Crys Matthews Brings Intersectionality into Country Music with New Album “Reclamation”
The Nashville artist uses her resounding voice to question the communities that try to exclude it
Photo via Crys Matthews
On January 17th, award-winning singer-songwriter and voice for equality Crys Matthews released her sixth full length album, Reclamation. "This album is both sonically and ideologically the fullest representation of who I am as an artist and as a human," Crys said of the album. By marrying traditional Country and Americana music with highly rhetorical lyricism, Matthews is not only reclaiming the space that Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music and critiquing the exclusion of LGBTQ+ folks from organized Christianity, she is reclaiming the South that raised her.
A troubadour of truth, Nashville resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of politically engaged musicians. An award-winning and prolific lyricist and composer, Matthews blends Country, Americana, Folk, Blues, and Bluegrass into a bold, complex sound that meets the social climate of the American South in its contemporary moment head-on.
Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times.” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation adds, her gift is a "reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides."
In her own words, Matthews says her mission is "to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice." Her new album is an embodiment of and a testament to that mission.
When Matthews attended a panel at Folk Alliance International in February of 2024, she heard a Scottish Folk artist inquire as to how many record labels pursue what the artist referred to as "music from my tradition," four words that intrigued Matthews. "I loved the idea of that. It seems like the best way to talk about music: what is your tradition, who are your people, what is the fabric of you?" On Reclamation, Matthews is boldly answering those questions.
Recorded in Nashville, TN at Sound Emporium Studios, Reclamation was produced by Levi Lowry (co-writer of Zac Brown Band's hit song Colder Weather). The project features her partner on and off stage Heather Mae, her friends and fellow singer-songwriters Kyshona, Melody Walker, and Chris Housman, as well as some of the best musicians in Music City like Megan Coleman, Megan Elizabeth McCormick, Ellen Angelico, Ryan Madora, Jen Gunderman, and Michael Majett.
about crys matthews
Crys Matthews is a Folk and Country Musician from Nashville, TN. A preacher's kid, a Black woman, a butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner, Matthews describes herself as the “poster child of intersectionality”. Crys Matthews has received acclaim from the likes of Billboard and NPR, and the award for Folk Alliance's Song of the Year.
