Matthews Southern Comfort
British country rock band formed in 1970 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Matthews Southern Comfort?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Matthews Southern Comfort (MSC) are a British country rock/folk rock band, formed in 1970 by former Fairport Convention singer Ian (later Iain) Matthews. The original line-up consisted of Matthews, lead guitarist Mark Griffiths (who would later become the bass player with both the Shadows and the Everly Brothers), rhythm guitarist Carl Barnwell, bass player Pete Watkins, drummer Roger Swallow and pedal steel guitarist Gordon Huntley. Watkins and Swallow, however, left the band after just a few weeks and were replaced by bass player Andy Leigh and drummer Ray Duffy.
Matthews Southern Comfort | |
---|---|
Origin | England |
Genres | Country rock, folk rock |
Years active | 1970 2010–2012 2017 – present |
Members | Iain Matthews BJ Baartmans Eric Devries Bart de Win |
Past members | Mark Griffiths Carl Barnwell Gordon Huntley Pete Watkins Roger Swallow Andy Leigh Ray Duffy Terri Binion Richard Kennedy Mike Roelofs Elly Kellner |
The band was formed to allow Matthews to go on tour following the success of his first post-Fairport album released in early 1970, Matthews' Southern Comfort. They recorded two more albums that year, Second Spring and Later That Same Year, before splitting up when Matthews abruptly quit during the height of their fame, shortly after their version of the Joni Mitchell song "Woodstock" became a worldwide hit, reaching the top of the UK music charts[1][2][3] in October 1970, their only No. 1 hit single. "Woodstock" also charted in several European countries, as well as reaching No. 5 in Canada,[4] and No. 23 in the Billboard Top 100 in the United States.[5]
Now based in the Netherlands after a long career as a solo artist in the United States, Matthews has twice reformed the band in recent years with mostly Dutch musicians: firstly in 2010, releasing two new albums, Kind Of New[6] and Kind Of Live (individually and as a combined tour issue[7]), and again in 2017, releasing two further albums, Like A Radio[8] in 2018 and The New Mine[9] in 2020. A fifth MSC album, The Woodstock Album featuring 15 cover versions of songs played by various artists at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, was released in April 2023.