Matt Wallace: Playing the Songs He Wants to Hear

If you ask Matt Wallace why he made his new album Close The Door Lightly, his answer comes from years of making music on stages, in studios, and in the quiet moments between gigs—years that have shaped the Knoxville-born bassist into the kind of artist who knows exactly what he wants to play, and who he wants to play it with.

The album—out now on Huckleberry Records—isn’t a showcase of original material, and that’s by design. Wallace calls it more of a “jukebox record,” a collection of songs he loves, reimagined with some of his favorite players. “It’s less like you’re making a record and more like you’re filling a jukebox full of stuff that you want to hear,” he says. Those choices run the gamut from Osborne Brothers classics to Jimmy Martin staples, filtered through Wallace’s warm, grounded musical sensibility.

He brought in musicians he’s worked with over the past decade—Don Rigsby, Ronnie Stewart, Jeff Partin—and one newcomer to his circle, guitarist Brian Stephens, whose feel reminded Wallace of the late Tony Rice. “Brian is the closest feel to… anyone… to Tony that’s playing right now,” Wallace says. “We locked in within ten minutes.” The rhythm tracks were cut live with Stephens and Alex Hibbitts, and then Wallace sent songs out for the others to add their parts remotely. The result is an album polished but relaxed, steeped in East Tennessee bluegrass and tinged with country steel and drums in unexpected places.

The title track, “Close The Door Lightly When You Go,” first caught Wallace’s ear on a Dillards record. He loved Darrell Webb’s version but wanted his own to sound different—with pedal steel, drums, and a more country feel. That mindset shaped the whole project: honor the source but make it yours. When it came to “Once More,” Wallace immediately wanted Rigsby’s Ralph Stanley-inspired tenor on it. “I cut it because I wanted to hear Don Rigsby sing ‘Once More,’” Wallace says.

That straightforward approach doesn’t mean the work was easy. Wallace still grins, recalling the moment Stewart started sending him banjo tracks while he was at his son’s high school baseball game. “I told him, ‘I want you to play everything mean as shit,’” Wallace laughs. “And he nailed it. I was sitting there, headphones in, grinning like an idiot.”

Wallace’s path to this album stretches back to 2005, when a college baseball injury left him searching for something to fill the time. His grandfather had been a local musician, and bluegrass pulled him in fast. His first professional gig was with Paul Williams, although Wallace admits he had no idea who Williams was when he cold-called him out of the phone book. From there, he logged years on the road with Williams, Audie Blaylock, and others, often while holding down a full-time job.

Wallace plays far fewer shows these days, choosing to be home for his three sons’ travel baseball schedules. “I would much rather… be remembered as a good daddy who was always there than a bass player or a bluegrass musician,” he says. That shift in priorities shows in Close The Door Lightly. It’s not a young man’s calling card; it’s the work of a musician making the record he wants, with the people he wants, at a moment when the music feels like it should.

While Wallace jokes that there’s “not a lot of art” to it, the album’s breezy confidence suggests otherwise. It’s the kind of work that comes from knowing your strengths, your limits, and your reasons for making music in the first place.

“Just listen to it,” he says. “I hope you enjoy it.”