Wayward Wind by Matt Watts

"Wayward Wind" was first released in early 2013 only on limited edition vinyl with a cover featuring a painting by American writer S. Morgan Balkcom and a poem by Belgian poet Max Temmerman on the back sleeve. It is the second album by Matt Watts and a collaboration with his one time touring band The Calicos, who have since become their own band continuing successfully with singer-songwriter/guitarist Quinten Vermaelen, and features two present day members: drummer Maxime Vermaelen & bassist Guido Op de Beeck, who set up his own Bobonne Records to originally release this album. Bobonne Records now operates a studio in the house of Op de Beeck's late grandmother in Ekeren, Belgium.

The songs were recorded mostly live during one week in September 2012 using a makeshift studio in a small apartment in Oostduinkerke, Belgium and then later mixed by Fritz Sundermann (Axelle Red, ...) and mastered by Staf Verbeeck (Stiff Studio, ...)

Filled with harmoniums, drunken choirs, mandolins, old wandering guitars, and Watts' voice struggling to meet the loudness of the band, its sound was often compared to early Low Anthem or Bonnie Prince Billy. Though released with no help from paid promotion, management, or bookers, this DIY album found its way and was met with critical acclaim and its release was followed by an extensive tour in dive bars and small clubs across Belgium and The Netherlands, occasionally supporting artists such as Simon Joyner & The Ghosts, and Marc Ford (The Black Crowes).

After the band and Matt Watts went their separate ways in 2014, the album has since been lost in time, until now. "Wayward Wind" documents Matt Watts' first attempt to perform his songs with a full band as well as the very first incarnation of The Calicos before they went on to create their own music under this moniker. Four friends in their early twenties at the Belgian coast in a small apartment above an ice cream shop making what would become a defining album and a turning point in their artistry.

Matt Watts was born in Philadelphia, in the USA. He recorded his first songs along the banks of the Missouri River in Montana when he was 15, touring the north-western states extensively as a young troubadour. Since he arrived in Belgium at the tender age of 19, he has grown into a full-fledged singer-songwriter that combines a profound respect for the folk tradition with contemporary influences.