Music and History of Dave Matthews
Uploaded by srheric on Apr 25, 2007
Music and History of Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews, aided by his incredibly talented band-mates, created music that filled a spiritual void in his fans’ lives, replacing separatism with multicultural tolerance not usually advocated in today’s society, using grass roots touring and advertising methods.
Dave Matthews’ culturally diverse background helped him to develop a culturally tolerant mentality. Most of Dave Matthews’ tolerant outlook on society can be traced back to his exposure at a young age to various cultures and societies, while his family relocated frequently. Dave Matthews was born January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa. When Dave Matthews was two years old his family moved to Westchester County, NY, so his father could work for IBM. Dave separated from his family and went to Cambridge in the early 70’s returning before 1977, the year his father died. The Matthews family relocated to Johannesburg in the early 80’s. Dave moved to Charlottesville, VA in 1986, where his parents lived before he was born. Dave Matthews took piano lessons as a child in Charlottesville, before picking up the guitar at age nine. Dave Matthews accredits his openness both mentally and musically to time spent in many different places as a child. Dave Matthews received schooling while moving between South Africa and Virginia, leaving little impact on the formation of Matthews’ culturally tolerant mindset. Dave Matthews had the majority of his schooling while living with his mom in South Africa. Dave claims to have “got more wise about the evils of government” while attending school. Dave Matthews took formal piano lessons while growing up in Charlottesville, before picking up the guitar at age nine. The most significant factor in Dave Matthews' childhood was probably the fact he was exposed to so many different cultures by living in many places while growing up. The potpourri of cultures that Matthews was exposed to at an early age, led to the development of his tolerant mentality.
Dave Matthews set an aimed for the Dave Matthews Band to carry on their “grass roots” mentality of touring and releasing live albums, which inadvertently spread the Dave Matthews Band’s tolerant mindset during their unpredictably successful tour. While working as a bartender in Millers, a hot club on the jazz circuit, Matthews hatched the idea to form his own band. Matthews says “I didn’t really have a vision or a plan”. I believe that being surrounded constantly with fresh...