Nashville drummer Matt North is releasing his second album Bullies in the Backyard on February 11th from Round Badge Records. North wrote the ten songs on the album during a seven year period while he was undertaking, and winning, a lawsuit for violations against his son’s special needs by Nashville Public Schools. The suit set precedent which will now benefit families facing similar challenges over their child’s education nationwide.
But that wasn’t the only struggle North faced during this time, since the pandemic brought live shows to a halt, leading him to take other work at Home Depot to support his family and also continue to record the album in his home studio during available time.
The album was mixed by Grammy winner Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco, Los Lobos) and mastered by Pete Lyman (Tom Waits, Chris Stapleton, Barry Gibb), and features guest appearances from Jonny Polonsky and Jesse DeNatale alongside North’s band of Stuart Mathis (Lucinda Williams, The Wallflowers), Chris Donohue (Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris), and Michael Webb (Chris Stapleton, John Fogerty).
North has a long and varied history in writing, film, TV, and session work, which you can check out right here.
