Biography
Chane Mattoon's Story
Raised as a child on a ranch in the mountains of central Idaho, I discovered at an early age the gift from God of a musical ear. Influenced by my own mother's piano playing along with my grandpa playing the guitar and mouth harp. I still enjoy the memories of seeing headlights coming down the hill in front of our old ranch house on the long winter nights, when all the neighbors from the next ridge over would just show up at our house for a dance. We'd drag all the furniture out of the front room and onto the porch. With one of the neighbor men being the caller and we would all dance - kids, teenagers, parents, and grandparents alike until the sun was about to come up and everyone had to go home to do their chores. It was always a lot of good clean wholesome fun with sincere care for everyone. God's golden rule; "Love thy neighbor as thy self," didn't have to be implemented into our lives, it came natural. Everyone always looked out for each other no matter what the age.
When I was about 9 years old, we had to sell the ranch and ended up a lot closer to town on a much smaller ranch (less than 200 acres). By then, I had already been plunking out tunes on the guitar for 4 or 5 years on my own, and eagerly hooked up with friends from school to play music for fun. From there my life was more typical of young guitar players, with a bunch of kids practicing in the garage every weekend and evenings after school. My mom and dad were the most patient parents in the world and also very wise - they built the shop/garage a good 50 yards from the house!
By then, country music was a deep rooted part of my life, but I still enjoyed listening and playing other styles from Chet Atkins to Beach Boys, Merle Haggard to Chuck Berry. Playing in the clubs of rural Idaho came natural, mostly for a lack of anywhere else to play. After completing high school came marriage to my high school sweetheart, who soon became part of the band, as well as her sister too - a self taught family band - if you will. However, only after losing my wife to divorce after 13 years of marriage, music, and having one son, did I follow God's direction and turn my musical efforts and song writing to "Country Christian" style.
For the next 13 years, life as a single parent while holding down a very demanding job, was a challenge to say the least, but at the same time was very rewarding as I grew closer to our Lord Jesus. The love and blessings that he has poured into my life childhood to now, has become one of the main subjects of many of the songs I now write and sing. There is something about knowing that you are personally loved and kept by your Lord for now and eternity, that can't help but come out in one's music. Somehow it all magically still fits back to my childhood country heritage that came so naturally, "Love thy neighbor, as thy self." In addition I've learned the first part that goes with it, to Love thy God with all your heart and all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.
In my life now, I feel so extremely blessed not only from my childhood upbringing, but the entire journey along the way and as I reflect back it is so clear that the Good Lord has his hands around me each step of the way. Not only do I now have a loving caring wife to share life with, but also dozens of close friends with whom God has put in my path to share life, love, and music with. My wife Kathleen, is now the patient one, as my friends and I sometimes spend hours practicing in our family/music room to prepare for concerts, ect. I think I missed something from my mom and dad's wisdom about practicing at least 50 yards from the house!
My love for the Lord, music, and fellow neighbors has now become the very heart of the songs I currently write. I hope to share His message of love and salvation in an everyday, easy-to-relate-to style. Even though the majority of my songs are set to a country style format, I still enjoy using a variety of genres including old-fashioned-swing, jazz, blues, 50's, worship, ballads, and even comedy.
My hope and prayer is not only to reach out to those who love the Lord already and strengthen their faith through one of my songs in some way, but to also reach those who may just be looking to the Lord for the first time. If that happens to be the case for you, this would be an excellent place to start. Most of my songs are pretty well down to earth but pack our Lord's "Heavenly Message".
Chane Mattoon's Story
Raised as a child on a ranch in the mountains of central Idaho, I discovered at an early age the gift from God of a musical ear. Influenced by my own mother's piano playing along with my grandpa playing the guitar and mouth harp. I still enjoy the memories of seeing headlights coming down the hill in front of our old ranch house on the long winter nights, when all the neighbors from the next ridge over would just show up at our house for a dance. We'd drag all the furniture out of the front room and onto the porch. With one of the neighbor men being the caller and we would all dance - kids, teenagers, parents, and grandparents alike until the sun was about to come up and everyone had to go home to do their chores. It was always a lot of good clean wholesome fun with sincere care for everyone. God's golden rule; "Love thy neighbor as thy self," didn't have to be implemented into our lives, it came natural. Everyone always looked out for each other no matter what the age.
When I was about 9 years old, we had to sell the ranch and ended up a lot closer to town on a much smaller ranch (less than 200 acres). By then, I had already been plunking out tunes on the guitar for 4 or 5 years on my own, and eagerly hooked up with friends from school to play music for fun. From there my life was more typical of young guitar players, with a bunch of kids practicing in the garage every weekend and evenings after school. My mom and dad were the most patient parents in the world and also very wise - they built the shop/garage a good 50 yards from the house!
By then, country music was a deep rooted part of my life, but I still enjoyed listening and playing other styles from Chet Atkins to Beach Boys, Merle Haggard to Chuck Berry. Playing in the clubs of rural Idaho came natural, mostly for a lack of anywhere else to play. After completing high school came marriage to my high school sweetheart, who soon became part of the band, as well as her sister too - a self taught family band - if you will. However, only after losing my wife to divorce after 13 years of marriage, music, and having one son, did I follow God's direction and turn my musical efforts and song writing to "Country Christian" style.
For the next 13 years, life as a single parent while holding down a very demanding job, was a challenge to say the least, but at the same time was very rewarding as I grew closer to our Lord Jesus. The love and blessings that he has poured into my life childhood to now, has become one of the main subjects of many of the songs I now write and sing. There is something about knowing that you are personally loved and kept by your Lord for now and eternity, that can't help but come out in one's music. Somehow it all magically still fits back to my childhood country heritage that came so naturally, "Love thy neighbor, as thy self." In addition I've learned the first part that goes with it, to Love thy God with all your heart and all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.
In my life now, I feel so extremely blessed not only from my childhood upbringing, but the entire journey along the way and as I reflect back it is so clear that the Good Lord has his hands around me each step of the way. Not only do I now have a loving caring wife to share life with, but also dozens of close friends with whom God has put in my path to share life, love, and music with. My wife Kathleen, is now the patient one, as my friends and I sometimes spend hours practicing in our family/music room to prepare for concerts, ect. I think I missed something from my mom and dad's wisdom about practicing at least 50 yards from the house!
My love for the Lord, music, and fellow neighbors has now become the very heart of the songs I currently write. I hope to share His message of love and salvation in an everyday, easy-to-relate-to style. Even though the majority of my songs are set to a country style format, I still enjoy using a variety of genres including old-fashioned-swing, jazz, blues, 50's, worship, ballads, and even comedy.
My hope and prayer is not only to reach out to those who love the Lord already and strengthen their faith through one of my songs in some way, but to also reach those who may just be looking to the Lord for the first time. If that happens to be the case for you, this would be an excellent place to start. Most of my songs are pretty well down to earth but pack our Lord's "Heavenly Message".