Matthew Brookshire: News

I'm very excited to be singing with Kelli Rae Powell at the live recording of her new album. Come join us for these two special shows on March 2nd at Brooklyn's Jalopy...

Matthew's picture in The New York Times! Click below for the review of "Twin Pines".

 

"The music of Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Matthew Brookshire makes an enormous contribution to the work’s coherence and emotional power. There are some brilliant covers. He gives Eisley’s chirpy “Tree Tops” an appropriately brittle edge and his rendition Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf,” accompanied by the drone of a harmonium, replaces the original’s cocksure cheek with so much longing it’s practically sinister. Brookshire’s original work, which he performs on guitar, ukulele and harmonium, is no less affecting. He sets the botanical names of some of Prospect Park’s specimen trees—Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii’,Querqus alba, Pinus densiflora—to a haunting melody. Sung in his beautiful, plangent tenor, it sounds like a prayer. If there’s a god of trees, surely he’ll be blessed."

Matthew is pictured in the new issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, performing at Annie Sullvan's amazing wedding at Alder Manor in NY.

Matthew sang the pop standard "The Very Thought of You", accompanied by a lovely string quartet from Bianchi Musica. A solo ukulele version of the song is now available at CDBaby.com!

Matthew and co-writer Curtis Moore have two songs in the new film Going Down in La-La Land, directed by Casper Andreas--including the debut track from pop artist Chica D. The song is called "Disco Superhero" and is now available on !

"...and neo-folkie Matthew Brookshire, whose work lies somewhere between a ukelele-playing Jeff Buckley and a sober Shane McGowan, will hopefully sing “I Can See Russia from Alaska (When I Look in Your Eyes)," his heartfelt satire of America's favorite hockey mom."--BeaconPass.com

Matthew's song "Better" is featured in the new film Violet Tendencies (starring Mindy Cohn from The Facts of Life!!), currently in film festivals nationwide.

This photo by Jessica Antola is part of the Modern Jacobean Portraits show at Bird in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, now-June 2010.

It's that time again! This ol' chestnut was written by Curtis Moore and me and features the lovely Robyne Parrish.

"Matthew Brookshire and his uniquely equipped band amazed everyone with his lyrics and songwriting prowess, with a fine version of Human League's 'Don't You Want Me Baby' only adding to the quality of the set."

--ugrooveonline.com

A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time in the studio with indie folk duo Nikki Meets the Hibachi. They asked me to add back-up vocals to a few tracks from their new album! I was thrilled, of course, because I am a huge NMTH fan and I used to drive all over North Carolina to hear them play. PASTE magazine writer Josh Jackson feels the same way, and just blogged about them here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/05/five-amazing-albums-in-my-itunes-youve-never-heard.html

It's nice to get a good review...especially from a fan! Here's a review of my song "Better" from the album 8 Songs,which is available on iTunes and from CDBaby.com...

"A beautiful, longing breakup song, "Better" is lyrically bitter but melodically melancholy. Brookshire's matter of fact "I am still yours" at the end of each chorus gives the song a grounded sort of feel. Be warned: this track is mildly addictive."--Cecca, AmieStreet.com

"Matthew Brookshire sings original songs of God, politics and love, and Ms. Garfield wields a makeshift cross as if her soul depended on it."--Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times

"Singer-songwriter Matthew Brookshire acts as a sort of non-interfering mediator in this domestic maelstrom. These are two of the numbers he delivers: “Returning to Earth/Keely’s Space Ship” and “I Can See Russia From Alaska When I Look Into Your Eyes."--The Village Voice

Thanks for coming to the Rockwood show! In case you missed it, it looked & sounded something like this...

Happy Holidays!

I co-wrote a song called "Leave A Light On" with Curtis Moore a while back and Sara Ramirez (of Grey's Anatomy) recorded an amazing version of it. Recently, a Grey's Anatomy fan made a video for the song and it's gotten over 15,000 hits on YouTube so far...

Dan Savage posted my Alaska/Russia video on The Stranger's blog! He says: "Actually kinda beautiful..."

Thanks Dan!

The Slog

My collaboration with Keely Garfield Dance was reviewed this week in The New York Times and in the culture blog of WNYC.org!

Here's an excerpt from the Times...
"As Matthew Brookshire sang songs of the eternal and topical — including “I Can See Russia From Alaska (When I Look in Your Eyes)” — the adults skirmished. Tubular lights became a cross. A garbage lid became a fantastical helmet. Somehow, improbably, Ms. Garfield held it all together, just tightly enough."