“No ‘us and them’, just me and you”: Crys Matthews at Clatter Cafe

“Every person is like a book with a story yet to tell,” sings Crys Matthews to a cozy Clatter Cafe crowd, “It’s nice to meet you, nice to meet you exactly where you are.”

For Matthews, “the poster child for intersectionality,” being a black woman, a lesbian, a preacher’s kid, and in an interracial marriage in the South is where difficult conversations abound. Those conversations, coupled with current events, result in songs that hurt and heal.

A singer-songwriter of the highest regard, Matthews uses her soulful voice to construct narratives around gun violence, racism, and progress. For her, “it is always so much easier to have those conversations from a place of love and compassion,” she says after singing an original tune about the Confederate Flag. “But, you know, when you try to write a song like that, it’s easy to write an angry song… but that’s only my perspective of that issue.”

Matthews is quite aware of her presence and her message. “When people see me with this fro-hawk, they think to themselves, ‘What is about to happen on that stage?'”

While this may be true, the audience is instantly treated with meaningful and heartfelt meditations on the issues that plague us.

At the top of the set, Matthews’ song, “Safe” was dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting in Milwaukee, WI on Wednesday, Feb. 25. As she begged those in power to “spare me your thoughts and prayers,” the audience feels a call to action. Matthews’ true talent lies in this moment. She reminds the audience that they are not alone in their outrage; she is with them, and we are together, and “we can get it done.”

For Matthews, social justice songs come all too naturally. “The first one I wrote was following Trayvon Martin’s murder and I’ve been writing them ever since.”

Like many others, Matthews credits the 2016 presidential election as an inspiration to write even more. “I felt genuinely terrified and it was the first time in my life that I felt fear like that.” As is her nature, Matthews doesn’t descend into hopelessness, however. Instead, she called her mother, a preacher, who told Matthews, “Picture me as a little black girl in 1953 in the South and every president that I have lived through, and I am just fine, and we will all be fine.”

Indeed, it is impossible to feel sorry for yourself at a Crys Matthews show. Whether it’s her reminding you that “we have more in common than not,” or to “try compassion first,” or that “we are an army of lovers and we shall not fail,” all the audience is allowed to feel is uplifting hope.

“People should not feel alone,” says Matthews, “isolation is a nasty thing. We have to be together.”

Matthews is offering a second show while in Frostburg. Catch her tonight, at the Alice R. Manicur Assembly Hall at 7:30pm. Students who arrive after 6:30pm can be assured of free admission. Members of the public can purchase tickets through the Cultural Events Series.

You can watch Matthew’s entrance into the 2019 NPR Tiny Desk competition here.