Gabriel’s New Recording Tone
(And some friends along the way to pick it up!)
Trying To Be Known by Gabriel N. Akins
“The roots of this music run deep in Southern soil, drawing from ragtime and Delta blues pioneers as well as the folk resurgence of the ‘60s.”
Gabriel’s vision as an artist and creator is shaped by the mystery of human participation and dignity in the mundane where life has been and is becoming.
“Everyone gets to take me the way they will. But I’m learning how to get to my life before everyone else does and I’m realizing ...I’ve always been selling dignity and everyone’s buying. ”
“soulful-harmonied back-porch country”
“If you’re wondering about the band name, it refers to a garment worn in the 17th and 18th centuries - basically, a blanket fashioned into a coat - that was simple, practical, and effective. Can music cover, protect, and warm the listener in a similar way? The Matchcoats certainly think so.”
“Put simply, anyone who cares about the origin of the 60’s folk, rhythm, and blues revival needs to listen to The Matchcoats.”
“[Part Of Me Stills Lives In Georgia] Sarah:... “I just loved that last song. I can really relate to that,” people would say, because everybody has family members and everybody has certain things that they remember from their childhood. For me, it’s really special to share that song, because my dad wrote it and it’s about family. I really appreciate getting to share that, and then watch it mean something to other people. ”
Gabriel Akins
Gabriel, the founding member of The Matchcoats, found country blues and Americana often meets him where feet are on the ground, meals are shared, and dishes are being washed with a neighbor. “One day while going through some pain of my own I remembered watching Sonny Terry on a recording of Rainbow Quest.” says Gabriel. He continues,”Sonny was hootin’ and singin’ Leadbelly’s, Rock Island Line right there with Brownie McGhee and Pete Seeger, while rockin’ on one of his ribs and this hit me; some notes you don’t learn how to hit unless you’re feeling the road beneath your feet." Life is complex, mundane, and holy, like a kid who grew up on a farm with unique vision into Shakespeare’s writing and yet, not likely to read his work. So, Gabriel hopes to engage listeners at their unique position on life’s road. He comes bearing a couple handfuls of fresh metaphors and tunes from a place where we all are doing our best and sometimes even making an unholy mess of it all.
photo by Caleb Chancey
The Matchcoats’ Story
Former spouses, Gabriel N. Akins and Sarah Greene, met one-another around mutual friends in Birmingham, AL and began playing songs like, A Little More by Jennifer Knapp and hymns like Be Thou My Vision together, in 2006. After Sarah’s Dad passed in 2010 Gabriel began writing songs and in 2011 the americana / country blues duo, The Matchcoats, was formed.
“Oh, we move along/In life you learn so many songs,” so starts the first track off “Coming Up” off Birmingham-based acoustic duo, The Matchcoats’ debut EP, Blanket Tricks. Saturated in brilliantly simple lyrical truisms and painted with delicate strokes of bluesy folk-driven melody and harmony, the musical relationship between former husband and wife Gabriel and Sarah Akins overflows into the life of anyone who treats themselves to the duo’s experiences in song. In most cases, the Matchcoats put the listener’s well-being ahead of their own in hopes that what was once specific and personal to the songwriters can be expounded upon and ingrained into the fabric of their audience’s day to day living, a relational approach to storytelling that is becoming rare in a culture driven by self-serving art.
“All of these stories that are being told are our stories,” says Gabriel Akins, whose alternating-base style acoustic blues playing inspired by artists such as Mississippi John Hurt anchors the melodic space of the songs. “We have our life with people and we have conversations. Being fair to our story helps us be fair to other people. There is more present with them than what meets the eye. It’s very relational and our music is wrapped up in more than just our music. We’ve not only been able to get involved with music around Birmingham, but we have formed some of the richest friendships out of music.”
One such artistic friend, Wilder Adkins, served as a launching point for Gabriel’s desire to knock down the fourth wall between musician and listener. Other musicians that have entered the Matchcoats’ lives through musical interactions include The Clay States (Stephen Collins and Lauren Little), Justin Cross, and Matt Waldrep, who introduced Gabriel and Sarah into the Greyhaven Community, a Birmingham music collective whose strong emphasis on collaboration led to many of the early shows for the duo.
The genesis of the group began in 2006 before Gabriel and Sarah’s marriage, but the real formation occurred in late 2011 with the release of the 5-song Blanket Tricks. The names of both the band and EP derive themselves from a Revolutionary War-era clothing item, which allowed wearers to don a blanket to keep them warm and carry their equipment. For a songwriter who focuses his listening on the musical legends of the past rather than the trendsetters of the present, this homage to a revered time period makes perfect sense.
The Matchcoats have since released several other songs on their Bandcamp site, but hope to record all of their compositions on reel-to-reel equipment and present their audience with a fully formed album. Their single, “Tattered and Blue,” recently debuted on Birmingham Mountain Radio and conveys a special meaning for Gabriel and Sarah.
song art by C.J. Franks
“The song uses the metaphor of a doormat in considering what we do when we come in and out of people’s lives,” Gabriel says. “What you pick up on the road, you should kick off at the door or you’ll kick it off at people’s houses and in their personal lives. If you don’t have a sense of common courtesy or self-control that you’re not going to drag everything on your feet into someone’s life, you’re not going to put it on the doormat and you’re going to bring that into people’s lives.”
The Matchcoats join a rich songwriting scene in the Birmingham area and their increasing audience of devoted fans will see to it that they stay around for years to come.
Gabriel has performed at a broad scope of venues and events, both public and private. Please feel free to look over the venues he has performed at since 2011.