On this edition of GemsOnVHS, we check in with our old pal, the fiddlin mad man himself, Mr. Matt Heckler. This song, titled "This Town is Killing Me", was an apt selection for our environment. We met with Matt on a tour stop, downtown in Nashville, Tennessee, Music City USA. We inspected the ruins of 2nd avenue, victim to a 2020 bombing by a conspiracy driven lunatic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Nashville_bombing). We wandered the drunken, bachelorette filled streets of the honky tonk center. Then, thoroughly disgusted, we hopped on board the cities only version of "public transportation", the Music City Star train! (https://youtu.be/M9eAEaIX_Bs - documentary the Gems team made on the subject). So this town was killing us, and we headed off on the train to get the hell out, and Matt played a song onboard. On the sly, because apparently you're not allowed to film on the train. Oops, we are outlaws. You can listen to this on Spotify; https://open.spotify.com/track/3FCXtKv99nPFYV0juibuEp?si=8e7d282b266244b2 Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com

Matt Heckler performs "Morning Breaks" at SomerSessions // Pure Grain Studios. Sponsored by (and conveniently located above) Jarfly Brewing Company. For more music from Matt Heckler visit: https://mattheckler1.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/MattHecklerMusic/ For more great sessions and music, subscribe to SomerSessions! And we're on Facebook, so give us a like: https://www.facebook.com/SomerSessions/ #MattHeckler #MorningBreaks #SomerSessions #JarflyBrewing #SupportLocalMusic

Matt Heckler and I traveled outside of Charlotte, North Carolina to visit instrument maker Ryan Navey at his in-home assembly shop. I was picking up a new banjo he'd made for me, and Matt lives in Charlotte so was happy to come along. He imparted some knowledge on us and showed us around the woodworking tools and carvings, then Matt entertained us with a new song. Matt decided to write a song with a few parameters. Not about drinking, or love, or dying or any of that stuff we all love yet probably fall back on too much. A good old fashioned song with some positivity. Here's what Woody Guthrie had to say about it, “I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard travelling. I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work." Check out Matt's new RECORD: https://mattheckler1.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/MattHecklerMusic/ And check out Ryan Navey's banjos: https://www.facebook.com/banjopage/ https://www.carolinabanjoco.com/ Big thanks to VJ Arizpe and Richard Harmon for making this episode possible. Want to learn how to play this song? Check out these tabs: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/matt-heckler/haw-river-ballad-chords-2660328 Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com If you'd like to get in touch with us the old-fashioned way, you can reach us at... GemsOnVHS 100 Taylor Street Ste. C8 Nashville, TN 37208

This is the age of Heckler. His ascension to a GemsOnVHS favorite has been swift and well deserved. Throughout the past two years we have followed him across the globe, from Tennessee with Benjamin Tod, his North Carolina home, all the way to the foggy shores of Ireland. We're documenting an immense talent and dedication to craft Matt has displayed without fail. Artists can be, let's say... unpredictable. Though Matt, his his high-lonesome, soaring vocals, fiery right hand and positive attitude, we come to know we can expect a level of perfection and reliability few others seem to posses. He is a good man and damn fine writer. The lack of touring in 2020 hasn't stopped him from pushing creative limits. Not long ago we created this recording with him, when he stopped by White's Creek, Tennessee, after a recording session with the always busy Dan Emery of Anti-Corp fame. That album (and the one this song is on) dropped this year, and I highly recommend a listen, if you love these wailing tunes and crazy thumbing by Matt. On this particular recording, Matt was playing an incredibly bass-banjo I loved. I was passing by this wildflower field every day on the way to GemsOnVHS HQ and thought it'd be a great natural setting to play some songs. Plus, the background matched the Heckler hair quite well. Find Matt's music and information here, https://www.mattheckler.com/ If you want to download this track, you can visit our bandcamp page! https://gemsmattheckler.bandcamp.com/track/i-tried-live-gemsonvhs-recording This episode was made possible by our executive producers, VJ Arizpe, Richard, Drew, Brady Jones, Edward Siple, Josh Collins, Kenny Schmidt, and Aaron Brown. Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com

