The Tallest Man On Earth

Scandinavia might seem like an odd place for an Americana and country-folk scene to exist, yet the region has churned out more than its fair share of troubadours, pickers and storytellers since the original folk revival. Born in Dalarna, Sweden, in 1983, multi-instrumentalist Kristian Matsson is a wily indie-folkie with a frog's croak that calls to mind Woody Guthrie filtered through Deer Tick's John McCauley. In the early 2000s, Matsson split his time between fronting the indie-rock band Montezumas and working on his own folk project, The Tallest Man on Earth. Eventually, though, the latter superseded the former. Going solo in 2007, Mattson released The Tallest Man's debut album, Shallow Grave, in 2008. It caught the attention of the thriving indie-folk community in the States, and pretty soon The Tallest Man on Earth was making his way across America while sharing stages with the likes of Bon Iver, Langhorne Slim and John Vanderslice. Before dropping the critically lauded Wild Hunt album in 2010, Matsson signed with the Dead Oceans imprint, also home to Vanderslice, The Donkeys and Phosphorescent. Matsson followed up with an EP titled Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird.