Matter ‘09

Bill Mallonee of Athens, Georgia, is #65 in Paste Magazine’s “100 Greatest Living Songwriter’s” Poll, and we’re honored to have him and the rest of the band join us for Matter ‘09: A Creative Theology Event.

“The poetry and intelligence of Bill Mallonee’s songs rivals Dylan’s, and the spirituality and inspiration of them is like the timeless hymns. He’s one of my favorite all time artists.” - Buddy Miller (No Depression Magazine’s Artist of the Decade)

“The intelligence and intensity of Mallonee’s writing has elicited comparisons to Dylan from his loyal underground admirers. Given the consistency and quality of Mallonee’s work over eight albums, he is arguably the first writer since John Prine to make the comparison plausible.” – New York Press

“Dylan-tinged vocal and introspective lyrics that spin out big-picture stories imbued with chilling small details.”  – Billboard

“Bill Mallonee… [has] remained fascinated with the shadowy emotional toils and struggles inherent in the American experience, compelling, insightful, [he] continues to probe through Americana rock and roll proving that sometimes the only story worth telling is that of the journey.”  – Rolling Stone

“Mallonee’s songs give words to shadowy fears of intimacy, of it’s loss, even of the value of what he feels compelled to do.” – USA Today

Paste Music Magazine, in a 2006 poll conducted by both writers and artists, listed Athens, Ga. musician Bill Mallonee as #65 in their “100 Best Living Songwriters.” Mallonee, the lyrical and musical source behind the Americana indie band Vigilantes of Love, started playing music in the late 80’s. His early work was inspired by the post-punk-pop of  XTC, Joy Division, the Clash, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Still, his deeper love for Dylan, Neil Young and other artists and writers of the “American experience” left an indelible mark on his writing and vocal delivery. “Being a son of the South, it’s hard not to be surrounded by the beauty of things fractured and incongruous…it’s the stuff of real songs…you learn a lot by doing 180 shows a year.”

In addition to playing with Vigilantes of Love, Bill also tours solo and performs with his wife, keyboardist and vocalist, Muriah Rose.

Mallonee has been privileged to play with many great artists including REM, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Cockburn, and Sufjan Stevens, just to name a few. He has toured extensively here in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom where BBC Radio 2 has played much of his work. His collaboration with Buddy Miller (known for his work with Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle) in 2000 produced the Vigilantes of Love album “Audible Sigh,” an Americana Top 5 in the UK in 2000. Mallonee has had songs on various prime-time TV series and digital online services. He’s toured with blue-eyed soul rocker Edwin McCain who covered two of Bill’s songs “Babylon” and “Welcome to Struggleville” in 2006. Mallonee, who has recorded 23 cds, has garnered much critical acclaim. The independently produced “Permafrost” was named among the top 100 cds of 2006 by Paste Magazine.