get better. Hope is the thing that will fuel that fight and, make no mistake about it, it is all the same fight.
What challenges have you faced as a Black, LGBTQ+ woman in the country and Americana music scenes, and how have you overcome them?
I wrote a song a while back that says, “I’m learning more these days about the time we waste trying to move every mountain when the path meant for us leads around them.” In this season of my life and my career, I am divesting from the practice of asking for a seat at a table that was built by my people but at which I am not welcome. I am, instead, busying myself with the work of coalition building in spaces where the table is ever expanding.
How do you balance your role as a social justice advocate with your artistic expression?
I think they are one and the same. Because I cut my teeth as a songwriter in the Folk community and because I was raised in the Black church down south singing freedom songs, I grew up with a clear understanding of what an important role music has played in every movement for peace, justice, and liberation in America’s history.
What are your hopes and aspirations for the future of your music career?
My aspirations are to simply inspire others to do whatever they can to ensure we survive this current chapter in history with as much of our humanity intact as possible.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are also passionate about social justice?
I would offer them the same advice that the late, great Congressman John Lewis gave to all of us, to find a way to get in the day, to speak up and to speak out every day, and to make good trouble every chance you get.
You can connect with Crys Matthews through website www.crysmatthews.com, Instagram @crysmatthews, Facebook @crysmatthewsmusic, and check about the tour www.crysmatthews.com/tour
