the matthew show

Born and raised in rural Texas, matthew spent the '90s in a variety of rock bands around Dallas/Fort Worth. He moved to New York in 2002 to begin a solo career as the matthew show, eventually moving operations back to the DFW area in 2006.

In 2003 his debut solo album, texas, was released on his own Naive Music label. matthew's second album, february, was released in 2008 by Wampus Multimedia. His third album, Memphis, was released in 2012. An acoustic EP, Inklings, was released in March of 2013. All have received wide critical acclaim. He has continued to release singles through Naive Music, and a new album is currently in production.

In 2010, matthew launched a popular docu-pop podcast, The Band That Never Was, with each episode containing a single. 

In 2011, matthew formed Ah Pook the Destroyer with Paul Shapera and released their debut album The Silver Key, based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. They released a follow-up, The King in Yellow, in 2021. matthew has contributed guitar on Shapera's subsequent projects, including the acclaimed The Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera.

His songs have been featured on several seasons of the PBS series Roadtrip Nation, and on National Public Radio's All Songs Considered.

His cover of Warren Zevon's Mohammed's Radio was included on the bestselling tribute album Hurry Home Early, and his song Bring Me Safely Down won second place in American Songwriter magazine's Lyric Competition.

His song Office Suite, Part I was used as the soundtrack to lonelygirl15's YouTube video The Tolstoy Principle, which gained over half a million views due to coverage in Wired and the New York Times. He read and created the music for the 2011 audiobook version of Mark Doyon's Bonneville Stories. That same year, he co-produced the debut album by singer/songwriter (and matthew show fiddlist) Beth Brown, ironically titled I'm Not Matthew. In 2013, he produced the debut EP by singer/songwriter (and Fish Fry Bingo co-founder) Pookie.

In 2014, matthew co-produced Safely Down: The Songs of Jason Jackson, a tribute album for his late friend, with Grammy-winning producer John Hampton.

From 2015 to 2020, he produced and hosted The Barbershop, a radio talk show focusing on local music in Fort Worth, first on KFTW 97.5FM the Pirate and then on the Funkytown Network. From 2020 to 2023, he hosted and curated the Fort Songwriters Showcase, an invitational song swap featuring local talent from the DFW area. 

In 2016, he released Rewired, his first novel, on the new Naive Books imprint. In 2017, he published his second novel, Threnody. A collection of essays and short stories, Other Gods, came out in 2020. In 2023 and 2024, he serially released episodes of a radio play version of Rewired. He curated Essay Club, a collective writing experiment, resulting in two anthologies, released in 2017 and 2018. 

He has performed live with acts as diverse as Maren Morris, Charley Crockett, Leon Bridges, Gogol Bordello, Bishop Briggs, Hamell On Trial, and Drowning Pool, and headlined 2004's JournalCon in Washington DC. He has worked with artists such as Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols, Kevin Russell of Shinyribs and the Gourds, Grammy-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang, Cubano-classical favorites Las Rubias del Norte, NYC celebrity street musician Dorian Spencer, renowned violinist Reggie Rueffer, roots-rock songwriters Doug Kwartler, Sean Kagalis, James Dunn, Ed Rogers, Levi Ray, Joe Savage, Tom Sless, Justin Tipton, and avant-garde composers Little Jack Melody and Bone Doggie.

matthew spent many years playing with Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards nominees Fish Fry Bingo and their spinoff Shotgun Friday. He was a member of Fast Cash, a Johnny Cash tribute act. 

From 1995-1997, he coordinated events for Borders Books & Music in Fort Worth, hosting acts such as Shawn Mullins, Keb Mo, Vertical Horizon, and Old 97s. From 2006-2007, he ran live sound at Bend Studio's locations in Dallas and Fort Worth for performers like Glen Phillips, Garrison Starr, Sid Selvidge, and Ten Hands. 

He performs regularly as Matthew Perreault in the virtual world Second Life, where his live concerts draw fans from around the real world and throughout the metaverse.

matthew's non-musical activities have included writing and editing children's nonfiction books, being one of Fandango.com's first movie reviewers, providing commentaries on Dallas' KERA FM, and performing as an extra on the late, lamented Walker, Texas Ranger. He writes essays and poetry at Medium and Substack.