Matthew Alexander Album Release with Rob McHale

Wednesday May 13, 2026

Doors open at 7:00pm

A songwriting prodigy, distinctive guitar stylist, and younger product of the Cambridge- Boston folk scene of the 1960s, Matthew Alexander has performed and recorded for decades. As a solo artist and as founding member of the folk-trio Moonshine, he opened in the early seventies for Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, and Billy Joel.

Raised in Manhattan by his classical composer father and poet mother, Alexander took lessons in acoustic guitar from the late Artie Traum and Jack Baker while developing a finger picking style modeled after Dave Van Ronk and Mississippi John Hurt. Tin Pan Alley tunesmith Lou Stallman discovered Alexander as a 16-year-old songwriter and published his first dozen compositions with Bornwin Music, pitching them to The Turtles and others. Warner Brothers Music, Beechwood-Capital, and Four Star Music, among others, have published his songs in the half century since. His work placed highly in the Music City Songwriting Competition and New York’s Intercollegiate Folk Festival.

He has appeared at The Ark (Ann Arbor), The Troubadour and Songwriters’ Showcase (Los Angeles), Sander's Theater (Cambridge), New Music Showcase (Atlanta), Kenny's Castaways (NYC). and the Double Door, the Evening Muse, Visulite Theater, Latta Plantation Folk Festival, Tosco Music Party, and Dale Halton Theater (Charlotte).

Alexander has released 8 CDs to date on Charlotte based Caravan Records. Alexander’s 7th CD, Soul River, peaked at #11 on the Folk Alliance International Album Chart for November 2020, with “Steel Rail Blues” reaching #3 on its Song Chart the month before. In a May 17th, 2023 review of Alexander’s 8th album Midnight Dream Station, John Apice, Associate Editor of Americana Highways wrote: “Alexander possesses that same genuine tonality found in the voices of John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Jon Dee Graham, Buddy Miller and John Martyn…the words and the music matter first.”

His artistic credits also include a stint as the rehearsal pianist for the SNL feeder group, ​the Groundlings, a guest appearance on the hit show ​One Day at a Time ​and composer of songs that have received airplay throughout the world as well as on NPR and the Discovery Channel. He appeared alongside Alannis Morrissette and Jewel in an internationally streamed conference on Resilience and Health on September 9th 2025 (www.resiliencyandhappiness.com).

Caravan Records will release Alexander's ninth CD, The Matter of the Heart, in May, 2026.

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Rob McHale

He is the International Music and Entertainment Association's “Folk Artist of the Year 2019” and was also awarded “Folk Album of the Year 2019“ (Prophets on the Boulevard).

Two of Rob’s five albums have charted in the top 10 on the Folk DJ Charts, with songs reaching #2, #8, and #9.

Rob performs in the US and internationally. As a storyteller, Rob tells the Legend of Tom Dooley each year at the Happy Valley Jamboree, a festival in the heart of Tom Dooley Country.

Rob’s 2025 book “Outlaws Pyrates and Other Adventurers” received the “Award of Excellence” from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

“On October 25, 2019, I was personally convinced of the power of his songs when I saw him live.” Wolfgang Geise, Music and Such Magazine, Berlin, Germany

"Music of a hundred years ago, from yesterday or today - whenever you place them, the songs of Rob McHale should be taught in school, because they reflect vibrant history, the value of tradition and living social comment…Tom Franks, Folk Words Magazine, London, England

*If you are over 21 but do not have a legal ID, State law prohibits us from serving you adult alcoholic beverages. There is a $5 surcharge at the door if you are under 21. If you are under 18 you must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.*

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