American underground metal artist Mike Matney sought out multi platinum producer/artist Stevie Salas to turn out The Red Neck & The Redman, a dirty, swampy, bluesy, heavy, powerful, guitar filled, beat driven, current Outlaw Southern Rock album.
Matney earned a reputation in the metal underground for his guitar prowess, unique vocal style and song writing capabilities. His debut album White Boy and The Average Rat Band is highly sought after by collectors worldwide topping lists at $1,000 a copy. Matney has spent a lot of time in Nashville. There he got to rub shoulders with such greats as diverse as Roy Acuff and Wille Dixon. At 18 he took Ron Keels’ place in Nashville based band Taboo as Ron left for Los Angeles to sing for the band Steeler. Matney also had a brief stint playing guitar for David Allan Coe in the early 80s. He went on to earn degrees in keyboards, classical guitar and recording industry management. He held internships at A&R dept. of Asylum Records as well as Public Relations Creative Nashville.
Media firm in The album is as influenced by Matney’s musical heroes as it is his farm life, faith, and the demons of his past. Having overcome immense personal struggles, Michael was brought back to the straight and narrow through music and his faith. Now, he hopes to connect with those struggling through similar battles to show them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Mikes music under the WBATARB name has been written about in books and magazines for years The Acid Archives, LA Record, etc… Most recently featured in the new book, Heroes of American Metal. In 2017 Mike toured Sweden with Canadian blues Rock band Zed Head. 2017 also seen the self-released album MATNEY. Recorded on Music Row in Nashville at Jays Place. Matney was signed to the Heaven and Hell Record Label In 2018 for a reissue of his WBATARB debut album and the subsequent release of the second album Love My Ride under that band name. In 2023 the first WBATARB album was signed yet again to another label, Los Angeles based Riding Easy Records.
The Red Neck & The Red Man is produced by Stevie Salas who also co-wrote the tracks and provided lead guitar. Rolling Stone Called Stevie Salas one of the 50 greatest guitarists of all time. He was Rod Stewart’s guitar player, and he has 2 separate million solo albums. He has produced and performed with such greats as Mick Jagger and Justin Timberlake, George Clinton, Jeff Healey, etc. He was musical director on American Idol for ten years. He is a former advisor of contemporary music at The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. his recent documentary Rumble won the Sundance Film Festival award.
He has a new movie just out called Boil Alert. The collaboration began when Matney reached out to Salas online. They soon found out they had mutual friends and Salas agreed to produce a record for Matney. The sessions were in Austin TX at Assembly Line Studios with Kevin Gutierrez engineering. Matney had told his wife and friends that being a big fan he hoped Salas might play on one of the tracks, but Stevie had told Mike earlier that he hadn’t been playing as much lately. Before the first sessions were over songs were arranged and rearranged and verses were taken out, others were put in and Salas had helped write and played on all the tracks. Salas wanted to bring in Matt Noveskey, from the band Blue October, to play bass on a few particular tracks.
The result was a combination of styles that resulted in The Red Neck and The Redman.
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