Matt Masters

Matt Masters Burgener, known professionally as Matt Masters (born March 23, 1976) is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He began his career in 1998.

Biography
Masters grew up in Calgary. He was in several rock bands in high school before playing professionally with his band Gentlemen of the Rodeo. He began to write songs around age 21.

He released his debut album, Centennial Swell, in 2006, described by Exclaim! as "drawing from the honky-tonk and outlaw books of sound." His sophomore album, All-Western Winners, was released in 2011, and was described by country music publication No Depression as an album of "rough timbres, distorted guitars, and dense arrangements." The album was named after the 1940s comic series of the same name and inspired by the Black Rider, who was also named Matt Masters.

In June 2008, Masters premiered an original country and western musical titled Don Coyote with Blackfoot and Ojibway First Nations artist Terrance Houle, whom Masters met through the Calgary rock music scene. The musical was inspired by the 1980 film Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave and is based on Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. It recasts Quixote, as descibed by the Calgary Herald, as a "lonesome Internet cowboy." The show played at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, directed by Vanessa Porteous  and was later featured at the High Performance Rodeo in Calgary and the Nuit Blanche Festival in October in Toronto, Ontario. That year, he also founded the Spaghetti Western Festival, an alt-country and folk music festival in Calgary.

In 2007, two of Masters' songs featured on the TV program Rabbit Fall (season 1, episode 5). In April 2009, Masters began to play music at occasional Calgary Flames home games at the Pengrowth Saddledome. That year he also toured England and Germany, and on June 9 performed at the Canadian Embassy in Turkey.

Masters has performed at the Alberta Pavilion during the Vancouver Olympic Games and emceed the Calgary Folk Music Festival. In June 2015 Masters was hired by the city of Calgary to consult on the city's busking policy. His song "Oh Saskatchewan" was featured in two films by Canadian director Michael Dowse, Goon (2011) and The F Word (2013). Other films he has worked on include Western Confidential (A Legend of Whitey) (2011) and the 2006 documentary Late Harvest.

In 2017 Masters began hosting a daily radio program on the CKUA Radio Network in Alberta.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Masters and his wife, Amanda Burgener, founded Curbside Concerts, a company that books outdoor concerts around Canada, including Winnipeg, Alberta, Toronto, and Manitoba. The company held over 500 concerts throughout 2020, including Christmas caroling events, and has a roster of more than 50 musicians.

New Democratic Party candidacy
In July 2015, Masters declared his intent to seek the New Democratic Party nomination in the federal riding of Calgary Heritage for that autumn's federal election, against incumbent Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He ran using his full name, Matt Masters Burgener. He finished in a distant third place behind Harper and Liberal candidate Brendan Miles, taking 7.2 percent, short of the minimum 10 percent for his campaign expenses to be refunded. Nonetheless, his campaign attracted national attention for its creativity with lawn signs featuring custom messages by the public and a unique campaign video.

Artistry
Masters' inspirations include, in addition to country music, indie rock bands The Tragically Hip and The Flaming Lips. He has played with Jeff Healey and Blue Rodeo as a guitarist, and The Dudes as a drummer.

Recognition
In September 2009, Masters was awarded the Telus Arts Award for Artistic Innovation at the 2009 Mayor's Awards for Business and the Arts in Calgary.

Discography

 * Centennial Swell (2006)
 * All-Western Winners (2011)