American underground metal artist Mike MATNEY recorded a couple of albums, did session work, and his music has been featured in many magazines, most recently featured in the new book, Heroes of American Metal.
For his new album MATNEY was looking for a polished yet vibrant classic rock sound and reached out to famous Stevie Salas online. Salas (Rod Stewart’s guitar player, produced and performed with such greats as Mick Jagger, George Clinton, Jeff Healey). They soon found out they had mutual friends and Salas agreed to produce a record for Matney.
But Salas also ended co-writing and playing on all all songs. The result is the killer “The Red Neck & The Red Man”, MATNEY feat. Stevie Salas new album.
What do you get if you take some ’70s ZZ Top, add some ’80s ZZ Top, then add a further dash of classic ZZ Top? You get Matney’s ‘The Redneck & The Red Man’. This album puts a massive smile on my face, it’s rammed full of groovy lil riffs, pulsing rhythms, and wonderfully smoky vocals … the lil ol’ band from Texas would surely approve of this shitkicker of an album!
The sessions were in Austin TX at Assembly Line Studios with Kevin Gutierrez engineering. Matney had told his wife and friends that being a big fan he hoped Salas might play on one of the tracks, but Stevie had told Mike earlier that he hadn’t been playing as much lately.
Before the first sessions were over songs were arranged and rearranged and verses were taken out, others were put in and Salas had helped write and played on all the tracks. Salas wanted to bring in Matt Noveskey, from the band Blue October, to play bass on a few tracks. The result was a combination of styles that resulted in ‘The Red Neck and The Redman’.
Michael Matney is officially a badass for creating this riot of an album, it doesn’t harm that he has roped in the legendary Stevie Salas to produce the beast, but the vision and drive is all Michaels.
On first ‘spin’, I was taken back to the mid ‘80s dance grooves of ZZ Top, even down to the production, but actually, there are other musical influences at play too. The lyrics are pure ZZ with just a smattering of Blackfoot, and Raging Slab delivered with lascivious delight by Mr Matney.
‘The Redneck & The Red Man’ is a delightful short, sharp, shock of an album, featuring only eight songs and clocking in at considerably under half an hour, the joy of which is that it never outstays its welcome, leaving you itching to hit ‘play’ again, as soon as it’s over.
Honestly, everything about this album is perfect, the musicianship is spot on, the phat grooves hit the spot every single time, the grooves are infectious, the lyrics are enormous fun, and the production is beautifully punchy, it really is ‘the complete package’.
All songs are goo, but our favourite is the sleazily groovin’ coda ‘Washed In The Blood’ which is nothing short of sublime. This is a hip shakin’, stripper/pole dancing classic in the making. Normally artists “front load” their albums, with the strongest numbers up first, but in this case? It’s all good!
Here is the perfect example of “all killer no filler!” Stevie Salas co-wrote and added guitar to the single ‘All Fired Up’, adding his own six-string ‘fairy dust’ to proceedings, and the song is an absolute gem in the Texas mud.
Album opener ‘Rebel Saint’ is a stonkin’ statement of intent, being everything that is good and great about slow burnin’ “Tejas/Mexicali” boogie, so bad it ought to be nationwide – if you get my drift? ‘Big Daddy’ is deliciously deviant, utterly salacious and dripping with insidious intent, the bass alone ought to have an 18 certificate of its own!
‘All She Wrote’ could belong to ‘Eliminator’, ‘Afterburner’, or ‘Recycler’ – the sheer cyber-boogie funkiness is undeniable, it ought to have its own hot sauce brand named after it!
‘Tomcat’ is another low down ‘n’ dirty boogie beast, all growling riffs and bass, with a wonderfully throaty vocal, just deliciously “nasty” and every kind of wrong, yet so SO gloriously and conversely right all at once. ‘This Heart Has A Ghost’ is singly the best song ZZ Top never wrote or performed, and I can imagine Billy Gibbons giving this his nod of approval every time.
Finally, ‘One Way Road’ is another bumpin’ ‘n grindin’ little groove thang. Damn we love this album! So much musical goodness in such a compact package.
Having cut his teeth in White Boy & The Average Rat Band, then as the six-string sideman to the immortal David Allen Coe, Michael Matney is now ready to take his own place in the spotlight, and ‘The Redneck & The Red Man’ is the perfect vehicle for him to do so.
Highly Recommended
1. Rebel Saint – Feat. Stevie Salas
2. All Fired Up – Feat. Stevie Salas
3. Big Daddy – Feat. Stevie Salas
4. All She Wrote – Feat. Stevie Salas
5. Tomcat – Feat. Stevie Salas
6. This Heart Has A Ghost – Feat. Stevie Salas
7. One Way Road – Feat. Stevie Salas
8. Washed In The Blood – Feat. Stevie Salas
Matney Feat. Stevie Salas – The Red Neck & The Red Man 2024
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