[Cover photo credit to Emma Delevante]
West Virginia-based singer and songwriter, William Matheny calls to mind a venue that spoke to him with new track “Down at the Hotel Canfield.” His piano ballad is both a tribute and a lament about a venue and a hotel he used to frequent near the Mississippi River.
He recalls:
I used to play this bar called The Lift in Dubuque, Iowa. Cool basement, wonderful sound…and they have free popcorn.
Matheny shares about The Lift’s history:
The noted 78rpm label Brunswick was founded there, the surviving members of the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour played there—eight days after the music died to be exact—and I’m pretty sure that Magnolia Electric Co. was the only nationally touring act to ever play the Lift with any regularity. I’d give both establishments six stars on Yelp if they didn’t stop me at five.
“Down at the Hotel Canfield” is the latest single from Matheny’s new album That Grand, Old Feeling that will arrive on August 4th, 2023 via Hickman Holler / Thirty Tigers. That Grand, Old Feeling follows Matheny’s 2017 album Strange Constellations.
Matheny wrote and completed That Grand, Old Feeling before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, recording the LP with producer Bud Carroll at Trackside Studio in Point Pleasant, WV. Carroll joins the proceedings on guitar, with Adam L. Meisterhans (guitar), Clint Sutton (drums), Jeremy Batten (piano, organ), John R. Miller (bass, vocals), and J. Tom Hnatow (pedal steel) rounding out the band. Recent Grammy-winner Justin Francis mixed the final product.
Catch William Matheny On Tour:
Aug. 4 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
Aug. 9 – Columbus, OH – Woodlands Tavern
Aug. 10 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
Aug. 11 – Huntington, WV – 9th Street Live
Aug. 12 – Lexington, KY – The Burl
Aug. 22 – Chicago, IL – Golden Dagger
Aug. 23 – Bloomington, IL – Nightshop
Aug. 24 – Indianapolis, IN – Duke’s
Aug. 25 – Newport, KY – The Southgate House Revival
Aug. 26 – Louisville, KY – Zanzibar
Sept. 1 – Morgantown, WV – The Encore
Sept. 2 – Huntington, WV – HMAF
Sept. 6 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Sept. 7 – Chambersburg, PA – GearHouse Brewing Co.
Sept. 8 – Washington, DC – Pie Shop
Sept. 9 – Baltimore, MD – The 8×10
Sept. 10 – Wayne, PA – 118 North
Sept. 12 – Richmond, VA – The Get Tight Lounge
Sept. 14 – Raleigh, NC – The Pour House Music Hall
Sept. 15 – Thomas, WV – Purple Fiddle
Sept. 16 – Mannington, WV – Wintergarden Park
