Matthew Skoller
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As with many blues performers of his generation, Skoller’s been influenced as much by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers as by the legends of blues. Skoller’s take on the blues tradition is about letting his own voice come through -- his culture, his experience.
Skoller moved to Chicago in January 1987. His already mature harmonica playing led a number of musicians to take him under their wings. He paid his dues backing up a “who’s who” of creative and passionate musicians, including the legendary Jimmy Rogers, Big Time Sarah, and Deitra Farr. Skoller's emotional, high-energy style caught the ear of veteran bassist/vocalist J.W. Williams who invited Skoller to join his band, the Chi-Town Hustlers. The next year, Skoller became a member of Big Daddy Kinsey and The Kinsey Report, touring with the band throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Despite his success working with others, Skoller heard a gnawing inner voice and since 1992 has led his own band. Like a tornado, he’s blown through the Chicago blues scene. During the 1996 Democratic convention, Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News In-Depth Report featured the Matthew Skoller Band performing live at B.L.U.E.S. Also in ‘96, the band was awarded an artist-in-residency position at the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida.
1996 also saw the release of the first Matthew Skoller Band CD, Bone to Pick with You, which Vintage Guitar Magazine called "a strong debut." In 1999, the band released Shoulder to the Wind, for which French Blues magazine Soul Bag noted Skoller's "excellence as an instrumentalist, but also as a composer." TapRoot followed in 2003.
Tongue 'N Groove Records has just released the fourth Matthew Skoller Band album, These Kind Of Blues!, in January 2005. The album features seven new original songs, plus covers of songs by Junior Parker, James Cotton and Jimmy Reed.