INTERVIEW: Crys Matthews Picks Up Where Woody Guthrie Left Off

Crys Matthews is nothing less than a warrior. She is the 2025 and 2022 Song of the Year winner at the International Folk Music Awards, making her the first artist to receive the honor twice since its inception, and she was also named 2024 Artist of the Year. In her own words, Matthews says her mission is to amplify the voices of the unheard, shed light on the unseen, and serve as a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice.

Her music and activism are intimately intertwined, and her latest song, "Citizen," is a continuation of Woody Guthrie's important song "Deportee." While "Deportee" was written in the wake of the Los Gatos plane crash, a plane that carried Mexican workers – some of whom had been deported, but others who were returning home on the termination of their contract. Guthrie was disgusted by the press's lack of humanity towards the victims. The more things change, the more they stay the same – and Matthews comments on the cycle of oppression that fuels American industry in "Citizen." In our interview, Matthews tells us about her inspiration, why she's picked up the mantle to create political music, and how the music community in Nashville is rallying for the cause.

What prompted you to write "Citizen?" How do you feel it's in dialogue with “Deportee?"

I think Citizen picks up where Deportee left off. Woody was writing about people's inability to see those migrant workers as human. What is now being allowed to happen to our immigrant neighbors — many of whom are in fact citizens of this country, and many of whom have legal protected status — is happening because too many people do not see their humanity. If they did, they would be as outraged as the rest of us. Minneapolis and some other places like Portland and Chicago have had a large spotlight on them regarding the harm this administration is causing our immigrant neighbors, but Nashville has been dealing with an elevated I.C.E. presence almost since this administration began its second term. Nashville is my home now, but the South has been my home for the majority of my life. And what I know to be true is that, if something nefarious is happening in the country, a worse version of it is happening somewhere down South.

You've always been forward about your politics and the power of music to create change. What has drawn you to share your music in this way?

If I had to draw a direct line to one specific moment, I would have to say that the murder of Trayvon Martin is what started me on this path. There was (and still is) so much about the Black Lives Matter movement that was challenging for people who are not Black to navigate. I think that difficulty is because the things that are inherent for Black people are only theoretical to even the most anti-racist white folks. But, like most of these important issues, when they can put a human face to it, or maybe even just access a more human framing of it, those issues become a little easier for folks to navigate. I'm Black, a lesbian, and a woman who sings for mostly white audiences, which means I get to have their undivided attention for 75-90 minutes — I owe it to every marginalized community to which I belong to try to keep helping folks see us, ALL of us, as human.

Tell us a little about what's going on in Nashville right now. How do you feel the political moment and the musical communities are intersecting?

Nashville has been ground zero for the GOP's preoccupation with Jim Crow 2.0. I drove all night from Colorado to make sure I was back home in time to vote on 5/5 and then immediately went down to the State House to protest. (I shared these two posts and they really say it all: Day 2 and Day 3.)

What is giving you hope in this time?

What is giving me hope right now are the two things that should always give us hope: The People and history. History teaches us that, in the end, progress always wins out, that love always wins out. Oppression may win a match, but the game isn't over until there are no more of us left willing to fight for better. That day will never come, which is why The People keep me hopeful. The present will NEVER have the last word on the future.

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