Matthews Southern Comfort

Matthews Southern Comfort
OriginEngland
GenresCountry rock, folk rock
Years active1970
2010–2012
2017 – present
MembersIain Matthews
BJ Baartmans
Eric Devries
Bart de Win
Past membersMark Griffiths
Carl Barnwell
Gordon Huntley
Pete Watkins
Roger Swallow
Andy Leigh
Ray Duffy
Terri Binion
Richard Kennedy
Mike Roelofs
Elly Kellner

Matthews Southern Comfort (MSC) is a British country rock/folk rock band, formed in 1970 by former Fairport Convention singer Ian (later Iain) Matthews. The original line-up consisted of Matthews, lead guitarist Mark Griffiths (who later become the bass player with the Shadows and the Everly Brothers), rhythm guitarist Carl Barnwell, bass player Pete Watkins, drummer Roger Swallow and pedal steel guitarist Gordon Huntley. Watkins and Swallow left the band after a few weeks and were replaced by bass player Andy Leigh and drummer Ray Duffy.

The band was formed to enable Matthews to tour following the success of his first post-Fairport album, released in early 1970, Matthews' Southern Comfort. The band recorded two more albums that year, Second Spring and Later That Same Year, before splitting up when Matthews abruptly quit at the height of their fame, shortly after their version of Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock" became a worldwide hit. It reached the top of the UK music charts[1][2][3] in October 1970, their only No. 1 hit single, and charted in several European countries, as well as reaching No. 5 in Canada[4] and No. 23 in the Billboard Top 100 in the United States.[5]

Now based in the Netherlands after a long career as a solo artist in the United States, Matthews has twice reformed the band in recent years with mostly Dutch musicians, first in 2010, releasing two new albums, Kind Of New[6] and Kind Of Live (individually and as a combined tour issue[7]), and again in 2017, releasing two further albums, Like A Radio[8] in 2018 and The New Mine[9] in 2020. A fifth MSC album, The Woodstock Album featuring 15 cover versions of songs played by various artists at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, was released in April 2023.

  1. ^ Nettleton, Paul. "Old music: Matthews Southern Comfort – Woodstock : The second best Fairport Convention singer secured a UK No 1 only to move on, leaving solo success behind". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  2. ^ "'Woodstock,' 3500 Miles Away: Matthews Southern Comfort's UK No. 1". 9 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 February 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Woodstock – Matthews Southern Comfort -1970". Seventiesmusic.wordpress.com. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - May 22, 1971" (PDF). Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  5. ^ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 16 January 1971. p. 81. Retrieved 28 September 2021 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Kind of New - Matthews Southern Comfort | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Matthews' Southern Comfort - 'Kind Of New / Kind Of Live'". Rocktopia.
  8. ^ "Matthews Southern Comfort Releasing New Album". 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Matthews Southern Comfort". Mig-music.de. Retrieved 28 September 2021.