NY, Oct 06: Dave Matthews seems to be perpetually in motion, but even he is never sure of his course. That's the only way he can explain his first solo project. It happened by accident earlier this year during a break from his band in what began as a writing exercise.
"Initially, I didn't know what I was going to do with all this," he says of the new material. "And then it all started to fall together and get personality, and it started to sound a little more legitimate."
The result was "Some Devil" (RCA), which debuts at No. 2 this issue on the Billboard 200.
He developed the new songs alongside a few that he had played during his acoustic tours with longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds -- songs that, for one reason or another, didn't jell with the band.

"Some Devil," issued Sept. 23, sold 469,000 in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In the coming months, it is bound to benefit from Matthews' first solo tour and radio play of the dark and dramatic first single, "Gravedigger," a strings-laden tale about death splashed with images of hope, dreams and eternal life.
Bureau Report