Born in Fort Worth and raised mostly in rural Weatherford, Texas, matthew spent his childhood mostly hating music. The discovery of “Weird Al” Yankovic and Pink Floyd changed his mind, and he formed his first band, The Average Deep, in 1991. The band produced two cassette EP’s and played extensively around Dallas/Fort Worth at venues such as the HOP, The 21st Amendment, the Noble Bean, Trees, the Kharma Café, and other doomed ventures. On one memorable occasion, members of Blues Traveler did an after-hours jam on the band’s gear at Club Dada, including a version of Pink Floyd’s Time with a large roadie on lead vocals.

From 1991-1993, matthew worked as a DJ at KZEE AM, a 500-watt AM station in Weatherford, broadcasting country music, local sports, and obituaries. He spent a brief period in 1992 as a volunteer DJ at the then-new KYQX FM in Weatherford, where he spun tracks from his own collection and the station’s donor-provided vinyl library, and spearheaded an almost-successful bid to have Weatherford College acquire the station. He also did periodic shifts at country station KPAR AM in Granbury. Around this time, he was nearly an extra in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK, but it rained that day.

From 1992-1994, matthew attended Weatherford College on a Drama and Music scholarship. In addition to acting, directing, lighting design and scriptwriting, he composed and performed music for the school’s productions. He played tenor saxophone in the Weatherford College Jazz Band, an award-winning ensemble led by director Tom Burchill that performed regularly at upscale venues throughout DFW. Along with a gang of Weatherfordians, he was an extra in a barfight on Walker, Texas Ranger, filmed at the White Elephant in Fort Worth. His girlfriend got candle wax on her jeans from the melee.

From 1993-1994, matthew stacked shelves at Sound Warehouse in Fort Worth, selling CD’s in long cardboard boxes and manning the Ticketmaster counter on sale days. He would not own a CD player until the following year.

From 1995-1997, matthew booked ascending local and national bands at Fort Worth’s first Borders Books & Music, including Old 97’s, Vertical Horizon, Shawn Mullins, Sara Hickman, Little Jack Melody & His Young Turks, Brave Combo, and Grand Street Cryers. He also organized the Ideas Expo at Borders, raising money for schoolbooks in Honduras.

1995 also saw the birth of matthew’s second band, The Civilians. This group produced two cassette EP’s and one CD EP, and performed steadily around DFW at venues ranging from the Flying Saucer in Sundance Square, the Pig & Whistle, the Fort Worth Zoo, the Winedale Tavern, the Stepladr, the Ice House, the Banana Cabana, Club Clearview, the Rock, the Dog Star (where the band ran the open mic night), the Aardvark, This Suds For You, and numerous block parties. On a memorable occasion, the band played at Tarrant County Convention Center for a Fort Worth Brahmas hockey game, and ran over a light pole in the parking lot in their rush to get to a subsequent gig at Club Dada. No one was injured.

In 1999, matthew worked at w3cd.com, an online music store operated by Dallas music luminaries including Carpe Diem Records founder Allan Restrepo, Little Jack Melody, Slowpoke’s David Gibson and Corbett Guest, Hagfish’s Doni and Zach Blair, Course of Empire’s Mike Graff, Doosu’s Casey Hess (now of Burden Brothers), Buck Jones’ Burette Douglas, BE’s Talley Summerlin, Junky Southern’s Dave Monsey (recently bassist for Fiona Apple) and Edie Brickell & the Slip’s Scott Johnson. It was too good to last.

In 2000, matthew worked on the launch team for Fandango.com, and was one of its first staff movie reviewers. He also contributed occasionally to the FW Weekly’s music pages.

2000 also saw the demise of the Civilians, who ended with a lovely farewell show at Fort Worth’s Ridglea Theater in January of that year. The following month, matthew began work on what would become the matthew show.

He moved to New York in 2002, living variously in Brooklyn and Manhattan for the next several years and writing about his experiences in the widely acclaimed Letter From NYC. He performed in the New York area both solo and with a trio, as well as playing bass for acts such as Dorian Spencer, the Associated, and Doug Kwartler. He produced Dorian’s debut EP, Seeds, in 2004. While in NYC, matthew also worked closely with Paul Shapera of Mocha Lab, co-writing and perfoming on several songs, some of which are available here.

In 2003 his debut solo album, texas, was released to broad critical praise. Songs from the album have been featured on two seasons of the PBS series Roadtrip Nation, and on National Public Radio's All Songs Considered. Internet radio gave the record steady airplay, which continues today.

