Art Form: Matt Harmon

The road has come full circle for University Heights native and singer-songwriter Matt Harmon. Eager to find a way into the music biz, the budding musician majored in media production at the University of Oregon. There, he mastered the use of recording software, eventually landing in Los Angeles. After interning, Harmon worked full time in recording studios, designing background ambiences for film and TV — even for the high-profile “18 Wheels of Justice,” starring Billy Dee Williams. 

Seeking more affordable living, Harmon returned to Northeast Ohio and began performing at open mics. With influences like Paul Simon and John Prine, he has cultivated a unique songwriting style. It moves effortlessly from weighty songs like “Marble,” which explores environmental destruction, to the joyful “Three Days on the Road,” about a young traveling family. His sunny lyrics set the tone of the latter — “From shore to shining shore, nothin’ but truck stops, soda pop and candy bars.”

Now a Cleveland State University instructional technology specialist, Harmon helps teachers integrate tech — and still gigs locally. 

Jim Ballard: How do you know when it’s time to record?

Matt Harmon: I’m always writing as an exercise, but I find the best ones are the ones that you just wait for — as if they’re given to you. Then when I realize I have a batch of songs that hang together … it turns into an album.

JB: Who do people say you sound like?

MH: Oddly enough, Cat Stevens, even though he’s not in my wheelhouse. I guess it’s something in the water. 

JB: A lot of performers tend to be introverts off-stage, but once onstage, they become more outgoing. Do you find that to be true?

MH: Not with me. I’m pretty outgoing, having to work with students and teachers. I often need to diffuse a situation, and I tend to do that with a little bit of snarkiness, humor and, of course, kindness. I bring that same person to the stage. 

JB: Are you working on anything now? 

MH: I have my fourth album in the works. It’s a 10-song collection that will be titled “Love in Troubling Times.” Its unifying theme is how we rely on friends, family, love, our dogs … to help us through. Pandemic, politics … you name it. The world needs songwriters. 

{Author Jim Ballard is an Akron-based singer-songwriter who, along with his band, the Strangs, performs often in The 330.}