At 37 years old and seven albums behind him, Matt Nathanson is finally seeing some hit singles. His most recent single, “Come on Get Higher” has become his biggest commercial success yet and has allowed him to appeared on Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live. With help from television's most popular shows, including Smallville and Dawson's Creek, Nathanson's work is finally getting some radio airplay and a lot more exposure. The indie rocker has been performing for over a decade but with Some Mad Hope, America finally realized what they were missing in this music veteran. Are you up for the challenge? Get your own Matt Nathanson tickets now at http://www.stubhub.com/matt-nathanson-tickets for a perfect beginning to an already long story!



What got Nathanson to this point wasn't a major label or the dream of commercial success; rather, it was the undying dedication to this industry and the people that followed him here. Though “Come on Get Higher” may be his first “commercial success,” and according to VH1 he is a “Rising Star to Watch,” this musical oldie has already seen his fair share of musical redemption. Sure, with “Come on Get Higher” it's the first time any of his singles have sold over 90,000 copies with a track download of over 400,000, but who's really counting anyway? Surely not Nathanson.

The musician takes life lightly – and this laid back lifestyle seeps into his guitar heavy tunes that find partners like John Mayer, Matt Hires, Josh Hoge and Ari Hest. The Boston native who currently resides in San Francisco acknowledges that some fans have only heard of him because of the commercial success of “Come on Get Higher,” but it won't stop him from getting a few laughs at his shows. Jokingly he hollers on stage, “for all of you who came for this song, shame on you. Go buy my other f---ing records.” While Small Mad Hope has gotten the most press, it's almost the only album where such singles like “Come on Get Higher” would be placed among similar pop groups – his singles that compose his other records are full of angst (those as Nathanson says aren't usually as fun).

The indie rocker hasn't always shied away from commercial success. At one point in his veteran career he even worked with a major label. "Being on a major was just not my scene at all," he said by phone from his current tour to Play Back. "That's why I got out of there. You kind of want a little bit of intimacy; you need all the nooks and crannies covered, and that's just not their scene. So then I made Some Mad Hope over two years; I set out to make the record I wanted to make. A bunch of people poked their noses in; there were majors and indie. Vanguard just felt like the best situation. It's such a small label," he told Play Back. "There's only like six people I deal with. It's kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name."