Striking Matches Plays SXSW / Releases “Don’t Hold Back”
2109 is lining up to be a busy year for Striking Matches - not that Sarah Zimmerman and Justin Davis ever really disengage. Ever since their 2015 debut album, Nothing But The Silence (10 million cumulative streams worldwide) the Nashville based duo have been writing, recording or touring pretty much nonstop.
This week brings Striking Matches to a little Austin venue they’ve become very familiar with, SXSW. Festival goers can hear their favorite guitar duo at the following appearances.
3/ 13, 8:00pm: Bluebird Café Songwriter Showcase at Esther’s Follies.
3/14, 6:30pm: Bluebird Café Documentary Film Debut at the Paramount Theater.
3/15, 1:00pm: Miles Davis House at Antones’.
3/15, 8:00pm: Aviator Nation Stage on South Congress.
But the biggest news is the release of their latest single “Don’t Hold Back” from a still untitled album due later this year. As Striking Matches fans around the world know, the last two years have seen Sarah and Justin come to rely less on their familiar acoustic format and delve more into the broader sonic spectrum of their electric guitars. The results have been monster sounding recordings with “international hit” written all over them.
The song “Don’t Hold Back” is a destination in that direction, the title being an apt description of the track’s relentless groove and serious funk, rock, R&B and soul inclinations. Here’s a taste of Don't Hold Back from the Striking Matches Twitter page. Then dial up the whole thing on Spotify or your favorite digital platform.
Don’t think that because Sarah and Justin are leaning into overdrive that their acoustics are not close by. For a healthy dose of riff-ripping, acoustic Matches, check out this recent rundown of Patsy Cline’s Turn the Cards Slowly featuring Justin’s favorite P3MC from the Takamine Pro-Series and Sarah’s now vintage TAN45C.
