2011 Sioux Falls Jazzfest, Mat d and the Profane Saints Thursday 7-14

Probably the biggest, and best, surprise of the show for me was this next act. I'd seen Crash interviewing someone as I returned from getting a motel room, but didn't recognize him. Later, I reluctantly pulled myself away from the TBirds show because I'd been asked to get some photos from stage #2 and they had acts going simultaneously. When I got to the tent where the "other guys" were playing, I recognized the guy Crash was interviewing earlier. It took me all of 20 seconds to realize this was still another excellent band!
Mat d and the Profane Saints are out of Sioux City, Iowa and could easily have played on the main stage; they're that good. Unfortunately, I only caught the last 20 minutes or so of their performance, but I was d*****d glad I took the time to come over. Since I returned home, I've been going to the band's site several times a day just to listen to the streaming tunes on there. As you listen to their music, you'll be reminded of acts from Springsteen to John Cougar to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to Black Oak Arkansas to......... But! This is no copycat band whatsoever. 
Frontman Mat DeRiso has a voice that goes from gritty and smokey to tenderly soulful. The music has the same kind of hard to pinpoint range, but I tend to think of Louisiana bayous, roadside diners, & honkeytonks. You ain't gonna find these guys in any laid back piano bar. I told guitarist Kurt Mullins I heard Knopfler in some of his playing and Kurt said he was one, of many, influences.
"Eclectic" is a very overused term these days, but it really fits these guys. I'll shut up now and let you look at the pics, so why don't you go to their site.............
http://www.matdandtheprofanesaints.com/?section=home 
 ............. and listen to 'em while you watch. Enjoy.

Mat DeRiso

Bob Birch

Jeff Deignan

Kurt Mullins

The light was pretty poor inside the tent where these guys were set up so I really had to crank up the ISO. There's some grain so I sized them a little smaller; it's NOT because they were 2nd rate. Anything but.