Artist Mike Matney has teamed up with multi-platinum producer and artist Stevie Salas to create an album by his new band, Matney.
Originally from Virginia and now living back there on a farm, in a log cabin, Matney ‘s career has seen him rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in rock music over the years.His influences include Billy Gibbons, Frank Marino, Pat Travers and Robin Trower.
Matney started piano lessons aged six but when he was 8 the music on the radio captivated him and he started to play guitar. Although he moved several times as a child and had to make new friends, his music was always a constant in his life. One day a friend invited him down to his basement where his older brother and some friends were jamming with electric guitar, bass and drums. He was hooked! He played in bands all through school and immediately after school moved to Nashville where he met Kriss famous and I took Ron keels place in his band, Tabu when Ron left to go to LA to play with Steeler. Because of Kriss he got to hang out with people that summer like Adrian Belew, Willie Dixon, Roy Acuff, etc..
After six or seven months he returned home for a while and hung out a local record store that had a small 4 track studio in the back. The owner let him record there some. During his time in Tabu, Matney gained the nickname `White Boy’. This is where the name of his next band, White Boy and The Average Rat Band originated. Having saved up yard mowing money, the band had 300 albums pressed. Their 1980 debut album is now a collector’s cult and those are worth over $1000 apiece and in 2023 he signed a record deal Riding Easy Records out of Los Angeles for its 4th reissue. Matney also played guitar for David Allan-Coe in the mid-80s for a while.
Matney completed a music degree as well as a degree in recording industry management in 1997 at Middle Tennessee State university. During his time in Nashville he interned at Asylum Records in the A & R department and also worked for a PR company on music row.
Salas has previously worked with Buddy Miles, Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart, and is also an award-winning composer in his own right. Rolling Stone called Salas one of the 50 all-time greatest guitar players. He has sold over 2,000,000 albums and won the Sundance Film Festival award for his documentary ‘Rumble’.
