Matt Krahula is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, producer.  Over his spanning career as a musician, Krahula has been based out of New York, Honolulu, and now sunny Illinois.  

Although able to write in multiple genres, Matt has always been drawn to the Alt-Folk/ Americana style.  In the early 2010’s, his group, The Nightmare River Band, quickly rose to the top of the NYC music scene.  From 2009 to 2017 they released 3 studio albums, garnering them praise from fans and critics alike and earning them opening slots for Tokyo Police Club, Matt Simons, Boy and Bear, and Robert Ellis.  A demo of his song “Mary” was nominated for an Independent Music Award for Best Alt-Folk Song of the Year while their sophomore album, “Last Goodbye” found its way to the CMJ Top 40, leading to performances at Summerfest, CMJ, and SXSW.  (Popmatters referred to their release as “one of 2012’s most pleasant surprises and one of 2012’s absolute best.”)  

After years of touring and cutting his teeth in the NYC music scene, Krahula was on the search for new inspiration and headed to the island of Oahu.   Within a few years, he established himself as one of the top artists and sidemen in the islands.  It was on Oahu, where Matt linked up with Grammy Nominated, Henry Kapono.  From 2018-2025, Matt toured as bassist (upright & electric) for Kapono.  His work with Kapono put him in the biggest venues in Hawaii, sharing the stage with the likes of Chicago, Mick Fleetwood, Common Kings, and Lee Oskar and put him on the radar of many other artists in the island scene. Over the next few years, he worked as a sideman with John Cruz, Jenny Yim,  Kalae Parish, and Tavana, and became a permanent fixture in Hook & Line (Hawaii’s top bluegrass band) as well as 7 Pairs of Iron Shoes.   All of his hard work paid off.  In 2022, Henry Kapono and his team were putting together a program to elevate musicians “On The Rise”.  Kapono’s team chose Matt for the inaugural class.  With their help, many of the gigs he had been performing as a sideman were now available to him as a songwriter.  

It was during this time that Matt released the 4th Nightmare River Band record.  This record was going to be different from all the rest.  Being so far away from the other members of the band, Krahula decided to produce a re-imagination of NRB’s sophomore album, “Last Goodbye”.  The new project “LG11” would be a compilation of Matt’s talented friends.  Each friend recreating a song from the original album in their own style. Same 11 songs, 11 new artists, 11 years later. The album was released in 2024 to rave reviews!
As Krahula points out in his 2012 Indie Hit, “it’s hard to say your last goodbye”.  Fortunately for him, the Hawaiian culture dislikes goodbyes as well, and their language has developed a phrase for such things.  In early 2025, Matt bid Hawaii “a hui hou”, or  “until we meet again” and headed back to the mainland.  He has set up shop in Northern Illinois and has already started to take on local bookings.  He’ll be hitting the road soon in support of  his new solo album.  “This Island Life” is an autobiographical album about his time in Hawaii, and is set to be released later this year on Pacific Records.  Stay tuned for an exciting 2025.