Matthew Wyatt
Matt Wyatt has a Bachelors degree in Music from Belmont University in Nashville, Tn. While attending Belmont, Matt studied violin from jazz violinist Martin Norgaard and Buddy Spicher. He was a member of the University's Symphony Orchestra and was a founding member of its Jazz String Quartet. The quartet was featured at the International Jazz Educators convention in New York City in 2001. Matt has played on the Grand Ole Opry with Jerry and Tammy Sullivan. He has also played at the Ryman Auditorium with Andy Griggs and the Sullivans for a Kitty Wells tribute broadcast on NBC. He worked for Deborah Allen in her house band on her show "Nashville Nights". Here, Matt played fiddle, mandolin, and guitar with Linda Davis, Paul Overstreet, Billy Dean, The Kinleys, Mila Mason, T. Graham Brown, Chalee Tennison, Sherrie Austin, and Suzy Boguss. He now plays with an acoustic swing group Swing DeVille.
Matt went to a fiddle contest with his grandpa & dad, and that was what really started it all. Matt grew up listening to fiddling and on both sides of his family were great fiddlers. He developed a love and respect for music at a very young age. His grandpa Bud would visit on Sundays and play old tunes for the family. Matt learned directly from some of Missouri's best. "Picking the brains" of any fiddler willing to share, and studying closely with fiddlers like Pete McMahan, Gene Goforth (Completed the Missouri Arts Apprenticeship program with Gene), Taylor McBaine, and many others. Jr. Marriott (another great Missouri fiddler who taught Matt) gave him a tape of Texas fiddler, Terry Morris, and it started his search for more fiddling like it. He traveled the country learning from other great fiddlers like JT Perkins, Kenny Baker, Orville Burns, and Louis Franklin to name a few. Thankful to have mentors and so many other influences & Heros who became friends; Wes Westmoreland, Carl Hopkins, JD Bates, Joey Mckenzie, Matt Hartz, and so many others. He has won many fiddle contests including State Championships in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. Matt recently won the Missouri State Championship in 2013. The top 3 in the Tennessee State Championship, 1st place in Branson Missouri and the top three in Mt. View Arkansas. In addition to contests, Matt has played for many dances...square dances, contra, swing dance, western and country, and more. He has taught at the Hartz Fiddle Campin Idaho, the Three Trails fiddle camp in Kansas City, the Montana Fiddle camp, Bethel Missouri, and scheduled to be an instructor at Randy Elmore's fiddle camp in Texas for 2015. Matt has also done transcriptions for Fiddler Magazine including the Fall 2002 issue featuring Larry Franklin. Matt is also in demand as a judge for contests and has judged many of the "Big" ones around the country. Through his experiences of learning from so many great old-time fiddlers, Matt has developed his skills as a teacher and his knowledge of the traditions of old-time fiddling makes him a direct link to that driving sound.
He now travels the country buying and selling instruments and studying them. He was coined "The Violin Merchant" by a young writer, Phoebe Yao, in a newspaper artical in Saint Louis, MO. He spends a lot of time "on the bench" working with his father Allen in the repair shop. Matt regularly attends musical instrument auctions and both he and his father continue to attend workshops on restoration and making from some of the finest and most respected in the business. In addition to working on instruments, Matt has developed a passion for studying them. His father has made violins and repaired them since the early 1990's and in the mid 90's Matt became interested in working on them as well. He worked for Mel Bay at Mel's storefront, in Kirkwood Missouri, reconditioning rental instruments and doing repair work. Years of observing and visiting violin shops all over the country (and studying with his father) have helped form what the Wyatt Violin Shop is today. Studying auction results and wholesaling instruments to other dealers, collectors, and advising Musical Instrument Auctions is instrumental in our approach to pricing instruments. This dedicated study, in addition to reference books and a network of colleagues, helps us to determine the fair market value of violin family instruments and bows. Since 2006 the Wyatt Violin Shop has been in its current location and serving the Greater Kansas City area with professional service and quality instruments to beginners and professionals alike.
