Singer-songwriter Matt Siffert joined KGNU’s Ginger Perry for a live studio session ahead of his performance with Rosanne Cash at Chautauqua. Between intimate acoustic performances of “I Know You by Heart,” “This Coat Here,” and “Lubbock Lullaby,” Siffert talked about moving from Nashville to Boulder, the inspiration behind his album Magic of the New, and balancing songwriting with family life.
He also discussed his work with Musical Mentors Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides music education to under-resourced youth across the country, and reflected on the organization’s recent $2 million donation from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, which will help expand its programs and ensure its long-term sustainability (Air Date 7/14/26).
Listen to the studio session here:
Transcript:
Ginger Perry: We’re very happy to have Matt Siffert here with us. Welcome.
Matt Siffert: Good morning.
Ginger Perry: Matt is here in the studio with his guitar. He’s going to play some music and talk with us. He’s playing at Chautauqua Monday night with Rosanne Cash. That’s quite a billing. That’s wonderful.
Matt Siffert: I am so honored and excited. I really could not be more thrilled.
Ginger Perry: It’s quite a combination. I love Rosanne Cash. I’d have to go to that show. Let’s start with some music. What would you like to play for us?
Matt Siffert: My wife and I just celebrated our five-year anniversary, so I’m going to play a song I wrote for her called “I Know You by Heart.”
Ginger Perry: Oh, nice.
Matt Siffert performs “I Know You by Heart.”
Matt Siffert: Thank you.
Ginger Perry: Pretty.
Matt Siffert: Thank you.
Ginger Perry: I’m sure your wife loves that. Your wife is how you ended up coming here, right?
Matt Siffert: That’s exactly right. She joined the law faculty at CU Boulder, so we moved here a year ago from Nashville.
Ginger Perry: Nice. With a couple of little kids.
Matt Siffert: That’s right. We have a four-and-a-half-year-old named Juniper and a two-year-old named Jasper.
Ginger Perry: Oh, Juniper. That’s so cute.
Matt Siffert: We learned after moving here that junipers are huge fire hazards. In retrospect, we may have gone in a different direction if she’d been born in Boulder.
Ginger Perry: But it’s a pretty name.
Matt Siffert: Yeah.
Ginger Perry: This last song was on your new album, right?
Matt Siffert: It was actually on my previous album, Octagon.
Ginger Perry: Okay.
Matt Siffert: Next I’ll play a song from my new album, Magic of the New, which came out about a year ago.
Ginger Perry: Tell us about that.
Matt Siffert: I recorded it during a period of a lot of life changes. A relationship that became a marriage, two kids, and some of the songs were written during the pandemic, so there was a lot of newness. There are songs about parenthood, relationships, and a lot of musical exploration. I’ve been really excited to play it live.
Ginger Perry: Were other people on the tracks, or was it just you?
Matt Siffert: It was really fun. I recorded myself at home singing and playing guitar, then sent the tracks to friends around the country. I started recording during the pandemic, so a lot of musicians were still working remotely. It gave me the chance to collaborate with incredible musicians in Nashville, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. Different people played on different tracks, which brought a lot of musical perspectives to the album.
Ginger Perry: Good response from your friends and listeners?
Matt Siffert: Very positive. I feel grateful to have a musician community that understands and supports my work and is happy to be part of it.
Ginger Perry: Matt Siffert is here in the studio with me. He’s playing with Rosanne Cash Monday night at Chautauqua. Do you know if it’s sold out?
Matt Siffert: It’s on a low-ticket alert, so if you’re interested in coming, get your tickets now.
Ginger Perry: I’m interested. Let’s hear another song from your new album.
Matt Siffert: This one is for my parents. They’ll be in town for the show. I wrote it as fatherhood was on the horizon for me. It’s about being lucky to have had a happy childhood and wanting to pass that on to my kids. It’s called “This Coat Here.”
Matt Siffert performs “This Coat Here.”
