Matthew Sloan Wallace & The Southern Soul Foundation — home
Matthew Sloan Wallace playing a TV-yellow Gibson Les Paul Special in a room at Detroit Guitars, walnut amplifier cabinets behind him.

01 / 05Detroit Guitars · soundcheck

Nashville, TN · The room is open

Matthew Sloan Wallace & The Southern Soul Foundation

Rooted in soul. Built for the stage. Black Stone Cherry meets Al Green meets Delbert McClinton.

Book the bandTour dates
Based
Nashville, Tennessee
Sound
Southern soul, blues, rock and groove-driven roots
Lineup
Trio to six-piece
Sound system
Own PA for rooms under 200
Travel
Within about four hours of Nashville
Booking replies
Inside two days

02 — Live

Feel the room

Where the songs actually live. Loud enough to mean it, quiet enough to hear the room.

Matthew Sloan Wallace singing into a microphone and playing an amber Les Paul at centre stage, singer and keyboardist to his left, drummer and bassist to his right, in a wood-panelled room.
VideoThe first set clip is being cut. Until it lands, the room in photographs — and the Saturday jam, every week.
Amanda Chun in a black top and jeans at a microphone stand on a small stage, the drummer out of focus behind her.
David Alan at a Hammond SK2 in a dim warm room, a second keys player behind a microphone beside him.
Al Wooldridge in a pale fedora looking down at his snare, a wall lamp glowing behind the kit.
The band in silhouette under a low ceiling and stage lights, heads of the crowd across the bottom of the frame.
Matthew Sloan Wallace in a black cap playing a goldtop Les Paul at a microphone stand on a plank stage, drums and a bassist behind him.

More from the stage→

03 — Next Show

Where to find us

Nashville rooms, regional dates within a day's drive, and one standing Saturday.

Every date→
Bring us to your room

04 — The Story

Why this band exists

Paducah to Nashville, thirty-eight years, and a record collection that never picked a lane.

Read the whole story→
Matthew Sloan Wallace in profile at a microphone, black ballcap and silver beard, holding a flame-top Les Paul under warm stage light.

Do what you love, connect with people, stay consistent. It’s always a work in progress.

Matthew Sloan Wallace

Paducah, Kentucky

A nylon-string was already in the house, and a stack of 45s got played to death: Chic, Kool & the Gang, the Oak Ridge Boys. Hymns on Sunday at Woodlawn Cumberland, and one night a month the room picked the songs. He started guitar at thirteen with Chris Belt, two streets over.

Saturday nights, Hermitage

Nashville in 1998, for Christian rock guitar work. Twenty years of day jobs, and the playing never stopped. The Saturday jam at Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint is where it turned into a band — whoever was willing to step out got the chair. He named the result himself: the roots of every genre mixed into his playing.

05 — The Foundation

The Foundation

He named it himself. It is an attempt to describe the roots of the genres mixed into his playing, and the music that shaped who he is.

  • Matthew Sloan Wallace in a black cap and zip hoodie looking straight at the camera, a Soldano amp head and a shelf of effects pedals behind him.

    Matthew Sloan Wallace

    Guitar, vocals

  • Amanda Chun singing into a handheld microphone with her eyes closed, in a leopard-print coat in a dim wood-panelled room.

    Amanda Chun

    Vocals

  • David Alan laughing, aviator sunglasses and silver hair, amplifiers stacked behind him.

    David Alan

    Organ, keys

  • Al Wooldridge in profile at the drums, straw fedora and grey henley, a vocal microphone on a boom at his mouth and a drumstick over the snare.

    Al Wooldridge (Big Al)

    Drums

  • Melvin Hill smiling at the camera in a black pork pie hat, glasses and a black jacket, warm lamps and a drum kit behind him.

    Melvin Hill

    Bass

David Alan, Amanda Chun, Al Wooldridge and Melvin Hill standing side by side in front of amplifiers and a drum kit under warm lamp light.
Left to right: David Alan, Amanda Chun, Al Wooldridge, Melvin Hill.

The Foundation is a flexible cast of Nashville players around Matthew. Who shows up depends on the room and the night, and the sound holds either way.

The name is a description, not a slogan. Disco and funk off a stack of 45s. Gospel harmony from the Oak Ridge Boys and outlaw country off a television theme. Hair metal off MTV. Hymns every Sunday at Woodlawn Cumberland. All of it went in, and it all comes back out somewhere.

Ask him for the short version and he will give you the one he gives bookers: Black Stone Cherry meets Al Green meets Delbert McClinton.

06 — Booking

Book the band

Venues, festivals, private rooms. Trio to six-piece, tuned to the room and the hour.

Booking inquiry · MSW & The Southern Soul Foundation

No. 001

Tell us the room and the night. If it fits we’ll come back inside two days with a number and a stage plot. Own PA available for rooms under 200.

07 — Stay Close

Get the Call-Up

  • New show announcements, before anyone else
  • New performance clips as they are cut
  • The odd Nashville-room invitation
  • Two emails a month at most. Text only if you ask.

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