MATT HOORAN

I grew up on a horse ranch in Davie, Florida in a household where religion ruled and music was not a career option. What my step-father said was gold and if you didn't like it then you would feel the wrath of his belt. After an inspirational trip I took to New Orleans, I got back home and decided that after 21 years of living in a violent atmosphere where self expression was not condoned, I decided it was time to leave. I sold all my belongings except for my guitar and ran away to Mexico where I would be a street musician like the folks I saw in New Orleans, preaching the good word of real country music from heroes like Hank Williams, George Jones, David Allen Coe, Johnny Paycheck, etc. I could really feel the lyrics to these artists and selfishly I wanted to show the world my sorrow as a form of therapy.

I roamed around the country of Mexico for about two years playing in the street corners of Mexico City to cantinas in San Miguel to even surf houses in Oaxaca. I later went on to Buenos Aires, Argentina because my mother once had mentioned that my biological father was living there. I stayed there for a few months playing with some local bluegrass musicians and at the same time investigating the whereabouts of my father, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase. Latin America is a beautiful continent with amazing people and cultures but it's really dangerous and after having a few scares I decided to head over to Spain, because the majority of the listeners on my Myspace music page were from Spain, so I said “Why the hell not!?”

I made my way to Barcelona and one month into my arrival, I had already got a girl pregnant and made plans to marry and move to the Basque Country where there's a better environment to raise a child. After my beautiful daughter was born the relationship just didn't work and I was kicked out of the house. I found myself in a forgein country with no friends or family and I still couldn't speak Spanish all that great with no prospects in life and living in a camping tent and in an abandoned van; I turned heavily into drinking. One of those drunken nights I saw a group of musicians playing a Johnny Cash song in the street corner. I went up to them and asked if I could sing the song since they weren't doing it too well, they agreed. Those same guys later became the members of my band called Dead Bronco. I decided to get my shit together and put all my efforts into music. We started off playing in the street in front of bars to get a crowd going so they could feed us free beer. The crowds started to get bigger and bigger so the bars decided to hire us to play inside and we started to get paid. The word got out on the streets that Dead Bronco was a good time so we started to get hired by venues and then we did our first tour. 

Out of the blue, the BBC saw our video to “False Hearted Lover” and they mentioned the band in an article as the most promising band of 2013 with a true grit southern sound worth listening to. Thanks to Dead Bronco, the exposure the band had led to my biological family to finally find me on Facebook. I was able to finally meet my true family and for this I will be forever grateful to what this band has given me. Dead Bronco was on the road touring non stop for 10 years. Most of the original members had been long gone by 2015. I felt it was time to retire the band and do my own thing with my own project, Matt Horan, bringing back that true old school roots sound that I loved so much, the sound that made me leave home to preach it all those years ago. I've released two albums since 2020, “Tears From the Mountain”, Appalachian folk and hillbilly blues and “You Ain't Country”, full band of traditional outlaw honky tonk country music. I've sacrificed everything I know, leaving my family, friends, and country behind just for the sake of making music. It's been my saviour and at the same time my destruction. I'm so deep into it that I can't give up now and I will continue to tour, record, and sing until the day I die.

Matt Horan on ajankohtainen meille Suomalaisille, koskapa kuten allaolevasta mainoksesta näämme, hän saapuu Kylän Juuret tapahtumaan Lahden Ravintola Torveen🔝