When an artist releases a self-titled album well into a successful recording career, it’s often seen as a declaration of purpose or a reaffirmation of principles. Matthew Stevens, out May 8 on Candid Records, is a midcareer mission statement by one of the most thrilling and thoughtful guitarists of his generation, playing and writing at the peak of his powers. “I have never been more in touch with myself artistically, which is why this album is self-titled,” says the guitarist. Matthew Stevens seamlessly melds acoustic and electric sonics, flows through genre-blurring original music and meaningful covers, and features a multigenerational cast of musicians who’ve had a profound impact on the artist’s journey. 

The lineup includes mentors like Terri Lyne Carrington, personal guitar heroes like Jeff Parker, best-of-generation improvisers like the vibraphonist Joel Ross, and the vocal luminaries Anna B Savage and Corey King. At the album’s core is a band of Stevens’ most trusted collaborators, each of them a strikingly unique voice on his instrument: saxophonist Josh Johnson, keyboardist Chris Fishman, bassist Kyle Miles and drummer-percussionist Eric Doob. Other inspired contributions come from percussionist Paulo Stagnaro and guitarists Dylan Day and Rich Hinman on slide and pedal steel, respectively. 

In Josh Johnson and Anna B Savage, Stevens has chosen two rising visionaries whose careers have been nothing short of thrilling to witness. In addition to collaborating with alt-jazz champions like Jeff Parker and releasing his own evocative LPs, Johnson has produced records including Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book and Flea’s upcoming solo debut. He’s also a member of the innovative L.A. collective SML — “a dazzling studio jazz band that’s never actually been in a studio,” per the New York Times. 

Savage, who was born in England and is now based in Ireland, is quickly earning a reputation as a beacon for a new generation of folksingers. Onstage, opening for the likes of St. Vincent, or on albums including 2025’s acclaimed You & i are Earth, she stuns listeners with the beauty and power of her storytelling — “[mining] complicated feelings with dark humor and an unforgettable voice,” says Rolling Stone. 

For Matthew Stevens, the guitarist handpicked Johnson and Eric Doob as his co-producers. “As I followed Josh’s work over the years,” says Stevens, “it became clear that we had a shared sense of what was important to us in music.” The sessions were an example of pure professional harmony. “Our workflow in the studio was just an easy, open and ongoing conversation between the three of us,” says Stevens. “Essentially, I think it was just a sense of shared responsibility to make the best record we could.” Engineer Kyle Hoffmann, who captured the sessions with clarity and ingenuity at NRG Studios in Los Angeles, was equally integral. 

While it wouldn’t be quite correct to say that Matthew Stevens was a lifetime in the making, it most certainly is the album of his life. “This record is in many ways the culmination of 20 years of working as a professional musician — supporting other people as a player, producing records, putting out three of my own albums, and working in lots of different pockets of music,” Stevens says. That experience includes work as a key collaborator to visionaries like Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah and Jamire Williams.  

Matthew Stevens also reflects those transformative years between young adulthood and early middle age, when triumphs and challenges alike can trigger intense self-reflection. (He notes, with a chuckle, that this is his first record where he’s employed musicians younger than himself.) There had been, Stevens explains, some “huge life changes” leading up to the sessions. To start, Stevens has in recent years moved from New York City to the Boston area, for a teaching gig at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. He also remarried and produced I Am a Pilgrim, a lauded centennial tribute to roots icon Doc Watson. 

That project featured a who’s who of original American voices, from Jerry Douglas, Steve Earle and Chris Eldridge to Rosanne Cash, Valerie June and Bill Frisell. One of the tracks, a new recording of “The Last Thing on My Mind” by Dolly Parton, earned a Grammy nomination — a fine addition to Stevens’ own three nominations and one Grammy win, the latter for Carrington’s New Standards Vol. 1. 

Stevens’ production work, especially the Doc Watson project, has boosted his confidence and firmed up his artistic values. “I felt able to identify what was central — the core of the song and the feeling it emits,” he says. “If that is intact, there is an abundance of room for stylistic variation in how it is delivered. I find myself most excited by music that simultaneously feels surprising and inevitable, and that’s what I strive for in my own work.” Matthew Stevens bears out that desire. 

What’s more, the album melds all the lessons Stevens absorbed in the writing and recording of his previous three records. It alchemizes the high-level improvisation and interplay of Woodwork (2015); the studio-centric sonic explorations of Preverbal (2017); and the heartfelt focus on songcraft and melody that defines Pittsburgh (2021), Stevens’ solo-acoustic outing. Put another way, this is work that delivers on all fronts — an act of striking musicianship that is also remarkably moving. 

The kinetic “Take Heart,” featuring Joel Ross, offers up globally-tinged grooves and compelling conversation. The track boasts the deeply singular phrasing that has made Stevens one of his generation’s definitive guitar voices. Or, as the New York Times put it, “Stevens plays the guitar with tight clutch, improvising in truncated melodies and tense, frequently beautiful harmonies that always tilt toward a payoff.” 

“Alberta,” the folk-blues standard associated with Lead Belly, is given a meditative, musing, even spiritual reading. The arrangement is spare — just Stevens’ acoustic guitar, Johnson’s alto sax, some swirling, elegant electronic textures and the divine voice of Anna B Savage. “I wanted Anna to sing this as soon as I decided to record the song,” says Stevens. “It’s a song that evokes a deep longing every time I hear or play it.” 

“Born of Silence” relies on a simple, beautiful melody that cycles into your memory, elevated by dialogue within the band that is empathic and intuitive. The collective performance here is stunning — and indicative of Stevens’ passion for both jazz and Americana. The rapport reflects jazz-quality rigor along with the playful spirit of brilliant roots improvisers like the Grateful Dead or Bob Dylan’s best working bands. “I almost titled the album ‘Born of Silence,’” says Stevens. “I feel able to relate to this song as though I didn’t write it. It feels to me like the song you can put on during a long drive that serves as the backdrop to go wherever you want in your internal world.” 

In fact, all of Matthew Stevens has that ability to invite contemplation and introspection — from the drifting, soulful take on Sonny Sharrock’s “Who Does She Hope to Be?” featuring Jeff Parker, to the neo-soul gait of “The air is thick.” “I wrote and recorded this album following a period of profound change, with some of my best friends who got me through that period,” Stevens says. “This music has brought me to where I am now — a place of optimism, excitement and confidence that I’ve never known before.”