Also in 2003, matthew began writing junior high reference books on subjects ranging from middle eastern history to horse racing. He and his wife also wrote an e-book, The Empty Pockets Guide to Moving to New York City, which continues to sell briskly, and can be had here.

From 2004-2005 he performed throughout New York and Texas, at venues such as Galapagos Art Space, Southpaw, the Tank, the Hollow Body Records Roots Music Festival, and the Wreck Room, as well as headlining JournalCon 2004 in Washington, DC.

In 2005, his cover of Warren Zevon's Mohammed's Radio was included on the bestselling tribute album Hurry Home Early, and his song Bring Me Safely Down won second place in American Songwriter magazine's Lyric Competition.

In 2006, his song Office Suite, Part I was used as the soundtrack to lonelygirl15's YouTube video The Tolstoy Principle, which has since gained nearly half a million views, as the series has been covered extensively in press such as Wired magazine and the New York Times.

2006 also saw matthew move back to Texas with a heavy dose of hipster fatigue. He leapt back into the local music scene, performing regularly at venues such as Hip Pocket Theatre and the late, lamented MacHenry’s.

In 2007, he began contributing commentaries to Dallas’ KERA FM, and was featured on local broadcasts such as KTCU FM’s The Good Show, as well as podcasts produced in Japan, Taiwan, Europe and the U.S. He has been interviewed for online and print publications such as the Second Life News Network, Fine Line Live, Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe, Fevered Brain Radio, and The Deli.

matthew has performed live with acts as diverse as Hamell On Trial, Daniel Katsük, Villain Vanguard and Goodwin, and has worked with artists such as Cubano-classical favorites Las Rubias del Norte, actor and musician Robbie Rist (the Brady Bunch’s Cousin Oliver), renowned multi-instrumentalist Reggie Rueffer, and avant-garde composers Little Jack Melody and Bone Doggie. He has done live audio for artists such as Glen Phillips, Doug Burr, Charlie Sexton, Dan Dyer, Matt the Electrician, Bill Mallonee, Grayson Capps, Alice Peacock, Garrison Starr, Sid Selvidge, Natalia Zukerman, and Walt Wilkins, and produced recordings for artists such as Robert Donahue, James Dunn & the Western Set, and Beth Brown.

matthew performs regularly as Matthew Perreault in the virtual world Second Life, where his live concerts draw fans from around the real world and throughout the metaverse.

matthew’s second album, february, was released in 2008 on the Wampus label. It has garnered much enthusiasm, and it can be found here.

In 2010, matthew launched a docu-pop podcast entitled The Band That Never Was, the tale of a failed band and all the growing up that such things entail. Reviews are raving already, and there's much more to come. Check it it out here.

In 2011, matthew read and composed music for the audiobook release of Mark Doyon's Bonneville Stories. The same year, he formed Ah Pook the Destroyer with Paul Shapera of Mocha Lab and released their debut album The Silver Key, based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. He also co-produced the debut album by matthew show quintet fiddlist Beth Brown, ironically titled I'm Not Matthew.

In 2012, the matthew show quintet paid a visit to Memphis for Folk Alliance, and somehow managed to inadvertantly record a new album both at Ardent Studios and Sun Studio, which was released by Naive Music in October of that year, titled simply Memphis. Somehow he also managed to fit in recording sessions at Sun with Fish Fry Bingo (for whom he played guitar) and at Ardent with James Dunn & the Western Set (for whom he occasionally contributes bass). Fish Fry Bingo's No Sleep Till Memphis was released in February 2013.

In March 2013, matthew released an EP of acoustic tracks called Inklings, also including tracks from his current quintet members. In June 2013, matthew produced the debut EP from Fish Fry Bingo co-founder Pookie. Also in 2013, four fifths of Fish Fry Bingo (including matthew) split off to become Shotgun Friday, which presently burns down clubs and breweries across the state.

In 2014, matthew teamed up with Grammy-winning producer John Hampton to create Safely Down: The Songs of Jason Jackson, a tribute album to the tunes of his late friend and former bandmate who died in 2011. The album features a variety of artists covering Jason's tunes, and has received wide acclaim. Hampton died three months later, making the release even more bittersweet.

In 2015, matthew began hosting and producing The Barbershop, a local music talk show on KFTW 97.5 FM The Pirate, on which he also started recording and producing the Evenings at Westside broadcasts.

In 2016, matthew released his debut novel, Rewired, a fictional exploration of neuroscientific possibilities and their implications for society.