Matt the Electrician is the stage name of Matt Sever, an American singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. Born in San Francisco, Sever's family soon moved to Oregon. Once there, Sever spent much of his youth obsessed with Woody Guthrie, The Hollies and the soundtrack to Godspell. Sever's family moved back to California in the early eighties; and while the trumpet was eventually discarded, the expensive private lessons were not a complete waste, as it was here that Sever met and fell in love with the guitar.