Scott Matthews talks Midlands and Shropshire shows, writing his new record and the future ahead of Birmingham show

These days, if Scott Matthews wants to talk with his manager the conversation goes something like this...

"Hi Scott."

"Hi Scott."

"Look, I'd really like to talk about the next tour."

"Why am I talking to myself?"

Scott Matthews has become the acme of the cottage industry. Having signed to Island Records 10 years ago, for whom he released his debut album, Passing Stranger, and the follow-up, Elsewhere, and having released two further, very beautiful records with San Remo – the elegant What The Night Delivers and the bucolic Home Pt I – Scott now works for Scott.

His new record, the accessible and upbeat Home Pt II, was released on Shedio Records. The name of the label came from the venue in which the record was made – Scott's shed.

"It's been an interesting process," he says. "The record was initially going to come out in spring but for all sorts of reasons it was delayed and put back until the end of the year.

"Ten years ago, things went crazy when Elusive won an Ivor Novello, I toured with the Foo Fighters and Island Records gave me a deal. But this year has been ever busier."

The thing Scott has to remember is this: to be himself.

For while it would be easy to get wrapped up in the business side of managing a label, booking shows and sending out records, he can't afford to let go of what led him to this point. He is one of Britain's truly gifted singer/songwriters, a man cut from the same cloth as some of his heroes: George Harrison, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and others of similarly rarefied talent.

"The two things sort of run in parallel," he muses. "There's the constant need to get our name out there, to make people aware of the new album and the shows.

"But then there's the need to just be, to create, to go to the shed and write new songs." The shed – or Shedio – is where Scott recorded most of his new album, Home Pt II.

In a wooden cabin at the bottom of his garden in Wolverhampton, he worked alone to create songs. While Home Pt I was downbeat and acoustic, low-fi and mellow, Home Pt II is reminiscent of his debut. It's energetic and colourful, optimistic and hopeful. It rushes on like a train along a track.

The record has aired to enthusiastic fans across Europe as Scott has taken his band on the road to play sell-out shows on the continent. And now he's back in the UK for a run of British dates to end the year. He'll play Birmingham's Glee Club on Sunday before getting back on the road in 2017.

"There'll be a second wave for the record," he says. "We're looking to be busy.

"Home Pt I was out two years ago and this one followed in relatively quick time. But I've already got ideas for the next two records. And I want to work more quickly. I think the next will follow in a year."

He's played sublime gigs at venues as disparate as Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall, Slade Rooms and Newhampton Arts Centre, Birmingham Town Hall and Shrewsbury's Henry Tudor House.

"It's great to play to a home crowd," he says. "I get a lot of people who know me coming along to the shows. There's something special about this part of the world."

And there's something special about the way he now records. Making records in his own shed allows him to work at a natural pace.

He can press the record button when his music takes flight, rather than having to affect a mood because it fits in with a producer's schedule.

"There's good and bad about the way I'm doing things," he says. "There can be times when I'm out in the shed and I see the lights of the house and I want to just come in. But the beauty of it is that I can record when the mood is right. If I'm in a studio, then you have to turn it on because it's booked and there's a timetable and schedule. But now there's no time constraints. The metre isn't ticking. If I want to record through the night or early in the morning I can."

And that's what helps him create his best music.

Scott's story is rooted in the Black Country and he nods his hat to those origins on Home Pt II.

And yet he's not standing still. He's in a perpetual state of re-invention. While Home Pt II retraces some of the steps of his award-winning and ground-breaking debut, his next albums will break the Scott Matthews mould. Up next will be a spare and haunting solo record that will be just Scott and his guitar. It'll be a portrait of the man who grew up a singer/songwriter, an excoriating look at where he's been and where he's heading.

And then there'll be a folk-ambient record worthy of Thom Yorke and Brian Eno.

"I don't know how people will react to that, but I want to do something different, to play with different sounds and textures," he adds. "We'll just have to see how things pan out."

Scott has been accompanied on his journey by his wife, Sally, who takes his photographs and works with him to run the label. Her presence, along with the support of loyal fans, give him faith and confidence as he moves forward.

He's looking forward to Sunday's gig at Birmingham's Glee Club and hopes to catch up with new fans and old.

"It's always a great venue to come back to," he says. "I've had some great nights in Birmingham and I'm looking forward to being back."

His fans are looking forward to it equally.

By Andy Richardson