In honor of National Recovery Month the DeKalb County Recovery Court has partnered with Sober Living Services and Lifeline of TN to bring a FREE concert to Smithville, TN! This Friday, September 22 at 6:00pm at the DeKalb County Complex (712 S Congress Blvd.) in the Auditorium, all aboard the Matt Butler #recoverymonth tour train for a recovery month celebration! It was just announced by NAMI that Matt will be honored as a Leader In Mental Health Awareness for his album Reckless Son at this year’s annual conference in Albany, NY!
Matt Butler is a folk artist, a rock’n roller, and a storyteller. Weaving personal experience with a timeless style, Butler brings honesty and openness to his classic approach to songwriting.
Matt Butler first gained notoriety as the lead singer of the New York based band Reckless Sons, who released two EPs, the latter with legendary record producer David Kahne (Lana Del Ray, The Strokes, Sublime, Paul McCartney). The turning point in Butler’s career came, however, when he confronted his lifelong struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse. After getting sober, Butler recorded his debut solo album Reckless Son, a poignant confession of his battle with addiction and his inspiring path to recovery. Right from the start, Butler was able to pull together a community around his message and crowd fund the entire project through a successful Pledge Music Campaign. Released to critical acclaim in September of 2016, Reckless Son drew comparisons to heroes of Butler’s like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan as well as contemporary Americana icons Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson.
Immediately following the release, Butler wrote and performed ‘Just One’, the original song for the feature length and nationally distributed documentary Generation Found. The film portrays the devastating effect the current drug and opiate epidemic has had on adolescents in and around Houston, TX, and the unprecedented way in which the community has rallied to support them.
With the simultaneous release of both Generation Found and Reckless Son, Butler found himself center stage in America’s recovery community. Butler has since performed at rallies, conferences and fundraisers across the country including The Caron Foundation’s annual gala in New York City and the Facing Addiction In America Summit in Los Angeles where the Surgeon General gave his historic address on the current addiction epidemic. Butler has performed alongside senators, congressmen and judges at state capitals across the country, including a performance on the steps of the Columbus State House alongside Senator Rob Portman. A sought after public speaker as well as performer, Butler has spoken at numerous high profile events including The David Lynch Foundation’s ‘Recovery, Meditation, and The Brain’ Summit at New York’s Paley Center. Dedicated to service, Butler has performed for incarcerated populations in jails and prisons in numerous states, most recently completing his first ever ‘Behind The Walls Tour’, where he performed exclusively in state prisons across Ohio. In November of 2017, Butler will be honored in Albany by the National Alliance On Mental Illness (NAMI) alongside Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Powers and Super Bowl Champion Keith O’Neil as a Leader In Mental Health Awareness.
During his relatively short professional career, Butler signed a development deal with Mercury Records (Island Def Jam), toured the United Kingdom (including main stage appearance at the Brighton Beachdown Festival), was a featured performer for TEDx San Francisco, recorded a single with Jeff Saltzman (The Killers), appeared in The LA Times, Nylon, Vanity Fair, Spin Magazine, and New York Times, as well as being the face of John Varvatos STAR USA ad campaign with Converse. As a solo artist, he has shared bills with the likes of Neil Young, Norah Jones, and Willie Nile.
A gifted singer/songwriter on the rise, he has co-writes with Angelo Petraglia (Kings Of Leon), Bobby Huff (Shinedown), Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly), Scott Stevens (The Exies), Mike Viola (Candy Butchers) and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace).
Songs of Butler’s have been licensed to numerous films and television shows including American Pickers (Main theme song), NBC’s The Voice, A&E’s Biography of Bruce Springsteen, Pawn Stars, NY Ink, STARZ Network series Crash, Ax Men and Burn Notice.