An incredible journey. Across the Atlantic ocean to the fatherland of folk songs and fighting spirit, Ireland. We were told West is best, so we rambled down the coast to county Clare, to the small towns of Doolin and Liscannor. It was off season for tourism and bitterly cold. The folks about town welcomed us with open arms. We stayed in a small cabin near the Cliffs of Moher, where one evening we clamored up the trail to sing this old classic song into the setting sun, off the edge of the majestic cliffside. One night we sat in the back of a little pub in the little village, enjoying our Guinness's and listening to the locals interact. Eventually, folks in the pub started singing to each other, acapella at that. The others would shush everyone down as one lonesome voice after another bellowed some old Irish folk song. It wasn't part of some show or program made for tourists, it was just what they decided to do. Later we found it was a funeral wake for an old fisherman who'd died, all the folks meeting at the pub after to celebrate the way they knew how, singing and drinking to their memory. We got closer and they invited us to sing. They knew nothing about us, didn't know if we could carry a tune or remember a song, but they demanded we join in. Matt and I both sung songs (not, as he likes to tell it of me, Wagon Wheel), and they listened and clapped and passed around drinks. Eventually Matt broke out the fiddle, and the night grew long. That's Ireland, for me. A moment I'll never forget. Matt is on tour. Check out more of his music and whereabouts on his website. It's a show you will never forget, if you can listen like those Irish folks do. https://www.mattheckler.com/ Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs Want to learn how to play this song? Check out these tabs: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/matt-heckler/aint-no-ash-will-burn-chords-2849627 GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com If you'd like to get in touch with us the old-fashioned way, you can reach us at... GemsOnVHS 100 Taylor Street Ste. C8 Nashville, TN 37208

Y'all know I'm a Tennessean for life. One of my favorite vistas in Tennessee, if not the world, is a mountain rising into the clouds, larger than life. Roan Mountain offers some of the most spectacular views along the Appalachian Trail, straddles the border with North Carolina and holds a special place in my heart. Not far from it lives another one of my favorite vistas, Matt Heckler playing his songs near Asheville, NC. So when Matt said he had a song that was particularly special to him, I knew we needed a place he could be amplified by nature itself, like a human antenna, beaming the sound waves to the universe. I didn't know how fucking cold it would be, though. As Matt, myself, and Jeff Loops reached the peak on that rainy morning, I was concerned he wouldn't be able to play. My hands were freezing from the altitude and the wet cold being in a literal cloud comes with. I managed to force my inert fingers to press the record button, and Matt began striking out chords and strings with expert precision. Just watching his aura go to work warmed me, while simultaneously amazing me. Pre-order Matt's new album, https://anticorpmusic.com/collections/matt-heckler/products/album-matt-heckler-blood-water-coal-cd This video was made possible by our executive producers, Eric Valente, Irvin Maddox, Amy Ennis, Mark Riley, Kenny Schmidt, Edward Siple, Brady Jones, VJ Arizpe, and Richard Harmon. Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com

In a very special edition here, we find Matt Heckler (formerly of Deep Chatham) teaming up with Benjamin Tod (of Lost Dog street band) to play a tune of Matt's on the porch. Not just any porch, however. This is the house where Guy Clark used to live, and later Townes Van Zandt. Some parts of Heartworn Highways were filmed here. Benjamin is friends with Townes daughter, and filming on that porch just felt dang right. Matt himself is one of those artists who can hold an entire room with a solo performance. His voice reaches and booms, and his fiddle playing accompanies that voice perfectly fine. The way he holds his fiddle is also of interest - what some may call the "incorrect" or unorthodox way. Doing things really well the wrong way is something we encourage here, for sure, and old time has a long tradition of it. Here's an excerpt from a great article on chest level playing - "There are two striking habits that appear among a considerable number of old-time fiddlers: their tendency to hold the fiddle against their chest rather than the classical way, and their tendency to hold the bow in all sort of weird ways, often gripping it away from the frog. For a classically trained violinist the image of someone playing this way is alien. However, these habits among old-time fiddlers should not be seen as restricting or simply wrong. I believe they are deeply meaningful and rooted in legitimate stylistic and musical aspirations." Learn more here; http://www.learningfiddle.com/old-time-fiddling/ You can listen to this field recording on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/0POjMggmTvLo1rw4h0wkcJ?si=jrh5wwwpQi6G8p-zEWZhGw) and on all other streaming platforms. You can follow Matt on Instagram at @mattheckler and Ben at @benjamintodmusic. Our undying love and gratitude go to our executive producers for making this project possible: Brad Sirois, Mitchell Davis, Keith McQuillan, David Jameson, Lisa Galvan, Irvin Maddox, Josh Collins, Brady Jones, Julie Nestoroff, VJ Arizpe. Consider becoming a Patreon contributor to help sustain this project. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you let us continue finding and filming amazing artists. https://www.patreon.com/gemsonvhs GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love. We're on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins) Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs) www.gemsonvhs.com