Striking Matches - "Hanging On A Lie"

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Artist: Striking Matches
Single: "Hanging On A Lie"
Album: Nothing But The Silence (will be released March 24)
Writers:

Audio: Listen Here!

Impact Date: March 16
Label: I.R.S. Nashville

Source: R&R Going For Adds

Website: www.strikingmatches.com/

Bio:

With their T Bone Burnett-produced debut album, guitar-wielding duo Striking Matches creates an unexpected and unique sound that defies easy categorization. The music of Striking Matches — a duo comprised of Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis – occupies that sweet spot at the intersection of country, rock, and blues, where all of the elements blend to form an authentically raw and rootsy sound that has a timeless and international appeal.

Indeed, their songs including “When the Right One Comes Along” and “Hanging on a Lie” have been featured on ABC’s hit drama series Nashville and recorded by the show’s stars Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen, and attracted an international fan base. Their first performances in London produced sold-out shows and audiences with a deep knowledge of their lyrics, even before the release of their first full album. Their debut self-titled EP was named among iTunes “Best of 2012″ and received national attention from outlets such as NPR, the BBC and The Wall Street Journal.

“The Nashville TV show was definitely a big break for us,” Sarah says. “It was the first time we had any national or international attention. That opened the door to a lot of fans finding us here in the U.S., but even overseas when the show came out in the U.K.,” she says.

Striking Matches is the debut artist on the newly revived label, I.R.S. Nashville, and has toured with Train, Vince Gill, Ashley Monroe and Hunter Hayes.

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Studio Version added to 1st post!

[LBTrocks]

This is great!! Very unique and different. Sounds even better on the second listen. Great melody and intriguing vocals. I fully support this song lol.

[sabre14]

Official Music Video:

[dm2081]

I saw this is getting promoted to AAA radio as well, so don't know if I see it doing much on the country charts, but it was decent upon first listen. Certainly is different from the rest of the chart.

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Mar 12, 2015 16:40:12 GMT -5 dm2081 said:

I saw this is getting promoted to AAA radio as well, so don't know if I see it doing much on the country charts, but it was decent upon first listen. Certainly is different from the rest of the chart.

On the contrary, I think this could do very well on country radio. I.R.S. Nashville president John Grady is a very savvy veteran music executive. He's managed a lot of big companies over the years (Red Light, Borman Entertainment) and he also served as the president of Sony Nashville for a time and also served as the president of the Academy of Country Music as well.

I expect this new label (the label itself is new, the name is revived) to do very well in the coming years and I would not be surprised to see Striking Matches really break out. I think the format is ready for some new sounds and this duo definitely delivers in that regard.

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Wow, I just heard this and I love it! The production on here is awesome. I can't wait to buy their album! :)

[codyj100]

Wow! Today was the first time I got to hear the song. I watched the video too. Their musical style is extremely unique compared to what is out right now. Love the production and I just wish that radio would pick up something like this more often. 

[sabre14]

Great write up by Jessica Nicholson on Music Row's website today of Striking Matches and their debut album.

“It feels like your wedding day,” says Justin Davis of new duo Striking Matches, in describing an artist’s anticipation of album release day. Davis and musical partner Sarah Zimmermann released their first full-length album, Nothing But The Silence (I.R.S. Records) on March 23. “You go so long and look forward to it as a thing of the future. Finally that day arrives, and you know it doesn’t end on that day, because there is so much more to come. You try to slow down just long enough to realize you’ve achieved this thing that you’ve wanted forever.”

They won’t have much time for slowing down. The project landed at No. 1 on the iTunes UK Country Albums chart, thanks in part to the duo’s recent performances overseas, including a return to the CMA Songwriters Series at C2C in London.

In the years leading up to album release day, Zimmermann and Davis have evolved from fledgling college musicians to a duo with numerous songs, including “When The Right One Comes Along” and “Hanging On A Lie,” featured on the ABC drama Nashville. Striking Matches’ versions of both songs are included on their debut.

Early on, the duo teamed with music executive John Grady, who later signed them as the first act on his Nashville-based label, I.R.S. Records. Grady was instrumental in pairing the duo with T Bone Burnett, producer for artists including Los Lobos, The Wallflowers, as well as Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Grammy-winning album Raising Sand. Burnett also served as the executive music producer for television drama Nashville.

“T Bone was doing music for the first season of Nashville,” Grady recalls. “I sent him worktapes of Striking Matches and he said, ‘Grady, that’s the only band I’ve heard that I’ve liked since I’ve been here doing this.’ We kept sending him music, and one day I asked him what he thought about producing them. He does that a couple of times a year, where he’ll produce somebody completely unknown.”

Burnett signed on for the project. “His vision lined up with ours,” Davis says. “The mark of any great producer is making you as an artist feel like you can do anything you imagine. What I wasn’t anticipating is how nurturing he is to new artists in the studio.” Burnett kept the duo’s guitar prowess and irresistible harmonies center stage, augmented by only bass and drums. The setup allowed the duo to stake their claim as musicians from the first bluesy guitar vamp of “Trouble Is As Trouble Does.” Guitar solos shimmer throughout the project on tracks like “Make A Liar Out of Me.”

“It was an experience for them because it allows them to set a bar for the rest of their career for what they will accept or won’t accept, out of themselves or out of the recording experience,” Grady says.

Nothing But The Silence’s stripped down, harmony- and guitar-centric sound was refined through previous recordings; opening slots for Ashley Monroe, Train, Vince Gill; and international gigs in the UK. “We found that the more production and editing we did, it took away from what we were doing as a duo,” Zimmermann says. “It hid our guitar voice, in a sense. We both draw heavily on guitar playing, and that makes us different as a duo. It’s a big part of our songwriting as well.

“You’re not going to listen to our record, and then go to the live show and hear something completely different,” Zimmermann continues. “It’s important to us to make sure our voices and playing are center stage.”

Zimmermann and Davis first crossed paths as freshmen in a college music class, where the two guitar aficionados were randomly paired to improvise a piece of music. Zimmermann was the only female guitarist in the class. Davis’ initial response?

“I thought, ’Oh great, I’m the one who got the girl.’ None of us wanted to end up with the girl, because there were very few examples we could call upon of great female guitarists, except maybe Bonnie Raitt,” Davis recalls. “I asked if she knew any blues, and she pulled out her slide and proceeded to annihilate everybody. Musical chemistry is like social chemistry. Some people you just click with.”

Davis and Zimmermann continued to regularly jam and write songs together, though it took nearly two years before they decided to officially try their luck as a duo.

“Neither of us endeavored to be artists because that was kinda the ‘diva’ thing to do,” Davis explains. “At the same time, we are musicians, we love to write and sing, and love being in the studio. We started thinking, ‘Who gets to do all of that? Oh god, that’s the artist.’ Eventually, we realized we wanted to be artists all along. Songwriters usually only get to write songs; they don’t usually play. Many times, musicians play with other people, but the creative control is very limited. The one person who gets to do all of it is the artist.”

“We played writer’s rounds together, and people kept asking us what our band name was,” Zimmermann recalls of those early shows. “That’s when we decided to give it a shot.”

With more international tour dates, as well as a co-headlining U.S. tour with The Secret Sisters on the books, the duo is already thinking ahead to album number two.

“It would be fun to work with T Bone again, if he’s up for it and feels stimulated artistically,” Davis says. “It was a blast. We will experiment a little sonically, but we want to retain this identity. Maybe more epic guitar solos.”

Music Row