With a lot to say in many different ways, The Misery County Line – the third full-length from Matt Moody – is a 15-track odyssey displaying raw, volatile, and fully uncensored emotion.
Hailing from Cleveland and walking a tightrope between genres, his styles converge somewhere in the middle of rust belt grit, Western motifs and vulnerable melancholia – if 90s pop rock and Americana had a bastard child steeped in blues and soul, Moody would harness that title.
The Misery County Line teeters between anguish, aspiration and acceptance of the reality of things, personal, cultural and otherwise. Songs like “Brick Wall,” “Cowboys” and “Let’s Get F*cked Up (And Go Have Some Fun)” rejuvenate the more unconventional side of the broad scope we call “American Music,” conjuring echoes of Elliot Smith and Daniel Johnston.
Recorded mostly in Santa Ynez at Joel Jacks’ Studio, Moody’s vision with The Misery County Line was to present something true to the sounds he was making out in California with drummer Stuart Blackie and bassist Nathan Tao; an epithet of the time spent living, writing and performing in Los Angeles and throughout the coast of California.
Other than his solo work, Moody has performed all over the country with various acts including Wax Owls, who played Bonnaroo in 2022 and Peachfest that same year and again in 2023. He’s also co-written songs with Steve Cropper, Karen Staley, and John Corabi in his Nashville days. Moody has landed sync deals with his songs, as his music was featured on Grown-ish and How I Met Your Father.
We got to chat with him to learn about his new album and much more.
Can you talk about any overarching themes or motifs throughout The Misery County Line? And what does the title refer to?
With my previous work, Still a Kid in a Painted Sky, already mastered and awaiting release, I knew I wanted to take things in a grittier direction overall with this. Still a Kid was a little more hopeful, dream-like and produced with a wide array of instrumentation and players. The Misery County Line was going to be stripped down — truer to my live performances and roots as a musician, having mostly played solo or as a rock trio throughout the years.
Thematically, it sort of skates this line between cerebral and geographical dissatisfaction. I guess I was unhappy when I wrote most of those songs. A lot of them revolve around living in Los Angeles, and trying to get out of the city whenever possible. Not so much in a literal sense, but mentally I was going through something — fighting the very circumstances I was putting myself through.
Living in the big shallow of LA can be tough; being your own worst enemy and saboteur can be brutal. It was a mix of both. I toyed around with [the title] for a while until deciding to use it for the album. None of the songs are titled as such, and the phrase doesn’t appear as a lyric anywhere, but it fits the bill. It conjures a beautiful sort of pessimism for me; the image it paints in my mind is that drive on the 101 between LA and the central coast of California.
What song or songs mean the most to you personally?
Probably “Brick Wall,” “Through Generations,” and “Take it so.” All of them kind of bring me back down to reality, having written them from a place where I could level with myself. No false pretenses, just what rang true in my life at the time. Maybe not difficult to write because they were all sort of these cathartic experiences, but difficult to embody once they came out, because I tend to oversell the reality of things in my head. These songs tend to help me put my feet back on the ground.
Let’s talk about your creative process in the making of this album. What can you tell us regarding the writing and recording of it? Challenges, breakthroughs, etc.
The writing happened over a long period of time. A few of the songs were already written in 2020, before I even moved to Los Angeles, and were politically charged because of it. The bulk of the writing happened while living in LA, sort of chronicling my journey without the direct intention to. I tend to compile songs over a long period of time with a concept in mind, and watch it slowly take shape. It’s always been my process – I like it slow.
The recording, other that the guitar overdubs, was done in a relatively quick amount of time. Just a few studio days. Some of those had long intervals in between, but the majority of what you hear was done in roughly five-six days, studio time. Apart from one song on the record there are only two performers, Stuart Blackie on drums, and myself on everything else. I got Ray Flanagan to fly me a guitar track for “Rage!” and liked it so much I kept it in there.
What has been your favorite/the most rewarding part of making this album?
Finishing it, haha. It’s an uphill battle sometimes, seeing something like this from start to finish, especially when you have a very specific idea in mind about what it’s supposed to sound and look like. That’s a whole other aspect of it, the visuals. I collaborate with my partner, Nina Ripich, for all of the visuals, and we try not to cut any corners in the process. We like to use a lot of analog mediums for artwork and videos: 35mm film, Super 8, VHS, etc… That part can be a lot of fun and rewarding in and of itself.
Who or what influences you to pick up your pen and guitar and write songs?
Driving & hiking around the western United States: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, California, etc. Also Neil Young, Elliot Smith, Drive By Truckers, Counting Crows, Lucinda Williams, Tom Petty, Nick Drake…
What would you say are a few pinnacle moments for you as an artist?
I’ve done some touring in the past few years; opened for Jennifer Knapp at The Back Room in Berkley, CA and have played all along the California Coast either solo or with my band. I also joined Wax Owls on bass for a couple of years. We got to play Bonnaroo in 2022 and Peachfest in ‘22 and ‘23. That was all pretty surreal, especially Bonnaroo.
I co-wrote some songs with Steve Cropper, Karen Staley and John Corabi in Nashville wayyy back in the day. That all feels like a lifetime ago though. I’ve also managed to land some syncs in shows like Grown-ish and How I Met Your Father.
It’s been a long journey for me, and I’ve got a lot under my belt. Still feel like I’m looking for something bigger though. Not exactly sure what that is, but touring is something that’s always on my mind.
What’s on the agenda post-album release?
I’ve got some shows I’m stoked for, and am currently trying to add a couple more.
I’ll be playing November 14th at Lost Chord Guitars in Solvang, CA. A great listening room in the central coast, and just a couple of miles away from where the album was recorded. Jonathan Firey is opening the night — an acoustic virtuoso who writes some pretty poignant and heartfelt Americana.
November 15th I’ll be playing at Bar Lubitsch in West Hollywood, CA. Another dive with a Russian theme going on. Wax Owls is opening the night, a band that I used to play bass with out in LA. Some good buddies of mine that write ultra catchy, anthemic, indie folk stuff.