Matt Siffert: Thank you.
Ginger Perry: Beautiful. Nostalgic about the past and the future.
Matt Siffert: Definitely my least punk rock song.
Ginger Perry: We’ll have to hear one of those sometime. You were telling me about a charity, the Musical Mentors Collaborative. It just received a big donation from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Matt Siffert: That’s right. We received a $2 million donation from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. We were one of several nonprofits they supported.
Ginger Perry: How did they hear about you?
Matt Siffert: It was a wonderful chain of events. A friend of mine in Nashville, Rondal Richardson, who works with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, connected us with their team. They were looking to support nonprofits, including organizations doing work in New York, where we were founded. They loved what we do, and here we are.
Ginger Perry: Unbelievable. Tell us what you do that captured their imagination.
Matt Siffert: Musical Mentors Collaborative brings music instruction to under-resourced youth across the United States. We provide private lessons for students who want to get serious about music and group lessons for younger children discovering music for the first time. We work across many genres and instruments and really follow the interests and goals of our students.
Ginger Perry: How many places around the country?
Matt Siffert: We have partner schools in New York City and have worked with schools in Denver, Boulder County, Los Angeles, and Pennsylvania. We’re also developing new partnerships around the country, including conversations with groups in Alaska. Our goal is to work with communities that want greater access to music.
Ginger Perry: How long has the organization been around?
Matt Siffert: About 16 years.
Ginger Perry: What’s your role?
Matt Siffert: My title is Director of External Affairs. I handle fundraising, help organize community events, and create opportunities outside the classroom. For example, we send students to concerts at places like the Met Opera and Carnegie Hall.
Ginger Perry: How old are the students?
Matt Siffert: From kindergarten through about age 18. We work with a wide range of communities, including LGBTQ youth, foster youth, and young people with disabilities.
Ginger Perry: Have you heard of Boulder MUSE? They provide free music lessons and instruments through the schools.
Matt Siffert: I have heard of them, and I’d love to learn more. We already work with several students in the Boulder area, and we’re definitely looking to do more here.
Ginger Perry: Getting $2 million must have been quite a shock. What’s your annual budget?
Matt Siffert: It’s about one-third of that amount, so the donation is roughly three times our yearly budget.
Ginger Perry: What are you going to do with it?
Matt Siffert: First, we’ll use it to provide long-term stability for the organization. Then we’ll expand our reach by creating more scholarships, purchasing more instruments, providing more tickets to community events, and creating more opportunities for students to connect.
Ginger Perry: What’s the website?
Matt Siffert: The organization is Musical Mentors Collaborative, and the website is musical-mentors.org. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Ginger Perry: Congratulations.
Matt Siffert: Thank you very much.
Ginger Perry: Matt Siffert is here in the studio with me. You can catch him at Chautauqua Monday night with Rosanne Cash. The show starts at 7:30.
Matt Siffert: I’m going to do a song inspired by my years as a touring musician. People always say it’s the mark of a good writer to write from someone else’s perspective. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that when I wrote this song, at age 32, I didn’t know how to drive. I was touring the country while my bandmates took turns behind the wheel. This song is written from the perspective of someone who does know how to drive. It’s called “Lubbock Lullaby.”
Matt Siffert performs “Lubbock Lullaby.”
Ginger Perry: It’s interesting when you’re sitting in an airport watching people and wondering what each person’s life is like.
Matt Siffert: Exactly. I’ve had another song sitting unfinished for years about looking at the destinations board in an airport and wondering what it would be like to go somewhere completely different.
Ginger Perry: Thank you so much. It’s been great having you here. Good luck with the show Monday at Chautauqua. Tickets are still available, and you’re playing with Rosanne Cash, one of the greats.
Matt Siffert: A real legend.
Ginger Perry: I’m sure it’ll be a great show. Thanks so much for coming in.
Matt Siffert: Thanks so much for having me.
