Matt Sircely is a creative mandolinist, songwriter and independent journalist living in Port Townsend, Washington. A student of many musical traditions, Sircely also improvises fluently and enjoys composing songs. Matt performs swing with Hot Club Sandwich and bluegrass and original songs with the Bitterroots.

At the age of 29, versatility with the mandolin has earned Matt Sircely gigs and guest appearances with some of the finest acoustic musicians around. Sircely started as a songwriter, inspired by the history and landscape surrounding his hometown in Pennsylvania. Sircely was born to a family of journalists in a turn of the 20th century rail stop of Wycombe, Pennsylvania.

When he was about eight years old, Matt's father let him climb in the backstage scaffolding at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Matt left with the impression that music could become a career. Soon, Matt found his mother's vinyl relics, left over from her days as a college radio DJ during the folk revival. After his mother showed him a few guitar chords, Sircely began writing songs at age thirteen.

By the time he saved enough to buy a mandolin at age 20, Matt was already working through Hamilton College as a musician playing folk, rock and blues, often with slide guitar. While studying sustainable development and the seedy secrets of global agricultural politics, Sircely traveled to Costa Rica, collecting influences and songs along the way. He then took a job community organizing in Idaho, where he found his first mandolin. Sircely proposed bringing a mandolin to his jazz improvisation class. The professor was surprised, but he agreed.

After graduating in 1998, Sircely moved back to Pennsylvania and secured a daily gig playing old-time music on the mule barges in Delaware Canal State Park. After learning old-time fiddle music, he discovered that his ancestors in western Pennsylvania had actually run a traditional dance hall in the pre-war era. Longing for some serious guidance on his mandolin technique, Sircely sought out Barry Mitterhoff for lessons in northern New Jersey.

Inspired by a few adventurous friends, Sircely realized that he could leave his hometown with little more than his instruments to street perform across the country. Suburban sprawl had rendered his home region less conducive to the simple, creative lifestyle that he sought, so Sircely packed up his F-5 and guitar to traverse the country, eventually settling in Port Townsend, WA.

On the West Coast, Sircely found swing to be standard jam fare among acoustic musicians at parties and festivals, so he quickly began to absorb the music. In 2000, he joined Hot Club Sandwich, a young band of creative individuals who shared a love of Django Reinhardt's music and the Gypsy jazz it spawned. Operating as a collective, Hot Club Sandwich also incorporates other influences that members bring into the mix, including Latin American folkloric traditions. Within two years, the group was performing at some of the early Gypsy jazz festivals to appear on the West Coast.

In 2004, Sircely teamed up with James Seward, a fellow songwriter who he previously had worked with in Pennsylvania. The two recorded First Born Son, produced by British punk rock pioneer Steve Garvey. They toured swing states, organizing voter drives, and taking their their politically-charged folk songs to independent radio stations. At one benefit in Philadelphia, Sircely met David Bromberg, who invited him to accompany him in the Concerts for Change series. Philadelphia's legendary folk DJ Gene Shay, who Sircely had listened to while growing up, also supported the duo and invited them to perform for the DJ showcase at the 2004 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance.

At the Folk Alliance, Barry Mitterhoff referred Sircely as a potential sub to clarinetist Margot Leverett and The Klezmer Mountain Boys, comprised of great New York City pickers, including Marty Confurius, Kenny Kosek and Joe Selly. Sircely performed with the Klezmer Mountain Boys, playing both klezmer and bluegrass in venues including New York's City Center and the Kentucky Performing Arts Center.

Back in Port Townsend, Sircely began to play some gigs with master banjoist and songwriter Danny Barnes, which greatly inspired Matt. In 2004, when he applied to the first Mandolin Symposium, David Grisman and Mike Marshall hired Matt on as a teaching assistant. Sircely assisted in arranging "Minor Swing" for a mandolin ensemble, which he directed alongside Don Stiernberg. For the 2005 Mandolin Symposium, Sircely wrote copy for the student manual and led the swing jams with Hot Club Sandwich guitarist Greg Ruby. Sircely and Ruby, guitarist Tracy Bigelow and fiddler Shelby Eicher, joined David and Samson Grisman for a swing tune in the symposium's final concert.

Recently, Sircely has been combining writing and photography with his love of music. Sircely absorbed his skills while growing up with a mother who was a writer and a photojournalist father. He published his first photo at age 12, and wrote for a variety of publications as he grew older.

In 2005, David Grisman asked him to compile the liner notes for his Tone Poets project, a historic assembly of 42 musicians, each playing Grisman's mandolin or guitar. In the same year, Sircely began contributing to the Fretboard Journal and Strings, finding deep inspiration in researching the lives and work of some his musical heroes like Wade Mainer, Andy Statman and Juan Reynoso.

Now in 2006, Sircely has formed the Bitterroots, assembling young pickers Jakob Breitbach on fiddle and Lob Martin on banjo. The Bitterroots perform songs that Sircely has written or acquired over the years, along with adventurous improvisational approaches to American roots melodies. Meanwhile, Hot Club Sandwich plans appearances this summer at DjangoFest SF, the Oregon Country Fair, and a West Coast tour in support of the upcoming release of the group's third CD.

Matt Sircely also programs the music for the Port Townsend Farmer's Market and volunteers for the Andy Mackie Music Foundation.

Besides his work with Hot Club Sandwich and the Bitterroots, Matt Sircely has gigged with:

Matt Sircely appeared as a guest with: