"Maybe I've been reincarnated so many times that I'm just an old man in a young man's body."

Here's the thing: When you listen to music for a living, sometimes it all starts to sound the same. You need some time off, quiet time, time to clear your palate, so to speak.

Finding that time to escape, though, that's my problem. And so my overloaded ears aren't always as open and receptive as they ought to be. That's why you'll usually find me back of the bar Tuesdays at Cicero's, working on my laptop and half listening to the bands. I booked 'em; I like 'em; job complete, right?

So it was with great surprise that I found myself utterly and completely blown away a few weeks back. Here was a performance that wowed in its uniqueness and timelessness. Here was an artist whose abilities-nay, genius-far surpassed his physiological age. The songs he sang had that grounded, deeply rooted feel; the lyrics were intelligent, introspective, at times poetic, his voice comfortable yet classic.

Cameron Matthews is just 19, yet already he's begun to make a name for himself around town. He's a student at Saint Louis University, majoring in English. But cast all that future planning aside, because I'm talking here and now. What Cameron Matthews really is is one hell of a songwriter and performer. Think Jeff Buckley meets Cold War Kids; throw in the pipes of Harry Nilsson and a whole lot of freshness. Cameron is an old, worn soul in a new package. He is the very definition of the "real deal."

"Maybe I've been reincarnated so many times that I'm just an old man in a young man's body," concedes Cameron. "Now I write about my surroundings to finally achieve moksha."

The wunderkind began playing music in bars about the same time the other boys were graduating to ten-speed bikes and groping girls in dark basements. "From the time I was about 14, I've been doing the bar scene," says Cameron. "I was the frontman of a funk/rock cover band in high school and we used to play every other weekend."

That experience, while certainly formative, provided enough of a glimpse into the future that young Cameron was ready to run the other way. "I had become so discontent with making money through playing other people's songs and dealing with the egos that I wanted to push things in different directions," he says. "I didn't want to play like that anymore; I wanted to be my own performer.

"I craved to play live," he continues. "It's some sort of cathartic and hallucinogenic experience."

In honing his craft, Cameron dove into music and musicians, drawing inspiration from such songwriters as Elliot Smith-"He is single-handedly the best songwriter of the past two decades, and he holds my hand when I write songs"-Ryan Adams-"He plays every genre and sings from the heart. He is a total diva and I hate him, but I love him at the same time"-and Bob Dylan. He's also influenced by country, indie rock, classic rock, delta blues and '80s wave. How's that for a disparate bag of tricks?

"I may sound like I am a student of rock 'n' roll, but really I'm just a beginner," he maintains. "I went from a young kid who listened to grunge and '90s pop to an acoustic-loving pansy performer."

Some highlights on the performer's resume...

In 2007, with very little forethought, a then-18-year-old Cameron uploaded some songs to bestmusiconcampus.com; a week later, he got a call from MTVU's Zach Papale, inviting him to play a gig in Austin, Texas, with the likes of The Shins, The Academy Is, The Rapture and Shiny Toy Guns. "Holy fuck!" says Cameron. "Whirlwind of excitement. And then, all of a sudden, it ended. Nothing came of the show. Nothing at all. I thought to myself, is that it?

"I'm afraid of terminal musicality and the prospect that I will be (a) a hyped-up one-hit wonder like Vampire Weekend, or (b) out of the game forever because I refuse to play what people think is popular."

Maybe it's time we rethink popular. There are a couple more examples that maybe this is just what's happening. This past February, Cameron played a NACA showcase-you know, the people who book high-paying gigs at colleges across the country? He's got another showcase lined up in the fall, and has also recently signed with booking company Talent Plus. While the road's not yet paved in gold, if he keeps chipping away with the same determined brilliance, he's bound to get to the shiny underbelly. To say things are looking good for this young troubadour would be an understatement...kind of akin to saying that Cameron Matthews is just another local musician. Here is a man driven to perform, to follow his muse.

 "I'm old enough to know that the future is mine to make," he says, ever wise beyond his years. "I guess that my ultimate goal is to reach a place of maturity, some sort of clean ground that's way up high where I can let go of everything that I've done and be an adult and grasp what it is to be wise, to have gone through the worst and the best, to be able to teach those who will be where I am now." No small goal, that. But then, Cameron Matthews is no ordinary musician. | Laura Hamlett

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