Matt Hill’s first release under his own name rather than the Quiet Loner moniker that has graced a number of high-quality releases in recent years opens with a jaunty banjo-driven lament ‘Stone and Bone’ which sets the tone perfectly with its angry tone of injustice about the forgotten workers who created the ‘square mile’ of London. Hill imagines them coming back and running amok. The instruments are miked close and the vocal is in your ear. Continue reading “Matt Hill “Savage Pilgrims” (Quiet Loner Recordings, 2020)”
Tag: Quiet Loner
Home Life: Matt Hill
UK singer-songwriter Matt Hill’s latest album, ‘Savage Pilgrims’, is the first one he’s put out under his own name – his previous four releases were credited to Quiet Loner. He may no longer be a ‘quiet loner’, but, as his new record demonstrates, Hill will always be an outsider and difficult to pigeonhole – he’s part Americana, part protest singer and part folk artist. Continue reading “Home Life: Matt Hill”
Exclusive AUK Mini-Gig: Matt Hill (AKA Quiet Loner)
Our series of mini-gigs continues with an exclusive show from Matt Hill, formerly known by his stage name, Quiet Loner. In an incredibly varied career, Hill has co-written an album with people at a homeless project, enjoyed residencies in a museum and a prison as well as festival appearances and a song-writers’ circle with Billy Bragg at Glastonbury. What contrasts! His song-writing ability has led to two UK Americana chart number 1 albums and we are delighted to showcase his talent on AUK. Continue reading “Exclusive AUK Mini-Gig: Matt Hill (AKA Quiet Loner)”
Quiet Loner is dead. Long live Matt Hill.
After 16 years singer/songwriter and former AUK album of the year winner Matt Hill has announced he’s no longer performing and releasing music under the name Quiet Loner – instead he will release a new album this year simply as Matt Hill. Continue reading “Quiet Loner is dead. Long live Matt Hill.”
With A Little Help From My Friends: How we can all help to support smaller artists
As much as we might like things to be different, Americana is a fairly niche market within the music business. Most artists, with relatively few exceptions, operate at a small level. Many have very modest incomes or struggle to make a living at all. So what can we, the fans, best do to support the artists we love? I paid a visit to Matt Hill aka Quiet Loner, to discuss how the Americana family can best support small artists.
Continue reading “With A Little Help From My Friends: How we can all help to support smaller artists”
Pick of the Political Pops: Quiet Loner “The Captain’s Diseased”
It’s funny to think that when Quiet Loner recorded this song back in 2013 that we’d have had another two captains by the end of the decade but both essentially steering the same course, and each one in their own way being worse than the last. The lyrics are as pertinent today as ever: “I can see that storm ahead. We’re heading right for the eye. We’re the living and soon-to-be dead. And we’re all in this boat together as it rumbles, rattles and keels. As I cling to this rope I abandon all hope, when I look whose hand’s on the wheel.” You wouldn’t want the current captain’s hands on the wheel of a milk float. God help us all.