BIO

Matt is one of the freshest and most interesting voices on any instrument I’ve heard in a long time. What a blast listening to him and playing music together. - Warren Haynes, The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule

Matt Menefee—better known as Matt, TheBanjoPlayer—has made it his mission to prove that the banjo doesn’t belong to just one world. He’s as comfortable trading licks with Béla Fleck, Mumford & Sons, or Ricky Skaggs as he is composing for blockbuster video games like the Grand Theft Auto series. His playing bends time, culture, and genre, transforming the five-string into an instrument equally at home on a bluegrass stage or inside a digital universe.

Grammy Award-winning musician Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons has called Matt his “the world’s greatest banjo player.” And for good reason—Menefee’s sound fuses technical brilliance with fearless imagination, seamlessly weaving the traditions of bluegrass with the futuristic energy of gaming and modern music.

Matt’s journey with the banjo began in his grandfather’s living room, but by 17 he was already a Winfield National Banjo Champion. From there he co-founded Cadillac Sky and ChessBoxer, touring internationally and pushing acoustic music into new territory. His reputation as a genre-bending innovator led him to collaborate with artists like Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), and Jerry Douglas.

At the same time, Matt was falling in love with video game music. The melodies of Sonic the Hedgehog and The Legend of Zelda struck him as deeply as Earl Scruggs ever did. In 2018 he combined those passions and created The Hit Points, a project praised by Gamasutra as delivering “the album listeners never knew they needed” and by Higher Plain Music as “the biggest surprise of 2018.”

That bold crossover opened doors beyond the stage: Matt now composes and records for video games themselves. His banjo has become part of the sonic DNA of gaming culture, including contributions to Grand Theft Auto and other AAA titles. Few musicians can claim to have both shredded bluegrass festivals and left fingerprints on one of the most influential video game franchises of all time.

As FiveSpeedBanjo.com put it: “Clark Kent climbs into a phone booth and transforms into The Man of Steel; Matt Menefee climbs into a banjo case and becomes MATT, TheBanjoPlayer.”

Today, whether it’s through The Golden Age (his alt-bluegrass project with Cadillac Sky’s Bryan Simpson), Wood Box Heroes or his composing work for major game studios, Matt continues to stretch the banjo into places no one thought it could go.

He isn’t just a banjo player—he’s the banjo composer reshaping the soundtracks of both bluegrass and video games.

Matt is technically one of the best musicians I have ever worked with. Yes, he is very gifted, but also he works non-stop at his craft. - John Cowan, founding member of New Grass Revival

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